Get Involved
The Mountain West Prevention Research Center (MW-PRC) collaborates with community-based organizations and local experts to develop strategies that engage communities in family healthy weight programs (FHWP) that have proven to promote good health and support lifestyle changes in rural communities. Options for FHWP, such as the Building Healthy Families (BHF) program, provide nutrition education and promote healthful eating and physical activity for families who live in rural communities and small towns and have children aged 6–12.
While resources like BHF exist, communities in Mountain West states often struggle to recruit families to participate in these programs. To address this, we partner with community health centers to identify eligible families and use automated text-messaging to reach out and encourage them to participate in BHF. Families may also receive reminders and motivational messages throughout the project to encourage their continued participation.
The aim is to produce accessible and cost-effective tools that rural communities and small towns can use to get families involved in FHWP to improve health outcomes in these communities. If you or your community are interested in learning more about these programs or tools, please see the options below for getting involved.
Partner with us to Deliver a Family Healthy Weight Program in your Community
For communities interested in adopting and delivering a Family Healthy Weight Program (FHWP) to families they serve, this Request for Applications (RFA) will fund two types of projects, Program Implementation and Partnership Development.
Learn more about the Family Healthy Weight Program, Building Healthy Families program.
Program Implementation
Program Implementation projects are ideal for communities that are ready to implement a Family Health Weight Program (FHWP), such as Building Health Families (BHF), in their community. They have identified a community-based organization that could deliver a FHWP and a health organization or school that could assist in identifying eligible families through an electronic health record (EHR) or other platform that tracks height and weight. These projects will deliver BHF with support from the research team.
Partnership Development
Partnership Development projects are ideal for communities who do not currently have collaborative partners that could lead program delivery or recruitment. Specifically:
- Community-Based Organizations that could deliver a FWHP, such as BHF, but don’t have a health care or school partner to develop a sustainable referral pipeline.
- Healthcare setting or School district that could develop a sustainable referral pipeline to a local FWHP, meaning you have access to height and weight data and could identify eligible kids, but don’t yet have a community partner who could deliver the program.
- Organizations that have the capacity to both deliver the program and recruit families are also eligible for this project type to work on community partnerships that would help support and sustain a FHWP such as BHF.
This funding will support you in developing community partnerships to prepare an application for Program Implementation to deliver a FWHP in your community.
If you are interested in either of these projects, click here to register for a free webinar to learn more on February 27, at 2:00 pm.
Join the Mountain West Family Healthy Weight Collaborative
The Mountain West Family Healthy Weight Collaborative aims to reduce the prevalence of obesity and related chronic conditions through a supportive network. This collaborative, with representation from community-based organizations who promote whole family health and wellbeing across the Mountain West Region, meets quarterly to network, share knowledge and resources, with the aim to improve health outcomes for families across the region.
MW-PRC Leadership
PAUL ESTABROOKS, PHD
Director, Co-Principal Investigator
JULIE LUCERO, PHD
Deputy Director, Co-Investigator
DAVID WETTER, PHD
Co-Principal Investigator, Co-Investigator LUNG-IS SIP
GUILHERME DEL FIOL, MD, PHD
Co-Principal Investigator, Co-Investigator Arthritis SIP
contact us
NDEYE "SALLA" FALL, BS
Project Manager, Communication Manager
SHANNON JONES, MS
Dissemination and Translation, Co-Investigator
The Mountain West Prevention Research Center is supported by the Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research Center (1U48DP006789), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by CDC/HHS, or the U. S. Government.
