The materials developed for the We Can! program are easy-to-use and replicable in many settings. You may need to download Adobe Reader to view some of the resources.
We Can! resources for communities are divided into four categories:
All We Can! materials, aside from two of the three youth curricula - CATCH Kids Club and Student Media Awareness to Reduce Television (S.M.A.R.T.) - are produced by the Federal government without copyright. Feel free to use any information that we provide, but we request that you cite the NHLBI (as a part of the NIH and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services), and the source document. If you make any implications or draw any conclusions that are not in the original document, please state this in your publication. In addition, the material should not be used in any direct or indirect product endorsement.
Implementing and Evaluating Your Program
We Can! Energize Our Community: Toolkit for Action
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This toolkit gives community planners a one-stop shop of planning tools, reproducible materials, and a free copy of We Can! Energize Our Families: Curriculum for Parents and Caregivers. It incorporates dynamic activities for parents to encourage a healthy weight in their family.  Toolkit
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Families Finding the Balance: A Parent Handbook
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This handbook, available in English and Spanish, offers practical tips to help parents help their families find the right balance of eating well and being physically active to maintain a healthy weight. English en Español
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Tip Sheets
We Can! has developed the following tip sheets and supplemental tools for parents to help families plan and prepare healthier meals.
We Can! Parent Tips: Healthy Families, Healthy Weight (PDF): This tip sheet offers helpful information about energy balance through improved nutrition, increased physical activity, and reduced screen time.
We Can! Parent Tips: Making Healthier Food Choices (PDF): This resource presents simple tips to help you plan and prepare meals and snacks to help your family get the most nutrition out of the calories consumed.
We Can! Parent Tips: Healthier Eating While Saving Money (PDF): This resource helps you create a food plan that focuses on choosing healthier foods while saving money.
Food Comparison Chart (PDF): Use this chart to learn how healthier choices can save you calories and money.
Grocery List Template (PDF): Print this sheet before a shopping trip and use it to help you pick healthier items for your family.
Weekly Meal Planner (PDF): Use this tool each week to help plan healthier meals for your family.
We Can! Energize Our Families: Curriculum for Parents and Caregivers (Six Lessons)
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We Can! Energize Our Families: Curriculum for Parents and Caregivers, is a six-lesson curriculum with dynamic activities for parents to encourage a healthy weight in their family. The core concept explored is "energy balance," or the long-term balance between ENERGY IN (calories from food) and ENERGY OUT (calories burned through activity). |
In a fun and hands-on way, the lessons focus on helping participants learn essential skills that can help their families increase access and availability of healthy foods and make healthful food choices, become more physically active, and reduce recreational screen time. At the end of each lesson, participants are encouraged to try new nutrition and physical activity tips with their families over the next week. Participants later share their experiences trying the new behavior with the group.
Full Curriculum
Lesson 1: HTML | Lesson 1: PDF | Lesson 1: PowerPoint
Lesson 2: HTML | Lesson 2: PDF | Lesson 2: PowerPoint
Evaluation: Instructions for Facilitators (PDF)
Evaluation: Tool (PDF)
Certificate of Completion (PDF)
We Can! Energize Our Families: Parent Program – A Leader’s Guide (4 Lessons)
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We Can! Energize Our Families: Parent Program – A Leader’s Guide, is a four-lesson curriculum with dynamic activities for parents to encourage a healthy weight in their family. This adaptation of the original We Can! curriculum for parents and caregivers provides community leaders with the option of conducting four lessons lasting 90 minutes with participants instead of the six lessons lasting 60 minutes provided in the original version. |
The same core concept of "energy balance" is covered, i.e. the long-term balance between ENERGY IN (calories from food) and ENERGY OUT (calories burned through activity). The lessons are also fun and hands-on with a focus on helping participants learn essential skills that can help their families increase access and availability of healthy foods and make healthful food choices, become more physically active, and reduce recreational screen time. Participants are encouraged to try new nutrition and physical activity tips with their families over the next week, and they are asked share their experiences of trying the new behavior with the group. This version of the We Can! Parent Program also includes a Family Guide for use with the participants. See the description of the Family Guide below.
We Can! Energize Our Families: A Family Guide
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We Can! Energize Our Families: A Family Guide, contains all of the handouts and activity sheets that are used during the four sessions of the We Can! Parent Program. These handouts are designed to reinforce the parent program core concept of "energy balance," or the long-term balance between ENERGY IN (calories from food) and ENERGY OUT (calories burned through activity). |
The handouts can also be used at home to help parents and caregivers with planning meals, creating healthy grocery lists, saving money while eating healthy, and tracking their family’s physical activity and screen time. Community planners may wish to order copies to provide to the participants of the parent programs. All of the handouts included in the Family Guide are available in the appendix of the We Can! Energize Our Families: Parent Program – A Leader’s Guide.
CATCH Kids Club: Curriculum for Youth
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The Child and Adolescent Trial for Cardiovascular Health (CATCH) was a NHLBI-funded study to create a school health education curriculum designed to motivate heart healthy behavior in children in grades K-5 in after-school and summer camp settings. |
It consists of three programmatic elements:
CATCH Kids Club materials are available at a discounted rate from Flaghouse at www.flaghouse.com or (800) 793-7900.
Activity Box and Nutrition Manual (Item #W12931, $195)
Activity Box (Item #W11483, $150)
Nutrition Manual (Item #W12909, $64.95)
Evaluation: Instructions for Facilitators (PDF)
Evaluation: Afterschool Questionnaire (PDF)
For more information:
Peter Cribb, M.Ed. or Joey L. Walker, M.P.H.
Center for Health Promotion and Prevention Research
CATCH Program
7329 N. MoPac, Suite 204
Austin, TX 78731
Phone: (512) 346-6163
Fax: (512) 346-6802
Media-Smart Youth: Eat, Think, and Be Active!: A Curriculum for Youth
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Media-Smart Youth: Eat, Think, and Be Active! (MSY) is a 10-lesson curriculum funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) that focuses on helping young people ages 11 to 13 understand the connections between media and health. |
The program uses nutrition and physical activity examples to help youth learn about these connections and build their media analysis skills. Media-Smart Youth brings together a mix of learning formats, including brainstorming, small- and large-group discussions, games, and creative productions.
The curriculum concludes with a Big Production—an opportunity for participants to use what they have learned to create a media project designed to motivate other young people to take action for better nutrition or increased physical activity. In the process, the youth learn new skills in production, teamwork, and creativity.
MSY materials are available for free on the NICHD and NHLBI Web sites:
NEW!!! Media-Smart Youth: Eat, Think, and Be Active! Packet for Training Program Facilitators
Media-Smart Youth: Eat, Think, and Be Active! Program Packet
Media-Smart Youth: Eat, Think, and Be Active! Fact Sheet
Evaluation: MSY Evaluation Tool (PDF)
Evaluation: Youth Curriculum Evaluation Instructions for Facilitators (PDF)
To request a hard copy of the MSY materials, call the NICHD Information Resource Center at (800) 370-2943. If you provide after-school programming at multiple sites and would like more than one packet, please e-mail MediaSmartYouth@mail.nih.gov.
For more information, visit the Media-Smart Youth Web site at http://www.nichd.nih.gov/msy/.
Student Media Awareness to Reduce Television (S.M.A.R.T.): A Curriculum for Youth
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S.M.A.R.T. is a 3rd to 4th grade classroom curriculum designed to motivate children to reduce their television watching and video game usage. The curriculum is intended to be used over the course of the school year and includes all the lesson plans and tools needed to implement the program. |
Youth Curriculum (Teachers Manual and CD-ROM
$199.00)
Evaluation: S.M.A.R.T. Evaluation Tool (PDF)
Evaluation: Youth Curriculum Evaluation Instructions for Facilitators (PDF)
For more information, please contact:
The Health Promotion Resource Center
Stanford Prevention Research Center
211 Quarry Road, Suite 229
Stanford , CA 94305-5705
http://hprc.stanford.edu
Phone: (650) 723-0003
We Can! community sites are required to report on their program activities, including curriculum implementations and community events. NIH uses this information to improve the We Can! program and help other community sites enhance and sustain their programs.
The We Can! Activity Forms make reporting easier. When a site completes an activity, a site organizer simply needs to fill in the required information and submit by e-mail or print and fax it to We Can! program staff. You may need to download Adobe Reader to use these forms.
We Can! Activity Form: Curriculum Implementation (PDF) We Can! Activity Form: Community Event (PDF)
Logo Guidelines and We Can! Logos
The We Can! trademark is owned by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). If you use the We Can! brand, logo, or word mark in banners, publications, posters, promotional materials, and giveaways that promote We Can! programming in your community and among your constituency, you must adhere to logo and brand guidelines.
Read the complete guidelines in HTML format or download a PDF version.
You can download the We Can! logos for your use. The files are compressed and you may need to download WinZip®.
Two-color Logo (ZIP)
Black Logo (ZIP)
White Logo (ZIP)
Gray Logos (ZIP)
We Can! Fact Sheet
This 2-page overview of We Can! includes background information, materials and resources, and information on joining the We Can! movement.
Download Fact Sheet (PDF)
We Can! Video - We Can! And You Can Too!
We Can! has produced an 8-minute video called We Can! And You Can Too! that highlights the program and the importance of preventing overweight and obesity for families. You need RealMedia Player to view the video.
Watch Video (Real Media)
We Can! Animations
We Can! has produced two 60-second animations, each highlights the importance of preventing overweight and obesity for families. In addition, the "community outreach" animation has been developed to help you recruit community members and organizations to get involved.
View Parents and Caregivers version
View Organizations Addressing Childhood Overweight and Obesity version
We Can! Program Brochure - Who Can Make It Happen?
This informative brochure provides basic information about We Can! and how families can take action to improve their health by maintaining a healthy weight.
We Can! Poster - Who Can Make It Happen?
The poster is a great way to promote your We Can! programming in community centers, schools, doctors' offices, or community events.
We Can! Aim for a Healthy Weight Refrigerator Magnet
This lightweight magnet explains the differences between Go, Slow, and Whoa foods using real-life examples. It also includes the We Can! and Aim for a Healthy Weight Web site addresses for more in-depth healthy lifestyle information.
Print ads to promote the We Can! program activities and programs that encourage improved nutritional choices, increased physical activity, and reduced screen time in youth ages 8-13. Downloadable files available in multiple formats and languages to be used in magazines, newsletters, and newspapers.
Print Ad #1
Print Ad #1 (en Español)
Print Ad #2 (PDF)
Radio PSA Live-Read Scripts
Use these scripts to promote your We Can! programming with local radio stations. The scripts are available in English and Spanish.
Sample Media Advisory for Your Local Media
This media advisory can be adapted to alert local media to your involvement in We Can!.
Media Advisory
Media Advisory (PDF)
Sample Press Release for Your Local Media
This press release can be adapted to alert local media to your involvement in We Can! to help families maintain a healthy weight.
Press Release
Press Release (PDF)
Matte articles are prewritten stories, with a graphic or photo, that are given to newspapers. They can also be distributed in the community to help communicate program messages.
Do You Know Your GO, SLOW, and WHOA Foods?
Eat Healthy, Save Money
More Screen Time Equals Less Activity Time
Larger Portion Sizes Contribute to U.S. Obesity Problem
Your Child's BMI Could Signal Weight Problems
Less TV, Fewer Videos Help Keep Weight In Check
English: HTML | PDF (780 KB)
en Español: HTML | PDF (780 KB)
Creating Partnerships for Your Program
This presentation can be used to explain the essence of We Can! to potential partners or members of your community.
Presentation (HTML)
Presentation (PDF)
Presentation (PowerPoint)
Sample Invitation Letter
This invitation letter can be adapted to explain to partners your involvement in We Can! and can help solicit their support.
Invitation Letter (HTML)
Invitation Letter (PDF)
Additional Resources for Your Program
There are also great resources available to parents from the National Institutes of Health.
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
We Can!™ is a trademark of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
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