From good ideas to actions: a model-driven community collaborative to prevent childhood obesity

Activate Omaha Kids, a community collaborative, was designed, implemented, and evaluated with the aim of preventing childhood obesity in the Omaha community. Activate Omaha Kids brought together key stakeholders and community leaders to create a community coalition. The coalition's aim was to oversee a long-term sustainable approach to preventing obesity. Following a planning phase, a business plan was developed that prioritized best practices to be implemented in Omaha.

The business plan was developed using the Ecological Model, Health Policy Model, and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Active Living by Design 5P model. The three models helped the community identify target populations and activities that then created a single model for sustainable change.

Twenty-four initiatives were identified, over one million dollars in funding was secured, and evaluation strategies were identified.

By using the models from the initial steps through evaluation, a clear facilitation of the process was possible, and the result was a comprehensive, feasible plan. The use of the models to design a strategic plan was pivotal in building a sustainable coalition to achieve measurable improvements in the health of children and prove replicable over time.