Mayor Betsy Price today announced summer activities of the FitWorth Healthy City Initiative. The program, launched last September, addresses childhood obesity and encourages the health of Fort Worth families. The effort has touched the lives of more than 28,000 children to date in the Fort Worth Independent School District through last fall’s FitWorth Kids Challenge, as well as an estimated 15,000 employees of the city’s largest employers in Fit15, a program encouraging companies to offer employees daily fitness breaks.

Three elements are being launched this week:

Summer Tracking Challenge—Healthy choices start with awareness and the challenge of a healthy goal. Starting this week at 19 Fort Worth Community Centers, some 2,000 children ages 5 to 18 in teams grouped by age will keep a daily record against the goals of sleep (8 hours), fruits and vegetables (5 servings), screen time (2 hours), physical activity (1 hour) and soda consumption (0). Camp counselors and teachers will receive interactive teaching materials to support each tracked element. On July 25, a winning center and team will be chosen. The winning team will receive $500 in P.E. equipment. Sponsors for this challenge include Oncor, The Center for Children’s Health at Cook Children’s Health Network, LiveHealthy America, Think Finance and Coca-Cola Bottling.

Stairwell Art Competition—This summer, FitWorth is searching for great original children’s artwork to encourage adults to use the stairs instead of elevators and escalators. Working with the Fort Worth Public Library’s “Worth Reading” program at all 16 library locations and six Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Fort Worth, young artists age 5 to 13 can create motivational posters to be placed in or near stairwells and around escalators at area businesses participating in Fit15 reminding people to take a healthy alternative. Five winners will be selected by VanGrow Art Studio in conjunction with FitWorth. Entries are due no later than 3 p.m. on August 15. Winners will receive gift certificates from VanGrow Art Studio and Young Chefs Academy in Fort Worth, as well as a new bicycle with helmet. Sponsors for the competition include VanGrow Art Studio, Young Chefs Academy, Boys and Girls Clubs of Fort Worth, and Fort Worth Public Library Worth Reading.

Fit365 Tracking System—Mayor Price is also announcing the availability of a multi-feature, web-based wellness resource for the public. This resource guide and tracking tool, named Fit365, will offer the opportunity to engage in individual personal health and wellness goals—every day of the year, for free. It augments FitWorth’s “Fit15” effort to encourage employers to give their workforce a 15-minute break during business hours to get away from the desk or office and do something healthy. The wellness portal features articles, news, workout plans, fitness tips and videos. It will also provide recipes and helps create shopping lists for the needed items. In fact, once a participant chooses a recipe, Fit365 provides the shopping list and ties the list to grocery coupons from retailers in the area based on the zip code the user provides. The dashboard creates a personal tracking profile where you can enter your calories, distance of activity, goals and progress on a daily basis. Individuals and corporations can sign up and receive access at any time to the wellness portal and personal dashboard. The tool is powered by LiveHealthy America and located at: http://fitworth365.org/. Sponsors include Think Finance.

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FitWorth Healthy City Initiative is a family-focused initiative of Mayor Betsy Price and the Fort Worth City Council launched in September 2012 to address the growing trend of childhood obesity in the city. It is being led by a coalition of interested citizens passionate about the health and well-being of the families in our community. Advisory Board members include representatives from Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, Cook Children’s Healthcare Network, Cowtown Marathon, Fort Worth Independent School District, Fort Worth City Council, Live Healthy America, Oncor, Texas Health Resources and UNT Health Science Center. Initial funding has been provided by Oncor. To learn more about FitWorth, and to join the movement, see www.fitworth.org.

FitWorthContact:  Leslie Casey, 214-684-1348