• 
  The LMCTC site is participating in an active interagency collaboration on early care and education programs.
• 
  Participation in Let’s Move! Child Care is promoted among early care and education providers using at least three approaches; plus Bronze benchmark.
• 
  Each of the five goals of Let’s Move! Child Care has been integrated into at least one professional development training offered annually to early care and education providers; plus Bronze and Silver benchmarks.

What are early care and education (ECE) programs?
Early care and education (ECE) programs include family and center-based child care, Head Start programs, preschools and pre-kindergarten programs.

Why should local elected officials collaborate with ECE providers?
One in five children in the U.S. is overweight or obese by the age of six.  Encouraging healthy eating and physical activity early in life is vital to reversing the childhood obesity epidemic within a generation. ECE programs exist in every community and are an ideal place to reach young children and help them develop healthy behaviors that can last a lifetime.  As a local elected official, you have a powerful opportunity to support and recognize ECE providers in your community as they make improvements in their centers and homes to prevent childhood obesity, support children’s healthy development, and prevent early onset of chronic disease.

Steps to Success:

To achieve this goal, take action by following the steps below.

1. BRONZE: Participate in an active interagency collaboration on early care and education programs. This collaboration can help you promote participation in LM Child Care and ensure that at least one professional development training offered annually to ECE providers integrates the goals of LM Child Care.
   • This collaboration could include:  health and human services agencies, child welfare organizations, parks and recreation agencies, community and faith-based organizations, parent organizations, child care commissions, state or local child care resource and referral agencies and ECE providers.
   • Consider whether the interagency collaboration:
     • Capitalizes on relationships with your city’s, town’s, or county’s staff in family and child services agencies.
     • Includes vocational schools, community colleges or universities in your community that offer certification or degree programs in early care and education.
     • Engages the following in collaborating and coordinating training and technical assistance for ECE providers:
       • Your local or state child care resource and referral agencies (CCR&Rs)
       • Extension services.  Find your local cooperative extension staff 
       • Your state’s American Academy of Pediatrics chapter child care contact
       • Local pediatric medical community
       • Head Start State Collaboration Directors
       • Local Head Start Health Services Advisory Council
     • Builds upon an existing coalition of ECE providers in your community.  If one exists, have you reached out to this coalition to discuss partnership opportunities?
     • Leverages your city’s, town’s or county’s Let’s Move! Task Force.  If one exists, does a representative of the ECE community participate in this task force?
     • Engages your local, county or state public health department.  Does this department have obesity prevention initiatives that target children in ECE settings?
     • Partners with nonprofit agencies in your area that support childhood obesity prevention in ECE settings.
2. SILVER: Promote participation in LM Child Care to ECE providers in your community through at least three approaches.
   • Establishing new or enhancing existing approaches to reach ECE providers can include incorporating messages about LM Child Care into:
     • The city’s, town’s or county’s website.
     • Your city’s, town’s or county’s public service agency’s newsletter.
     • A local elected official’s press announcement.
     • A state of the city or state of the county address by a mayor or county executive, or a city/county council meeting.
     • City or county official statements supporting LM Child Care and encouraging participation by ECE providers.
     • Local media stories and ads (television, newspapers, radio)
     • Visits made to local ECE providers.
     • Community events and other opportunities for ECE providers to sign up for LM Child Care.
     • Opportunities for public recognition of ECE providers who are implementing LM Child Care best practices.
3. GOLD: Integrate each of the five LM Child Care goals into at least one professional development training offered annually to ECE providers. You are encouraged to work with your interagency collaborators to determine the steps needed to engage organizations and providers that offer professional development and training. Consider the following:
   • Take an inventory of the professional development training opportunities in your city, town, county or state.  This is an excellent opportunity for CCR&Rs to partner with Child & Adult Care Food Program sponsors, health consultants, extension offices, community colleges and others.
     • Check with your state or local child care resources and referral agency to see if they provide professional development for ECE providers.
   • Identify aspects of the LM Child Care initiative that can be incorporated into existing training provided to ECE providers.
     • Access resources for trainers, including sample training materials and slide sets.

Goal I Webinar:

A webinar on Goal I was held in November 2012 and demonstrated how local elected officials through LMCTC can provide children with a healthier start by helping early care and education program providers incorporate best practices for nutrition, physical activity and screen time into their programs.

Watch a recording of this webinar

Recognition:

A bronze medal will be earned when the LMCTC site is participating in an active interagency collaboration on early care and education programs.

A silver medal will be earned when participation in Let’s Move! Child Care is promoted among early care and education providers using at least three approaches; plus Bronze benchmark.

A gold medal will be earned when each of the five goals of Let’s Move! Child Care have been integrated into at least one professional development training offered annually to early care and education providers; plus Bronze and Silver benchmarks.

Going Beyond Gold
After you have completed all five goals, keep up the momentum by signing up for LMCTC All-Stars, which offers a set of eight advanced strategies for cities, towns and counties to pursue. More information about LMCTC All-Stars is available here.

Resources:
To access resources to help you succeed in accomplishing the medal achievements, please click here.

Still need help?  Contact lmctc@nlc.org to receive additional assistance and connect with expert federal staff. 

*To better illustrate how the medal benchmarks build upon each other (i.e. the silver benchmark includes the bronze benchmark), in March 2014, the medal benchmarks were re-formatted to illustrate this more directly. No changes have been made to the goal benchmarks themselves; they were only reformatted.