With the CPS district's adoption of the wellness policy, project organizers and parent leaders began to focus on implementing the policy. In such a large school district where principals face pressure from many directions, most were not aware that a wellness policy had been adopted or that it called for the formation of school-based wellness teams for implementation. It was up to parents to initiate conversations with principals, create the teams and take action.

A Partnership-hosted Principals Breakfast for School Wellness in Feb. 2007 brought parents and school administrators to the table to hear from innovative principals around the city who had successfully integrated recess, nutrition education and healthy eating into their school experiences. The principals shared their strategies and the benefits they saw with an audience of their peers. The event also drew elected officials and regional school leaders. Ten principals and 70 parents attended the breakfast.

To prepare for the task of creating wellness teams, parents requested training—not just a brief training, but an intensive 4-part series that addressed relevant information (such as knowledge about nutrition and fitness) along with strategies for building relationships and effectively organizing for change.

Project staff and parent leaders in each community designed a series of half-day sessions that brought in outside experts to teach about relevant subjects: the connection between health and learning; the experience of starting a universal breakfast program; how to locate resources within the city; and more. Each day of training modeled healthy classroom practices by integrating breaks for physical activity and healthy snacks. Abraham Duenas, a local restaurant owner who specializes in healthy versions of traditional Mexican favorites, created a healthy breakfast and lunch for each day and spoke with parents about techniques he used to modify a traditional recipe.

More than fifty parents attended the training, and not one dropped out over the course of two sweltering weeks in August.

This training immediately preceded the start of the 2007-08 school year. During that year, parents formed 15 wellness teams at schools throughout Little Village and West Town. The changes that the teams made in less than a year include new policies prohibiting junk food at school; new physical activity programs during and after school; nutrition education in the classroom; salad bars in the cafeteria; student bike racks outside the school; universal breakfast; a school vegetable garden and more.

The fifteen wellness teams progressed at different rates and achieved different goals based on the logistical needs and priorities of the school. Project organizers found, however, that all of their experiences fit within a framework of four developmental phases. They used this framework to develop a model—Four Phases of a Successful School Wellness Team—used to institutionalize the understanding of and training around wellness team development.

By the time the group hosted its second annual Principals Breakfast for School Wellness in Feb. 2008, energy and awareness had grown so that more than 150 parents and 25 principals gathered for updates and new information.

A Parent Summit in May 2008—designed as a follow-up to the Aug. 2007 training, at the end of the school year—drew more than 150 parents. Many of these parents attended the second wave of wellness team training, held in Aug. 2008. The summit and training are examples of the type of ongoing support that Partnership leaders continue to provide parents.

As parent leaders make meaningful change at a school level, Parents United for Healthy Schools brings together the voices of parents around the city to organize, develop strategy, and advocate for city-level district-wide change. Parents United for Healthy Schools continues to grow and to be successful in speaking up for district-level policy change related to school health.

While some changes—such as the healthy snacks served at parent-teacher meetings or the type of sports to offer after school—are best made at a school level, other changes need to be made at a systems level. For example, CPS food service policy changed in 2007 to include more fresh fruits and vegetables served for lunch at all schools in the district. It is with this two-tiered model that the Partnership continues to most effectively work for healthy schools in Chicago: by training parents to make changes through school wellness teams at an individual school level, and to bring together parent voices from across the city to advocate for policy change at a district level.

It is by creating meaningful and sustainable change changes in the CPS school environment at a school level and a district level—that is, supporting healthy eating and active lifestyles for the largely minority CPS student population—that the Partnership addresses the health disparities that exist in our society.