NLC Commends First Lady Michelle Obama for Including Cities and Towns in 'Let's Move'

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Jun 11, 2010, 04:20 ET

WASHINGTON, June 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National League of Cities (NLC) commends First Lady Michelle Obama for her newest initiative to combat childhood obesity, Let's Move Cities and Towns. The First Lady recognizes the critical role cities, towns and all communities play in reversing this epidemic and helping our children grow to be strong and productive citizens. NLC looks forward to working with the First Lady in encouraging local leaders to be proactive in their approach against childhood obesity.

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Through its Institute for Youth, Education and Families, NLC works to combat childhood obesity by raising awareness among municipal leaders and providing them with tools and resources to make changes in their communities. Most recently, NLC and the Foundation for the Mid South, with support from Leadership for Healthy Communities, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, launched the Municipal Leadership for Healthy Southern Cities project. This initiative will help local officials in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi advance policies to promote healthy eating and active living in order to reduce childhood obesity. Four cities – Little Rock and North Little Rock, Ark., Baton Rouge, La., and Tupelo, Miss. – will receive more intensive technical assistance as part of the project. NLC also recently collaborated with the American Association of School Administrators on a report, Community Wellness: Comprehensive City-School Strategies to Reduce Childhood Obesity, which highlights the importance of city-school teams and describes some of their successes in developing local wellness strategies to prevent childhood obesity.

For more information on NLC's work to combat childhood obesity, visit www.nlc.org/iyef.

The National League of Cities is the nation's oldest and largest organization devoted to strengthening and promoting cities as centers of opportunity, leadership and governance. NLC is a resource and advocate for 19,000 cities, towns and villages, representing more than 218 million Americans.

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SOURCE National League of Cities