We hope you've enjoyed our Monday program spotlights the past couple months. Do you enjoy reading about all these fantastic physical activity promotion programs? Would you like your program to be spotlighted? Do you know a program you would like to nominate to be spotlighted? We would love to hear from you! Just answer the six questions below in 750 words or fewer and e-mail them, along with a photo from your program, to rachel.hayes@hhs.gov.   

Submitting information about your program does not guarantee that your program will be featured. “Programs” may include specialized organizations, ongoing efforts by broader organizations, temporarily-funded interventions, and/or periodic events. Programs must not conflict with the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. Evidence-based programs or programs including an evaluation component will be given preference. If your program is chosen, an ODPHP representative will e-mail you before posting to confirm accuracy of the blog post.

Questions

1.    Describe your program and the population it serves.

2.    How are the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans incorporated into the program?

3.    How is the success of your program measured?

4.    What are some challenges you faced in implementation?

5.    Please give tips for others to implement programs similar to yours.

  Youth street dance at Family Fitness Days in San Diego, Ca

When we first launched the Be Active Your Way Blog, we aimed to create a space where professionals could share successes, ideas, and lessons about physical activity promotion. We successfully accomplished this through regular guest bloggers discussing promotion strategies, but we have decided it is time to kick it up a notch. We want to increase information sharing about successful strategies to promote the Physical Activity Guidelines.

We know that the readers of this blog (you!) are active in promoting physical activity in a multitude of different ways in a diverse array of settings. It’s time to share information about these programs and how they address the tough task of promoting physical activity. How do your programs do it? What are the barriers? How do you know that your hard work is paying off? How could others implement programs similar to yours?

Starting this week, we will feature weekly Program Spotlight blogs. These blogs will give you the chance to see how your peers are fighting the fight. We hope that these blogs will give you a chance to see the innovations of others and apply what they have learned to your own work. Each blog will include information about barriers that were faced, ways the programs are evaluated, and tips for how to implement similar programs.

We encourage you to get involved with the Program Spotlight blogs. Comment on the blogs about programs you like to show your support or better yet, if you have a program you would like to share with the community, let us know! Leave us details about the program in a comment below, and we can get back to you about how your program could possibly be spotlighted one week.

 Welcome Fellow Bloggers,

We are so excited about the Be Active Your Way Blog!

As you might remember, the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion  (ODPHP) launched the blog on November 4, 2009. The purpose of the blog is to be an interactive site designed to stimulate dialog among individuals and organizations committed to promoting physical activity according the Physical Activity Guidelines (PAG), professionals with a mission of encouraging physical activity, and the general public who wish to contribute to the goals of the guidelines.

Just to bring everyone up to speed, the blog supports the mission of the Physical Activity Guidelines Supporter Network: to encourage Americans to get the physical activity they need based on the PAG for Americans. The blog is written by 13 organizational contributing bloggers from leading physical activity organizations. These diverse voices allow supporters to learn from and connect with each other regarding successes and lessons learned—both through the blog post content and comments. 

Since our launch, ODPHP has surpassed its initial goals!!!  We are grateful to you—our fellow readers—for your support.  So far, we have:

• Gathered and trained a group of physical activity experts from across the country to become bloggers;
• Surpassed our initial goal of weekly blog posts—we have 26 entries available online;
• Garnered over 130 subscribers; and
• Received nearly 90 published comments so far.

We have had a successful launch, but we want to expand the blog’s reach. We’d like to know whether we are meeting your needs as readers. To accomplish our goals and move forward, we need your feedback. In essence, we’d like to gauge if this blog has been effective resource for you. Please take a moment and comment on this post.

Thank you in advance for your comments and continued support! Be sure to tell a colleague or friend about the Be Active Your Way Blog. And, remember, you can subscribe to our feed to keep up to date on all of our posts.

Yours in Health and Fitness,

Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion