Mission, Goals, and Philosophy |
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Our mission:
CLOCC's mission is to confront the childhood obesity
epidemic by promoting healthy and active lifestyles for children throughout
the Chicago metropolitan area. Our work will foster and facilitate connections
between childhood obesity prevention researchers, public health advocates
and practitioners, and the children, families, and communities of Chicagoland.
Our goals:
- Improving the science and practice of childhood obesity prevention
- Building a community of practitioners, scientists, and policy makers
working collaboratively to achieve this goal
- Developing a public education campaign to shift our local culture
toward one that supports lifestyle measures that will bring about reduction
in childhood obesity in Chicago
- Cultivating a broad base of government, philanthropic, and industry
funding to sustain this work in the long term
- Identifying culturally sensitive childhood obesity reduction approaches
that work and are appropriate to disseminate
- Developing strong human capacity for obesity prevention in Chicago
- Periodically reviewing and refining CLOCC's working theories, strategies,
and plans
- Undertaking evaluation of the work of CLOCC and its participants
Our philosophy:
- Obesity is a complex problem, and culturally sensitive childhood
obesity prevention programs and policies are likely to be
more effective than treatment. Over 60% of adults
and approximately 30% of children in the United States are overweight
or at risk for overweight. Prevalence of obesity in adults has doubled
in the last 10 years, and prevalence of overweight in children has
tripled since 1970. Chronic diseases such as Diabetes Mellitus II
are correlated with overweight and obesity. With the alarming increases
in the prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity and their correlated
diseases, it is clear that prevention must become a public health
priority.
- Childhood obesity must be addressed at multiple levels which
must include the individual, the family and peers, the community,
and society. Prevention efforts focused on any one of these
levels will fail without simultaneous, complementary, and supporting
work at other levels. This means, for example, it is not possible
to prevent or treat overweight in one child if the child's family
does not undertake changes in diet and activity; that it is not possible
for one family to sustain such changes if the community does not
provide access to healthy foods and activity opportunities; and the
communities cannot gain the necessary resources to provide what families
need if the broader society promotes only high-fat foods and motorized
travel.
- There are biological and social reasons why community- and
society-based childhood obesity prevention must be focused on preschool
children and their families. Because of the timing of the
adiposity rebound (a normal stage of development that occurs between
the ages of four and six), this is a critical period in childhood
for developing or avoiding overweight. Based on current literature,
the quality of life in children who are obese is equivalent to that
of children who are suffering from cancer and undergoing chemotherapy.
As families, communities, and our whole society come together to
confront the childhood obesity epidemic, it make sense to start with
factors early in life.
- Childhood obesity prevention must be evidence-based. The
science of obesity prevention is improving rapidly, but there is too
much that is unknown. We do not yet know the true rate of childhood
obesity in Chicago communities at greatest risk (ie, those that have
populations that are African-American, Hispanic, or predominately lower
socioeconomic status communities). We hope that childhood obesity prevention
work will help children grow well and feel good about themselves, but
we need to find out if it may also increase the prevalence or severity
of body image disorders in adolescents. To answer these and many other
questions, obesity prevention programs and policies will require rigorous
planning and evaluation.
- Chicago is an ideal community in which to promote and study
childhood obesity prevention. Available data indicate that
Chicago children exceed the national average for obesity prevalence.
Tens of thousands are affected by this condition. The city's size
and infrastructure, its dynamic and diverse communities, and an active
obesity prevention coalition make the work going on in Chicago nationally
significant. CLOCC includes over 1,700 physicians, researchers, educators,
advocates, and community leaders.
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