In 2013 Child Care Aware® of Missouri was selected to partner with Nemours and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to implement the National Early Care and Education (ECE) Learning Collaborative project called Taking Steps for Healthy Success-Missouri. As one of just six states that piloted the national project, Taking Steps to Healthy Success-Missouri promoted healthy environments and policies in early child care centers across the state. Child Care Aware® of Missouri has offered Taking Steps to Healthy Success across Missouri from 2013 – 2018 serving 210 child care programs.
Taking Steps to Healthy Success-Missouri was also awarded a contract with the Department of Health and Senior Services, Bureau of Community Wellness for 2017 – 2020. This work is focused on supporting healthy lifestyles for children in family child care programs in rural areas of the state.
As Taking Steps to Healthy Success-Missouri moves forward, we have partnered with the Missouri Foundation for Health Healthy Schools Healthy Communities initiative for 2018 – 2020. Through this three year collaboration, we will bring Taking Steps to Healthy Success-Missouri to licensed and license-exempt center-based and family child care programs in the St. Louis City and Jefferson City/Morgan County R-2 public school districts (2018 – 2019); Riverview Gardens/Ferguson-Florissant and Dunklin/Pemiscot county school districts (2019 – 2020); and in south central Missouri in the Salem R-80, Oak Hill R-I, Cabool R-IV, Houston R-I and Willow Springs R-IV school districts as well as a second group in the Riverview Gardens/Ferguson-Florissant School District (2020).
Taking Steps to Healthy Success-Missouri aligns with national best practices to support healthier environments for children, their families and child care educators through:
- Increasing nutrition through increased consumption of fruits and vegetables
- Nurturing healthy eaters and providing healthy beverages
- Increasing daily physical activity
- Supporting family style dining and breastfeeding
- Reducing screen time
- Engaging families as partners
- Meeting child care educators’ health and wellness goals
Taking Steps to Healthy Success-Missouri consists of nine learning and coaching sessions over nine months in which participating child care programs examine their current health and wellness practices and commit to making changes in both practice and policy.
Benefits of Participation
- Increased knowledge through nine learning sessions focusing on national best practices in nutrition and physical activity.
- Increased application of what is learned through nine group and seven individual coaching sessions with a professional trainer/coach.
- Documented and supported change in health and wellness practice and policy at each child care program.
Through Taking Steps to Healthy Success-Missouri programs will:
- Learn and share best practices around health and wellness
- Learn new and creative approaches to foster better health practices for all children
- Receive innovative resources and tools to support family health
- Create a community of learners and resources for ongoing support
Participating child care programs also receive (at no cost to their program):
- Resources, toolkits and materials to support each program’s health and wellness goals
- Onsite technical assistance
- Up to 27 clock hours approved for child care licensure in Missouri
- Up to $500 stipend per program by the completion of the project
