Montgomery County, Maryland
Montgomery County Department of Recreation serves a diverse community with almost one million residents and operates 32 facilities spread throughout the county.
Montgomery County was a magnet site with the Hearts N’ Parks program and through its Affiliated Services, a division within the Recreation Department, enhances well-being by providing customer service, technology and training, safe facilities, and wellness and art programs to staff and customers.
The Department of Recreation has strong ties to the community with centers located near schools that offer after-school activities.
As a We Can!™ site, Montgomery County engaged its community with dynamic health events and programs that educated both parents and youths about the importance of good nutrition and physical activity.
Key Site Successes
Montgomery County got its community involved with We Can! through two community events that attracted more than 1,000 community members, generated local media coverage, and nurtured partnerships with four organizations in the community.
Montgomery County ’s health expo was covered in The Gazette, on Hot 99.5 radio station, partners’ Web sites, and on buses. Site organizers were interviewed on County Cable Montgomery (TV and Radio).
Montgomery County worked with four partners to implement We Can! programs and events. Health and Human Services, Latino Health Initiative, and Montgomery County School Health provided staff support for the parent program curriculum.
Holy Cross Hospital provided health screenings and demonstrations. The Montgomery County Employees Health Yourself Wellness Program provided screenings, gave out information, facilitated walking clubs in the summer, and visited county buildings to teach education seminars.
We Can! Energize Our Families: Curriculum for Parents and Caregivers
Montgomery County Department of Recreation began two implementations of the We Can! Parent Curriculum in February 2006. The six-lesson curriculum was developed specifically for parents and caregivers by We Can! to teach participants essential skills that help families make healthful food choices and become more physically active.
Montgomery County taught the curriculum to 21 parents, including 15 women and six men at two elementary schools.
An analysis of 13 respondent surveys show movement toward We Can! objectives related to energy balance knowledge; healthy eating behaviors; physical activity behaviors; portion size knowledge and behaviors; and screen time knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. These findings were not significant.
View Program Summary Report Data for the Parent Curriculum
CATCH Kids Club
Montgomery County offered CATCH Kids Club Curriculum to youths at four of its summer camps. The curriculum is designed for children in grades K–5 in after-school or summer camps and helps children adopt healthier dietary and physical activity behaviors by positively influencing the health environments of recreation programs, schools, and homes.
The participants in Montgomery County’s camps met Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. for two weeks and performed CATCH activities every day. Site organizers marketed the youth program in its summer guide, which attracted 66 kids.
The children enjoyed the program—both the physical activities and nutrition lessons—and especially liked the food label exercise and learning how to distinguish between different types of milk.
An analysis of 23 respondent surveys suggest movement toward We Can! objectives related to food knowledge; food attitudes: intentions to reduce fat; healthy eating behaviors: eating fiber and eating fruits and vegetables; physical activity attitudes; and screen time behaviors: weekday TV viewing, weekend TV viewing, and weekend video gaming.
View Program Summary Report Data for the CATCH Curriculum
Montgomery County Recreation Department
Affiliated Services Team
4010 Randolph Road
Silver Spring, Maryland 20902
Related Information
List of all We Can! community sites
We Can!™ is a trademark of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.