Our Bureau of Nutrition and Physical Activity competed successfully to have their SNAP-Ed interventions included in the 2016 SNAP-Ed Strategies and Interventions: An Obesity Prevention Toolkit for States. The comprehensive criteria used in the process focused on policy, systems and environmental change and the scoring process was rigorous.

This national publication also includes many new cutting edge approaches from SNAP-Ed colleagues that were deemed as having promise for use in planning, intervention and evaluation. The process included 19 reviewers who scored the more than 40 submissions that came from 10 different states, U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The blinded review process required that each submission was reviewed by three to five independent reviewers.

The programs within Arizona selected for the toolkit include the Empower Program and the Arizona Nutrition Network’s social marketing campaigns. While the strategies and interventions in the toolkit are required for the Arizona Nutrition Network’s SNAP-Ed activities, the toolkit is a valuable resource for all programs working to decrease overweight and obesity in our state. Visit eatwellbewell.org and take a look at the section for Collaborators to learn more about the exciting obesity prevention work in the areas of food systems, active living, school health and early childhood development. Many tools and resources are available and free for you to use.