This week the Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs gave us the
National Best Practice Award for our Empower Program. As a refresher for those of you that aren’t familiar with Empower… it’s a program we started in 2009 that focuses on increasing healthy eating and active living in our licensed child care facilities… reaching over 200,000 children throughout Arizona. It’s a voluntary program in which childcare licensees receive a discount on their 3-year licensing fee to become Empower centers by pledging to implement the 10 standards to Empower children to live healthier lives. The Empower Program was submitted by Adrienne Udarbe to AMCHP’s Innovation Station, a searchable database of emerging, promising and best practices in maternal and child health. Congrats to our Child Care Licensing and Maternal & Child Health programs for changing the landscape in AZ and across the country.
By the way… our Baby Steps to Breastfeeding is also recognized as an emerging practice by the same group. That one was won by our Nutrition and Physical Activity shop. It’s an on-line class for hospitals to use as a refresher class, train newly hired staff, or become a Baby Steps designated hospital.
