Let’s Move! Active Schools Welcomes Five New Partners

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 29, 2016

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Let’s Move! Active Schools – part of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative – announced five additions to its national collaborative dedicated to ensuring 60 minutes of physical activity a day is the norm in K-12 schools: Lakeshore Foundation-National Center on Health, Physical Activity and Disability (NCHPAD), Polar, StandUpKids, UNICEF Kid Power and Yoga Foster.

“Let’s Move! Active Schools is laser-focused on streamlining and simplifying the identification and use of physical education and physical activity resources, programs and grants for schools across the country,” said Charlene Burgeson, Let’s Move! Active Schools Executive Director. “These new partners will broaden our reach and opportunity to impact more students, and continue to strengthen our collective commitment to increasing physical education and physical activity in our nation’s schools.”

The new partners join 30 other leading health, education and private sector organizations as part of the Let’s Move! Active Schools national collaborative. All partners work together through the collective impact framework to help schools create Active School environments that provide children with at least 60 minutes of physical activity before, during and after the school day.

Each new partner will contribute key expertise, resources, services or financial support to the cause:

• Lakeshore Foundation-NCHPAD will support activities focused on inclusive physical education and physical activity environments.
• Polar will provide a discount on products and offer progress incentives for schools.
• StandUpKids will provide grant packages of classroom standing desks.
• UNICEF Kid Power will provide grants and progress incentives to 3-5^th grade classrooms through its school program, which gives students the tools to get active and save lives while learning about global issues. The Kid Power classroom kit includes online curriculum and support materials, Kid Power Bands for every student, and a tablet for the teacher for syncing and tracking progress.
• Yoga Foster will provide grants to equip hundreds of K-5 classroom teachers with yoga mats, curriculum and teacher training.

Grants and progress incentives are exclusive to schools enrolled in Let’s Move! Active Schools that have a completed Assessment.

Since its March 2013 launch, more than 17,000 schools in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia have enrolled in Let’s Move! Active Schools, reaching more than 10 million students.

• “As our mission is based on the fact that physical activity is essential for individuals with disability to lead healthy, active and independent lives, we are pleased to join the Let's Move! Active Schools national collaborative to further the inclusion agenda. We are looking forward to seeing the influential outcomes of this partnership as we mobilize resources for social change in supporting inclusive physical education and physical activity environments.” – Jeff Underwood, President/CEO, Lakeshore Foundation
   
• “Polar has long been dedicated to providing educators, students, and their parents with physical education solutions that help motivate students to make better choices about their health and fitness – now and in the future. Our solutions help promote safe and accountable exercise routines by delivering both real-time and long-term fitness assessment, heart rate, and activity monitoring. Polar is proud to partner with Let's Move! Active Schools to bring physical activity back to our nation's schools and help all students reach their true potential.” - Sharon Warren, Sales Operations Manager, Education, Polar
   
• “StandUpKids is delighted to partner with the Let’s Move! Active Schools initiative whose own mission perfectly reflects our mission to combat the epidemic of sedentary lifestyles and inactivity in America's children. Children’s sedentary behavior is a public health crisis and we believe children need to MOVE MORE and SIT LESS. Standing desks are a simple and elegant way to create a movement rich environment where children are more engaged and perform better academically, burn more calories, eliminate or minimize orthopedic problems and disease, feel happier, and just plain move more.” - Juliet Starrett, Co-Founder, StandUpKids
   
• “The U.S. Fund for UNICEF is thrilled to join the Let’s Move! Active Schools national collaborative, an initiative that perfectly reflects our mission to put children first. We are excited to bring the UNICEF Kid Power school program to classrooms across the nation to empower children to get active and save lives. The Kid Power Band, made possible through the generous support of our Presenting Sponsors Star Wars: Force for Change and Target, gives students the opportunity to learn about the importance of physical activity while they take steps to end global malnutrition.” – Caryl M. Stern, President & CEO, U.S. Fund for UNICEF
   
• “We’re incredibly excited to support the national Let’s Move! Active Schools initiative with comprehensive yoga resources for teachers. This partnership will generate further insights on the impact of yoga in schools, and empower hundreds of teachers through movement and mindfulness to bring balance back to their classrooms.”  – Nicole Cardoza, Founder, Yoga Foster

LET’S MOVE! ACTIVE SCHOOLS NATIONAL COLLABORATIVE
AASA (The School Superintendents Association), Action for Healthy Kids, Adventure to Fitness, Alliance for a Healthier Generation, ASCD, Athletes for Hope, BOKS, ChildObesity180, Focused Fitness, GenMove USA, GENYOUth Foundation, GoNoodle, Good Sports, Gopher, Kaiser Permanente, KIDS in the GAME, Lakeshore Foundation-NCHPAD, Let’s Move!, Marathon Kids, National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), National PTA, NBA FIT, NIKE, Inc., Partnership for a Healthier America, Polar, President’s Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition, Safe Routes to School National Partnership, S&S Worldwide, SHAPE America, Sportime & SPARK, StandUpKids, UNICEF Kid Power, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, USA Track & Field and Yoga Foster. Find out more at www.letsmoveschools.org.

Media Contact:
Kat Krtnick
Let’s Move! Active Schools
kkrtnick@ahealthieramerica.org

Jodi Patkin
U.S. Fund for UNICEF
jpatkin@unicefusa.org

Lauren Weybrew
U.S. Fund for UNICEF
lweybrew@unicefusa.org