Since 2005 the Alliance for a Healthier Generation—a joint initiative of the American Heart Association and William J. Clinton Foundation—has been creating a by kids, for kids movement inspiring millions of kids to live healthier lives. To date, over 1 million kids across the country have engaged in empowerME and made the commitment to learn about healthy lifestyles to help themselves, their families, friends and communities make positive changes.

After two successful on-air seasons of the Let’s Just Play Go Healthy Challenge on Nickelodeon and some amazing grassroots events and collaborations, empowerME is taking it to the next level. Kids are being engaged at the community level and are learning important healthy living skills. They're also using their voices to speak out about their health.

The goal of our “by kids for kids movement” is to empower millions of kids to make healthy behavior changes and become leaders and advocates for physical activity and healthy eating.

Why are we doing this?

Childhood obesity is one of our nation’s leading health threats. Today, nearly 1 in 3 kids and teens in the U.S. are obese or overweight—that’s approximately 1 in 3 kids. Due to obesity-related healthy complications, many believe that if this trend continues to increase, this current generation of young people could be the first in American history to live shorter lives than their parents.  

How We’re Building a Healthier Generation of Americans

Over the next two years, we’ll be expanding the empowerME movement by giving kids a voice and growing our national and grassroots collaborations. We plan to host a range of activities and programs for young people that will increase their knowledge and activism around healthy eating and physical activity and empower them to apply that knowledge in their homes and communities for the rest of their lives. The Alliance along with our national and community collaborators are engaging, educating and activating young people to feel empowered about their health by:

• Engaging by creating health messages informed by kids, making healthy lifestyles “cool” and encouraging young people to make a commitment to their health by taking a pledge to live healthier and articulate why health is a priority in their lives.
• Educating by launching tools and resources, inspired by kids and parents that will teach the basic skills for good nutrition and physical activity. Tools like myGo Healthy Challenge, an interactive healthy living program, is available online for kids and families to explore together.
• Activating by building a platform for youth activism by helping kids tell their stories, identify the hurdles to healthy living, understand the appropriate tools to make change and organize their communities to fight the epidemic of childhood obesity - and win.

Kids can find tools and resources for the Kids’ Movement at www.empowerme2b.org. 

For more information about the Alliance for a Healthier Generation or how to get involved please visit www.HealthierGeneration.org.