Collaborating to support Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities partnerships

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) (http://www.rwjf.org/en.html) launched Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities (HKHC) in 2008, with a $33.4 million commitment to help reverse the childhood obesity epidemic by 2015. With grant funding and technical assistance, HKHC supported 50 diverse community partnerships focusing on populations at greatest risk for obesity. Active Living By Design served as the national program office, and St. Louis-based Transtria conducted the evaluation. Collaboration fundamentally shaped HKHC's national program design and strategy, the grantee selection process, technical assistance, the HKHC learning network, and evaluation. This article describes the ways in which the concept of collaboration was defined and practiced among the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Active Living By Design, Transtria, and other national partners, and how it shaped the evolving vision for and expectations from HKHC grantees. Collaboration contributed to HKHC grantees' success, helped build the healthy communities movement, and influenced philanthropic practices.