Health in Motion: Let’s Move Pittsburgh 2017 Symposium

By Ashlee Cubarney, Let's Move Pittsburgh program assistant

On Thursday, November 16 Let’s Move Pittsburgh hosted their fourth Symposium, "Growing Healthy Children", at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. This bi-annual event is held to convene professionals working in fields related to child health, educators and parents to facilitate conversation about child health issues. This year, the Let’s Move Pittsburgh team really focused on the word “conversation” and with the help of a professional, facilitated a World Café.

A presentation on current health trends in the U.S. from Dr. Micheal Parkinson of UPMC Health Plan kicked off the event. The World Cafe method then moved over 100 participants through three rounds of small group discussion, where they were asked to think about their successes and ideas of how we can work together as a collective group. A report of the symposium will be shared in the coming months, but a quick snapshot of what was shared around the tables is inspiring:

• Create a walking community
• Make a community resource directory
• Need networking between service agencies
• Need paid wellness coordinator in every school district

The World Café style of discussion is not only designed to bring people together in small groups to share their ideas freely, but also calls on participants to think about what they can offer. Through this method, guests wrote down which skills they would be willing to provide and posted their “gifts” on the board.

• A parent and business owner offered to help school with year-around gardening strategies for the classroom
• A pediatrician offered to speak about plant-based eating at community centers
• Many non-profits know where to find grants and resources to fund programs at schools

After the discussion, participants visited posters created by 15 of our Champion Schools. The Champion Schools program celebrates and rewards schools with funding for leading new or existing programs that promote healthy food and nutrition education, increase physical activity, and teach students how to grow and prepare healthy food. These schools were also highlighted during the event, where they were asked to share a brief summary about their poster to give participants a sneak peak of their funded project.

The symposium was made possible by generous funding from the Heinz Endowments and UPMC Health Plan. Visit our website for more information about the day of the Symposium and to learn about our speakers and World Café facilitator, Paul Borawski.