Since 2010, over five hundred local elected officials from communities across America have stepped forward to address the nation’s childhood obesity epidemic by signing up for Let’s Move! Cities, Towns and Counties (LMCTC), a key part of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative, which is dedicated to reversing the childhood obesity epidemic within a generation, so that children born today will grow up healthier and able to pursue their dreams.

The National League of Cities (NLC) works in partnership with Let’s Move! and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to provide cities, towns and counties with the tools and support they need to build healthy communities.

LMCTC sites are encouraged to accomplish five measurable and achievable goals:

• Goal I:  Start Early, Start Smart

  To provide children with a healthier start, local elected officials commit to helping early care and education program providers incorporate best practices for nutrition, physical activity and screen time into their programs.

• Goal II:  MyPlate, Your Place

  To empower parents and caregivers, local elected officials commit to prominently displaying MyPlate in all municipally- or county-owned or operated venues that offer or sell food/beverages.

• Goal III:  Smart Servings for Students

  To provide healthy food to children and youth, local elected officials commit to expanding access to meal programs before, during and after the school day, and/or over the summer months.

• Goal IV:  Model Food Service

  To improve access to healthy, affordable foods, local elected officials commit to implementing healthy and sustainable food service guidelines that are aligned with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans in all municipally- or county owned or operated venues that offer or sell food/beverages.

• Goal V:  Active Kids at Play

  To increase physical activity, local elected officials commit to mapping local playspaces, completing a needs assessment, developing an action plan and launching a minimum of three proven policies, programs or initiatives aimed at increasing access to play.

LMCTC sites are awarded bronze, silver and gold medals for achieving specific benchmarks in each of the five goals, and LMCTC sites have the opportunity to be recognized monthly.

Cities, towns and counties participating in LMCTC benefit by:

• Receiving national recognition when they achieve LMCTC goals.
• Gaining access to technical assistance from experts.
• Having a variety of opportunities to learn what works at the local level.
• Sharing success stories and discussing challenges with peers in other communities.
• Participating in a national movement to build healthy communities for a healthy future.

Step One: As a local elected official (or his or her designee), you can sign up by clicking on the box below. You will then be prompted to fill out and submit the short sign up form.

We strongly encourage you to identify a city or county staff person on the sign up form who will be the main point of contact and lead coordinator for your Let’s Move! efforts. This individual might be a member of your staff, or an official in your municipal/county health department or parks and recreation department. It is helpful to designate someone who can coordinate efforts across city departments, facilitate discussions, plan strategically and identify and implement priority actions. If you do not have an individual in mind at the time of sign up, you can designate a person at a future time.

Step Two: Once your sign-up has been received, NLC will verify that there is a local elected official involved and will send a welcome email to the local elected official and staff point of contact (if designated), including information asking you to submit the medal status survey. The medal status survey is your first step after signing up for LMCTC. It allows you to assess your progress to date (relative to the medal benchmarks) and identify next steps.

Have questions about the sign-up process? Visit our FAQ page or email lmctc@nlc.org.