Let's Go!
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Our Impact

Let’s Go! is a community engagement initiative working to create environments that support healthy choices, making it easier for people to live healthy, active lives. Let’s Go! tracks short-term implementation of evidence-based strategies through annual surveys and site assessment tools. Additionally, Let's Go! monitors longer-term changes in awareness and knowledge by tracking outcomes such as healthy behaviors and improved weight status.

Let’s Go! partnered with 974 sites reaching over 162,000 children and over 166,000 adults in 2023.

 

250 Schools

Schools

 

377 Early Care and Education Programs

Early Care and Education Programs

 

107 Out-of-School Programs

Out-of-School Programs

 

92 School Cafeterias

School Nutrition
Programs

 

111 Health Care Practices

Health Care Practices
(5-2-1-0)

 

37 Health Care Practices (Small Steps)

Health Care Practices
(Small Steps)

2022-2023 Site Engagement

Let's Go!'s multi-setting model allows us to reach Early Care and Education programs, Schools, School Nutrition programs, Out-of-School programs, School-Based Health Centers, and Health Care practices (pediatric and adult) and unite them in the goal of encouraging communities to engage in healthy eating and active living.

New to the 2022-2023 program year, Schools, School Nutrition, Early Care and Education and Out-of-School programs were encouraged to complete the Let's Go! Self-Assessment and reflect on the practices and policies that make their school/program environment one that supports healthy behaviors. By completing the self-assessment sites can identify strengths and areas for growth, and set goals that support creating and sustaining a healthy environment. Sites who complete the Self-Assessment are celebrated as a Partner in Excellence.

Schools (n=84)

Let's Go Implementation School Chart

 

Early Childhood Education (n=157)

Site Implementation of Let's Go! Strategies

 

Out-of-School Sites (n=32)

Let's Go Implementation Out-of-School Sites

 

School Nutrition Programs (n=37)

Site Implementation of Let's Go! Strategies

 

Let’s Go! uses data from our Health Care Annual Survey to monitor implementation of evidence-based strategies and recognize practices for their commitment to helping patients establish and maintain healthy lifestyle habits.


Percentage of Health Care sites implementing each strategy
 

5-2-1-0 Practice (n=87)       Small Steps Practice (n=25)

 

Let's Go! poster or public service announcement is displayed in the waiting area

Let's Go! poster or public service announcement is displayed in the waiting area

 

Let's Go! poster is displayed in all exam rooms

Let's Go! poster is displayed in all exam rooms

 

All providers routinely have BMI determined for patients aged two years and older

All providers routinely have BMI determined for patients aged two years and older

 

All providers routinely counsel on Healthy Eating Active Living (HEAL) using the Healthy Habits Questionnaire

All providers routinely counsel on Healthy Eating Active Living (HEAL) using the Healthy Habits Questionnaire

 

All providers routinely monitor weight-for-length measurements in patients younger than two years of age to check for crossing of percentiles

All providers routinely monitor weight-for-length measurements in patients younger than two years of age to check for crossing of percentiles

 

All providers routinely assess patients age two years and older with a BMI ≥85 percentile for health risk factors

All providers routinely assess patients age two years and older with a BMI ≥85 percentile for health risk factors

 


In-Person/Virtual Learning
 

Let’s Go! provides quality professional development opportunities to medical learners and staff at enrolled Let’s Go! sites through in-person and virtual trainings to increase knowledge and implementation of healthy eating and physical activity best practices. Let’s Go! offers many unique opportunities to meet the needs of each target audience, including a School Symposium, National Healthcare Conference and virtual Cooking Matters for the Child Care Professional training.

In 2022-2023, Let’s Go! offered 29 in-person/virtual professional development opportunities with nearly 1,300 participants.

On-Demand Learning
 

Let’s Go! Learning was launched for staff at registered Let’s Go! sites in September 2022 as an on-demand learning platform. Each on-demand course provides training content relevant to a specific setting and/or strategy.

234 unique users completed 742 total courses from the 31 available on-demand learning options.

2022-2023 Community Engagement

Let’s Go! collects data from families in our registered Early Care and Education programs and Schools about their awareness and knowledge of Let’s Go! 5-2-1-0 and how they use 5-2-1-0 strategies.  Over 2,100 respondents provided valuable feedback which helps us better understand how we are impacting them. 

Understanding how families are implementing the Let’s Go! evidence-based strategies allows us to determine effectiveness and efficiency of our goals.  Learning the habits of families provides insights on how we present resources and what information is needed to support families to engage in healthy eating and active living.

Early Care and Education (ECE) programs and School feedback showed respondents agree that Let’s Go! 5-2-1-0 adds value to their child’s ECE or school (81%)

Family Behavior

Most respondents are implementing all Let’s Go! 5-2-1-0 strategies at least 4 days a week at home. Physical activity was the most frequently applied at home, almost all respondents said 4+ days each week (84%).

Graph illustrating 84% of respondents engaging in physical activity at home

School Nutrition

School Nutrition Programs play an essential role in serving healthy meals to support students’ health and increase their readiness to learn.  Let’s Go! partners with school nutrition programs to improve the nutritional quality of food served, make the healthy choice the easy choice and improve the perception of school meals.

More than half of respondents agree or strongly agree that their child’s school cafeteria meals are healthy (55%)

graph illustrating 55% of respondents agreeing that their child's school cafeteria meals are healthy

Learn how families are implementing 5-2-1-0 strategies at home, in their own words.

5 or more fruits and vegetables

“I serve my kids a bowl of fresh veggies before supper. This is always the time when they are starving, so this is a healthy snack that won't "ruin" their supper, and even though my kids like veggies, if they are on the plate with pasta or protein, sometimes the veggies get eaten last, which sometimes means not at all. So we get the veggies out of the way first.” – Cumberland County

“We grow a lot of our own veggies and that helps to reach our daily goal of fruits and veggies.” – Lincoln County

2 hour or less of recreational screentime

“They use to love phone and TV, we decided to change from that to books and that have been helping because we as parents engage on it too.” -  Androscoggin County

“Limiting screen time has improved behavior and overall attitude at our home.” – Lincoln County

“Trying to cut down on screen time has helped my kids play more independently.”  - Androscoggin County

1 Hour or more of physical activity

“We love walks around our neighborhood!! Water is the drink of choice in our home!” – York County

“Our daughter loves extra curricular activities like dance which helps to achieve the activity level of an hour a day or more.” - Carroll County

0 Sugary Drinks, More Water

“We have essentially eliminated sugar-sweetened beverages from our home. The kids know the main drink in our house is water.” - Kennebec County

“When they ask for sugary drinks, I remind them that 5210 says they are not a healthy choice.”  - Cumberland County

Let’s Go! Program Outcomes and Overview

Learn more about our programs, strategies and impact we are having in our communities.

Thanks to our 2023 Funders

We are appreciative of those who provide partnership and support to Let’s Go! This support enables us to continue our focus on community engagement to support environmental and policy change efforts facilitating healthy eating and active living throughout Maine and Carroll County, New Hampshire. Be sure to check out our 2021-2025 Strategic Plan.