Mission:
We guide communities to improve the nutritional and physical well-being of children.
Goal:
All Rhode Island schools and childcare centers will become places where our children have the opportunity to learn and practice healthy eating and physical activity daily.
Overview:
Since 1998, the Kids First organization has worked at all levels in Rhode Island - state, community, district, school and classroom - to provide support, technical assistance and educational programs that implement community-owned school health and wellness policies and encourage school environments that support wellness. The organization's successful record in collaborating with all school nutrition and physical activity advocates in every Rhode Island community has earned it national attention as both an innovator as well as a motivator for change.
The Kids First focus is to continually provide hands-on education as the foundation for sustained change. To foster wellness-based changes that germinate from newly elected citizenry, the Kids First staff of professional chefs, dietitians, communications specialists and meeting facilitators provides customized follow-up technical assistance for food systems change, support for the establishment of successful wellness committees and continued education and promotion for building a broad-based ownership of wellness.
By offering these essential elements - education, technical assistance and community support - to every Rhode Island school and childcare community, Kids First has become a statewide leader in not only advocating, but also providing the "how-tos" for better student and staff health.
