About

Students Taking Charge is an updated version of the manual Students Taking Charge: How Healthy is Your School and What You Can Do About It? made possible by funding from Action for Healthy Kids, Massachusetts Action for Healthy Kids, the Harvard Prevention Research Center, the Harvard Prevention Research Center Youth Task Force, New England Dairy and Food Council, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, and the Massachusetts Department of Education’s Nutrition, Health and Safety Unit.  Portions of the original toolkit were developed utilizing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s School Health Index, California Project Lean’s “Playing the Policy Game,” and United States Department of Agriculture’s “Changing the Scene Toolkit.” 

In 2009, Action for Healthy Kids undertook a national review and revision process of Students Taking Charge program.  This work was inspired by more than five years worth of success stories from Massachusetts, Texas, Michigan, Iowa, Kansas, and other states where youth had advocated for—and achieved—lasting policy changes in their schools.  The national review and revision process was made possible, in part, by the support of glacéau smartwater^® through the Entertainment Industry Foundation.  The result of these efforts is an expanded and updated facilitator’s guide for youth and adult leaders as well as this interactive website which will serve as the online home of a national movement of youth advocates for healthier schools.