Spotlights

CATCH My Breath

North Carolina State Model for CATCH My Breath Implementation

Reaching approximately 9,897 middle schoolers and 7,286 high schoolers, the CATCH My Breath program has expanded quickly throughout the state of North Carolina thanks to several key advocates at both the local and state levels. While implementation initially began in 2017, most of the state-wide growth occurred during the 2018-2019 school year after multiple trainings, presentations, and webinars. CATCH My Breath has collaborated and partnered with many North Carolina organizations, such as Youth Empowered Solutions and the North Carolina Division of Public Health, Tobacco Prevention and Control Branch, to support implementation efforts by providing educators with the information to confront the youth vaping epidemic through e-cigarette and JUUL prevention techniques. To meet this state-wide demand for preventative programming, CATCH My Breath conducted personalized trainings for Winston-Salem Schools, Scotland County Schools, and Gaston County School District. The CATCH My Breath team also presented to five regional health department meetings, the North Carolina Association for Health Physical Education Recreation and Dance Conference, and the North Carolina State Department of Health. This widespread coverage and support of the CATCH My Breath program ultimately led to multiple news articles and video reports featuring the curriculum on the local Fox News affiliate station.
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CATCH My Breath Spotlight

Wareham Middle School Wareham, Massachusetts

As one of the first implementors of the CATCH My Breath program, Wareham Middle School has championed the curriculum and its resources to 7th grade students since the beginning of the 2017-2018 school year. Wareham Middle School’s health teacher, Harriette Sullivan, covers the CATCH My Breath program in her classroom 4 times during each school year in order to teach her 7th graders about the dangers of e-cigarettes and provide them with the tools needed to resist falling victim to peer pressure and manipulative advertisements. Many of Sullivan’s students have shared with her the success they have experienced with rejecting e-cigarettes thanks to the CATCH My Breath program, which led to a CNN feature on her classroom in August 2018. Due to her successful application of the program, Sullivan was appointed as the first official CATCH My Breath Ambassador last fall. Read More

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CATCH Early Childhood Spotlight

Colorado Early Education Network (CEEN) Head Start Weld County, Colorado

Colorado Early Education Network (CEEN) provides comprehensive Preschool services to 10 Head Start centers for 562 children in Weld County, Colorado.  Through the generous funding of the Buell Foundation, CATCH Global Foundation coordinated several Train the Trainer Academies for Early Childhood (EC) professionals in Colorado. A total of 38 Community trainers were certified to deliver implementation training for the evidence-based CATCH Early Childhood obesity prevention and health promotion program. CATCH created tools and incentives for Community trainers to follow up their initial training with additional support to assist EC providers in adopting the CATCH EC program effectively, including discounted or free curriculum resources. Over two years, this partnership resulted in staff from 123 Early Childhood sites participating in CATCH EC training. The CATCH EC training is approved through the Colorado Early Childhood Professional Development Information System and is aligned to Colorado Early Learning Guidelines and the Colorado SHINES quality improvement point structure.  Read More

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SNAP-ed Program

Finger Lakes Eat Smart New York New York

As a result of FLESNY’s vast dissemination of the CATCH program throughout New York, CATCH has yielded great success in its statewide growth and reach. Most notably, CATCH was written in to Elmira City Schools District Wellness Policy. In order to continue this large-scale outreach, FLESNY has assigned an educator to each of their CATCH schools, and FLESNY nutritionists are working in an additional 25 schools located in Cayuga, Chemung, Monroe, Ontario, Steuben, Tompkins, and Wayne counties. Read More

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Community Spotlight

Healthy U New Jersey YMCAs

In 2008, The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey and the New Jersey YMCA State Alliance created Healthy U – a collaborative initiative to combat the obesity epidemic among New Jersey children. The goal of the program is to prevent childhood obesity through nutrition education, increased physical activity, and family involvement. Healthy U utilizes the CATCH curriculum to promote healthy behavior changes at home and in school that can last a lifetime. In 2012, Healthy U began to expand beyond after school programs and into preschools and schools. Healthy U is the largest implementer of the CATCH curriculum in the country. Read More

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CATCH Promise Spotlight

Goose Creek CISD Baytown, TX

Goose Creek CISD began implementing the CATCH program in August 2017, as part of the district’s dedication and commitment to Be Well™ Baytown. Be Well Baytown is an initiative of MD Anderson sponsored by ExxonMobil, which aims to mobilize the Baytown community to promote wellness and stop cancer before it starts. A central component of this initiative is aligning school-based health programming with Goose Creek CISD’s implementation of the CDC’s Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model for approximately 16,000 students in 21 elementary and junior schools. Read More

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CATCH Promise Spotlight

Brownsville Independent School District Brownsville, Texas

The Brownsville ISD CATCH project took place from February 2017 to January 2018 and aimed to strengthen the district’s coordinated school health programming to better support and promote healthy eating and physical activity for approximately 21,000 K-5th grade students in 37 elementary schools. Brownsville ISD first implemented CATCH district-wide in 2001 and the program has since become an integral part of the district’s efforts to improve students’ health-related behaviors. Read More

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CATCH Promise Spotlight

Ysleta Independent School District El Paso, Texas

The Ysleta ISD CATCH project aims to increase physical activity and healthy eating, reduce obesity, and create health-promoting environments for approximately 18,500 students in 37 elementary schools in the Ysleta Independent School District. Ysleta ISD is located within the city … Read More

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CATCH Promise Spotlight

Jefferson Parish Public Schools New Orleans, Louisiana

The New Orleans CATCH project aims to increase physical activity and healthy eating, reduce obesity, and create health-promoting environments for approximately 18,000 students in 39 elementary schools in the Jefferson Parish Public School System (JPPSS). Jefferson Parish borders the city … Read More

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