As parents were conducting research and preparing to advocate for healthy school environments, school districts around the U.S. began to prepare for a federal requirement that each district adopt a wellness policy addressing food and fitness in schools.

With growing numbers of parents becoming involved in the Partnership and enthusiasm building for wellness initiatives in school and around the community, this federal requirement presented the perfect opportunity for parents to advocate for specific policy issues related to the broad goal of improved school wellness. That is, the district was required to adopt a wellness policy of some sort; project organizers had the opportunity to request that the policy align with their goals for wellness in schools and parent involvement in the process of making school-level decisions related to food and physical activity.

It also represented a shift from focusing on personal transformation to city-wide action.

Word spread around Chicago about the work that parents in the Partnership were doing, and community leaders in other neighborhoods of the city approached the group about joining in the advocacy for healthy environments at school. Out of this interest, Partnership organizers developed Parents United for Healthy Schools/ Padres Unidos Para Escuelas Saludables, a city-wide coalition of parent and community organizations dedicated to advocating for healthy food and physical activity in schools. Representatives from eight groups attended the first meeting; by June 2008, more than 40 organizations were involved.

Creating Parents United for Healthy Schools/ Padres Unidos Para Escuelas Saludables increased the number of individuals—and the number of neighborhoods—represented, giving the group a stronger voice with which to address the school system.

The community-based organizations in the partnership are known for their effective organizing skills and their basis in principles and techniques common to community organizing, including the strategy of analyzing power relationships when working to create change. With this background, project partners studied how change is made at CPS by examining the efforts of others who were successful in making change in the district. Partners even interviewed a former president of the CPS board to gain insight into the process of making change.

What would it take to create a strong, meaningful policy that did more than sit on a shelf? Project organizers and parent leaders developed the concept of school-based wellness teams that would work with the principal at each school to implement the district policy at a school level. These teams would provide avenues through which parents and community members could be involved in school health decisions, formalizing their right to have a say in the way that the school environment shapes children’s health.

After outlining specific policy requests, parents began the advocacy that eventually led to the adoption of a strong wellness policy that includes formal venues for parent involvement, school wellness teams.

With parent leadership in West Town and Little Village and the support of partner organizations, the group organized a Parents Rally for Healthy Schools, an event that drew more than 700 parents along with elected officials, local celebrities, advocates and many, many school children. The rally elevated the issue in the eyes of CPS officials by demonstrating broad, strong public support for addressing school wellness issues.

To ensure that the voices of those who could not attend the rally were heard, parents organized a postcard campaign; more than 3,500 postcards outlining specific wellness policy requests were sent by parents around the city.

When CPS adopted a wellness policy, it included the provision that—as Partnership leaders requested—the policy would be implemented at a school level by a principal working with a school wellness team. This provision, included thanks to parent advocacy through the Partnership-led Parents United for Healthy Schools, institutionalizes parent involvement in school health decisions and empowers parents to be architects in the school policies that shape their children’s health. The next step for project organizers was to train parents to be effective members of the school wellness teams, develop a system for making the wellness policy a reality in schools.