UnitedHealthcare and Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind Sesame Street, are partnering to support families, health care providers and communities as they help kids everywhere grow smarter, stronger and kinder.
UnitedHealthcare and Sesame Workshop’s Growing Every Day, Every Way program educates families on developmental milestones and the importance of making nutritious food choices and incorporating physical activities to establish lifelong healthy habits.
The Growing Every Day, Every Way events will take place Saturday, Sept. 7, in Columbus, Ohio; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Charlotte, North Carolina; Phoenix, Arizona; and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The events will celebrate National Grandparents Day by bringing grandparents and the children in their families together for nutritious-food giveaways, healthy activities and visits from walk-around Sesame Street characters. The events will provide families and caregiving grandparents with resources to help them access affordable and nutritious food and offer easy ways families can incorporate physical activity into their daily lives.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2014 report, Co-resident Grandparents and Their Grandchildren, about 2.7 million grandparents were “grandparent caregivers” (those who had primary responsibility for grandchildren under 18 living with them). Of these grandparent-led households, more than 40 percent report having unmet economic or social-service needs.
Sesame Workshop and UnitedHealthcare have worked together to address a variety of well-being initiatives including food insecurity, lead safety, asthma and healthy habits since 2010. UnitedHealthcare and Sesame Workshop’s Growing Every Day, Every Way program offers bilingual (English and Spanish) educational materials including:
- Food for Thought: Eating Well on a Budget™, designed to help support families who are coping with uncertain or limited access to affordable and nutritious food;
- We Have the Moves™, which encourages families to participate in regular physical activity to help children build strong bones and muscles, improve their social and emotional skills, and support their ability to learn new concepts; and
- Growing Every Day, Every Way™, which provides parents with resources to help them keep infants, toddlers and preschoolers healthy by building an understanding of their child’s physical and cognitive developmental milestones.
“UnitedHealthcare is grateful for the opportunity to partner with Sesame Workshop – a leader in early childhood education – to offer tools that can help caregivers create a healthy foundation for kids,” said Heather Cianfrocco, CEO, UnitedHealthcare Community & State. “We look forward to hosting the Growing Every Day, Every Way events, and encourage children, their grandparents and families to spend National Grandparents Day eating healthy food, getting active and having fun.”
Since Food for Thought launched in 2010, Sesame Workshop has unveiled independent research indicating the program has been successful in helping families increase their knowledge, beliefs and behaviors around nutrition. The research found that within four weeks, nearly three in four families participating in the program reported making positive nutritional changes including seeking information on how to cope with food insecurity, taking steps to save money on food, and making changes to promote healthy eating in the family.
“Our partnership with UnitedHealthcare is one that can help us improve the health of the whole family,” said Dr. Jeanette Betancourt, SVP, U.S. Social Impact at Sesame Workshop. “By teaming up to expand access to health-focused resources, we’re creating habits that will stay with children for the rest of their lives.”
To learn more about Growing Every Day, Every Way and where the events are taking place, visit www.uhccommunityplan.com/grow.
