The Cooper Institute is dedicated to promoting life-long health and wellness through research and education.
“The goal… Harness enthusiasm and passion and shoulder with institutions that are truly making an impact in the community.” Charlotte Jones | NFL Foundation Chairman
GET ACTIVE. GET HEALTHY. Charlotte Jones and Kenneth H. Cooper, MD, MPH build a healthier generation Well. Into the Future together.
Success in Texas Depends on Youth Health For nearly two centuries, Texas has been a place of discovery, exploration and possibilities. But an unhealthy workforce could derail that in future. READ MORE, 4
Data Drives Decisions Many school-based programs claim to increase student physical activity and health. The real question is whether they actually work. READ MORE, 5
Top Business Leaders Gather to Honor NFL Foundation’s Impact on Youth Fitness As childhood obesity rates continue to rise, the NFL Foundation rises to the top as one of the few organizations willing to tackle the problem on a large scale. The Cooper Institute honored the NFL Foundation at the 2019 Legacy Award Dinner for the widespread impact of NFL PLAY 60 programs to improve youth health and fitness. READ MORE, 6-7
The Power of Public-private partnerships They say it takes a village to raise a child, but what does it take to raise a generation of healthy children? Today’s children are facing a serious, but preventable, health crisis. READ MORE, 8
The Power of Research EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP TEAM
IT’S A FACT.
Exercise is the best preventive medicine. Kenneth H. Cooper, MD, MPH
Laura F. DeFina, MD President, CEO & Chief Science Officer ldefina@cooperinst.org
Amy Johnson Chief Development Officer ajohnson@cooperinst.org
Onyeka Nchege Chief Information Officer onchege@cooperinst.org
Chairman Emeritus
Kayla Heath, CPA Chief Financual Officer kheath@cooperinst.org
The Cooper Institute stands as the leading authority on the long-term benefits of physical fitness.
THE COOPER INSTITUTE BOARD OF TRUSTEES
OUR MISSION:
The Cooper Institute is dedicated to promoting life-long health and wellness through research and education. Tedd Mitchell, MD Chairman Texas Tech University System
Arthur M. Blank The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation and Blank Family of Business
Susan Dell Michael & Susan Dell Foundation
Charles Anderson Vice Chairman Bandera Ventures
Brian O. Casey Westwood Holdings Group
Elmer L. Doty The Carlyle Group
Stephen D. Good Secretary Foley Gardere
Thomas W. Codd PricewaterhouseCoopers
Tony Evans, ThD Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship
Troy Aikman Aikman Enterprises
Tyler C. Cooper, MD, MPH Cooper Aerobics
David D. Glass Glass Investments, LLC Kansas City Royals
OUR VISION:
Rebuild a healthy and safe world and workforce through prevention, physical activity and healthy living.
RAISING A HEALTHIER GENERATION The NFL PLAY 60 FitnessGram Project, a partnership between the NFL Foundation and The Cooper Institute, proves that NFL PLAY 60 programs help students improve cardio fitness and achieve a healthier body weight.
Ray L. Hunt Hunt Consolidated, Inc.
James W. Keyes Key Development, LLC
Drayton McLane, Jr. McLane Group
Hon. Jeanne L. Phillips Hunt Consolidated, Inc.
The Healthy Zone Schools program, a partnership with United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, supports and recognizes schools that are creating a culture of health to fight the childhood obesity epidemic through physical activity and nutrition education.
Nina B. Radford, MD Cooper Clinic
Steven S. Reinemund Wake Forest University
Eduardo Sanchez, MD American Heart Association
Roger Staubach 15 Partners
12330 Preston Road, Dallas, TX 75230 972.341.3200 | CooperInstitute.org #WELLintotheFuture
In 2036, Texas turns 200. Are we ready for what’s next?
Success in Texas Depends on Youth Health A new decade brings a new start, and as Texans look toward the future, it’s clear we must look at the health and education of our children. Texas will add 10 million more people by our state’s bicentennial in 2036, with a significant portion of them in North Texas. To support 38 million Texans, we’ll need to create up to 8 million more jobs, and whether our children can fill those jobs will largely depend on their health and education.
Unfortunately, the trends are not good. In Texas, our rate of 10 to 17 year olds who are obese is 16%, which is higher than 30 other states. This condition is an important predictor of health, as it is associated with lifetime risks for poor health outcomes such as diabetes, asthma, depression, and heart disease. More than 2.5 million Texas children do not eat any vegetables on a given school day, and Texas children are not exercising. Nearly 78% do not meet federally recommended activity guidelines. These figures do not bode well for our future. Texas already has some of the highest rates of diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular deaths among adults in the country. Preventing those diseases begins in childhood. It’s critical not to overlook how interconnected health and education are. Obesity in childhood is linked to poorer educational outcomes including lower GPA, lower reading and math scores, and more school absences. Late last year, the Nation’s Report Card showed that 7 out of 10 fourth graders in Texas cannot read at grade level.
Ensuring children are healthy and in school each day is one of the best ways to prepare them to learn. Texas needs a comprehensive, integrated approach to children’s health that goes beyond the doctor’s office and takes place in the community. We know interventions delivered at school can work. Today, over 30 million kids eat a healthy lunch every day because of the National School Lunch Program, including 3.3 million kids in Texas. It’s an amazingly cost-effective way to improve education. The bottom line is that good nutrition helps kids succeed at learning. It’s important that we find other ways to lead toward better achieving, healthier kids. For instance, today, there is no requirement for health class in Texas high schools or daily recess in Texas elementary schools. As we prepare for the future, we need business, community, health and education leaders to better use their platforms to engage the public in an open, fact-based debate on how we can improve health and education outcomes for our children. This will require data collection, collaboration, open lines of communication and debate over best practices and approaches. We have Texas-sized health challenges looming. It’s going to take creative and comprehensive thinking to overcome them. Margaret Spellings is the CEO of Texas 2036 and the former U.S. Secretary of Education.
Margaret Spellings
Texas 2036, President and CEO
10 MILLION MORE TEXANS WILL CALL TEXAS HOME BY 2036
16% OBESITY AMONG TEXAS TEENS AGES 10-17
2.5 MILLION
TEXAS CHILDREN DO NOT EAT ANY VEGETABLES ON A GIVEN SCHOOL DAY
78%
OF TEXAS STUDENTS DO NOT MEET THE RECOMMENDED PHYSICAL ACTIVITY GUIDELINES
Ensuring children are healthy and in school each day is one of the best ways to prepare them to learn.
Data drives decisions
Many school-based programs claim to increase student physical activity and health, but the real question is whether they actually work. Ideally, schools will have quality physical education, physical activity opportunities throughout the day, and routine fitness assessment to measure progress. It is critical to evaluate school-based physical activity programs using an evidence-based fitness assessment to ensure that the programs are effective and improve youth health.
These schools also use FitnessGram by The Cooper Institute, an evidence-based fitness assessment, to evaluate the Healthy Fitness Zone status of students in grades 3 – 12.
Dr. Laura F. DeFina
The schools with fitter and leaner students continued to improve over four years, which suggests that ongoing PLAY 60 programming is helpful. These results led The Cooper Institute to redesign the project and develop a more structured implementation that includes consistent delivery of physical activity and healthy eating education. The NFL PLAY 60 FitnessGram Project is available in all 32 cities that have an NFL team.
The Cooper Institute, President, CEO and Chief Science Officer The National Football League Foundation, in conjunction with the American Heart Association (AHA), developed the NFL PLAY 60 program in 2006 based on recommended physical activity guidelines. They later expanded the program to include nutrition education through programs like Fuel Up to Play 60. In 2009, the NFL Foundation engaged The Cooper Institute to scientifically evaluate the health benefits of this programming by creating the NFL PLAY 60 FitnessGram Project. The program includes committed partnerships with the National Dairy Council and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, NFL FLAG and USA Football, GENYOUth, and the AHA. Participating schools receive financial support and guidance to utilize the various physical activity and nutrition “plays” offered by the PLAY 60 programs.
In 2017, The Cooper Institute published the results in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. This pivotal study showed that the schools that actively participated in NFL PLAY 60 programs, including Fuel Up to Play 60 and the NFL Play 60 Challenge, had more children in the Healthy Fitness Zone for both fitness and weight. Together, the intervention and the assessment provide firm evidence that PLAY 60 programming improves the health of children, schools and communities.
Given the health benefits seen with the early phases of the program, the more structured project will likely provide sustainable programming and added health benefits while teaching children life-long healthy lifestyle habits. Laura F. DeFina, MD, FACP is the CEO and Chief Science Officer of The Cooper Institute. She is also a U.S. Army veteran and was recently reappointed to the Texas Council on Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders by Gov. Greg Abbott.
TO LEARN MORE OR GET INVOLVED, VISIT FITNESSGRAM.NET/NFLPLAY60
IT’S A FACT. Research from the NFL PLAY 60 FitnessGram Project proves that students who participate in school-based fitness initiatives like NFL PLAY 60 have: 3 Improved cardio fitness 3 Healthier body weight
Top Business Leaders Gather to Honor NFL Foundation’s Impact on Youth Fitness
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NFL PLAY 60 FITNESSGRAM PROJECT
11 YEARS
WORKING TOGETHER TO IMPROVE STUDENT HEALTH AND FITNESS
As childhood obesity rates continue to rise, the NFL Foundation rises to the top as one of the few organizations willing to tackle the problem on a large scale. The Cooper Institute honored the NFL Foundation at the 2019 Legacy Award Dinner for the widespread impact of NFL PLAY 60 programs to improve youth health and fitness. The annual event is the premier fundraiser for The Cooper Institute, founded by Dr. Kenneth H. Cooper nearly 50 years ago to prove through scientific research that exercise is the best preventive medicine.
This year’s event raised a record-breaking $740,000 to support research and education.
“I want to encourage everybody to consider how they can get more involved in their own school districts and governments to use FitnessGram,” said Blank who was last year’s Legacy award recipient for helping transform youth health and fitness in his home state of Georgia.
Arthur M. Blank
Executive chairs Arthur Blank and Roger Staubach are thankful for all of the support for this year’s event.
Charlotte Jones, Dallas Cowboys Executive Vice President and Chief Brand Officer, serves as chairman of the NFL Foundation and accepted the award on its behalf.
“It’s all about prevention,” said Jones at the 2019 Legacy Award Dinner. “Our goal is to harness enthusiasm and passion and shoulder with institutions that are truly making an impact in the community.”
“It’s phenomenal to be able to prove how exercise and fitness can help you live longer and more productively,” said Staubach, a long-time member of the board of trustees and the 2016 Legacy award recipient.
Roger Staubach Legacy Award Dinner Executive Chair
Legacy Award Dinner Executive Chair
A LEGACY OF SUCCESS Since 2012, Georgia students have been leading healthier, more active lives thanks to empowering evidence-based programs such as the NFL PLAY 60 and FitnessGram by The Cooper Institute. Arthur M. Blank, Atlanta Falcons owner and long-time board trustee for The Cooper Institute, helped facilitate powerful strategic alliances with partners such as the Department of Public Health, Georgia Department of Education, Georgia SHAPE, and the Atlanta Falcons to make FitnessGram the statewide youth fitness assessment in Georgia public schools.
2019 LEGACY DINNER SILVER SPONSORS:
Legacy Award Dinner
AT&T Troy Aikman Charles Anderson/Tedd Mitchell, MD Sandra and Elmer Doty SWEET TREAT SPONSOR: Arthur J. Gallagher
Gene and Jerry Jones Family Foundation The Richards Group Margo and James W. Keyes Orville C. Rogers
“Young people need to spend time being active for physical and mental health,” said Blank at the 2019 Legacy Award Dinner in Dallas. The combined efforts have helped to reduce childhood obesity and improve the health and wellness of youth across the state.
Save Legacy Award Dinner the Date
Honoring The Cooper Institute Founder & Chairman Emeritus
NOVEMBER 5, 2020
KENNETH H. COOPER, MD, MPH Executive Chairs: Ray and Nancy Ann Hunt
Georgia now boasts a 5% overall decline in childhood obesity and the largest decline in childhood obesity among low-income preschoolers.
INSPIRING KIDS TO PLAY In Texas and across the nation, advocates like Blank and Jones are helping raise awareness about the impact of youth fitness. By improving fitness and building healthy habits at a young age, students can grow up to be healthier, more productive adults.
Angie Blank, Arthur M. Blank, Jerry Jones, Kenneth H. Cooper
Lyda Hill, Bobbie Sue Williams
Kenneth H. Cooper, Betsy Price, Barclay Berdan
Stan Richards, Carol Murphy, Charlotte Jones
NFL PLAY 60 is the only school-based youth fitness program proven effective through research using FitnessGram by The Cooper Institute, the most widely-used youth fitness assessment and software tool in the country. Greater participation in school-based fitness programs like NFL PLAY 60 can improve the health of American children, and FitnessGram can measure that growth along the way.
“We want to inspire young kids to do the right thing, to be active, to be motivated by playing,” said Jones. “All we are doing is telling them to play!” The next Legacy Award Dinner will honor Dr. Kenneth Cooper, the “Father of Aerobics” and the founder of The Cooper Institute. The event will be held Nov. 5, 2020. For sponsorship information, please contact Amy Johnson at 214-543-6533 or visit cooperinstitute.org/legacyaward.
2020 Well.Hero. Award: Mayor Betsy Price
The city has moved up from the 185th least healthy city to the 31st healthiest city.
“It’s not about being thin, it’s about being healthy,” said Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price at the 2019 Legacy Award Dinner where she accepted the Well.Hero. Award for inspiring an entire city to get active and healthy.
In Fort Worth ISD, over 20,000 students using FitnessGram who are at-risk for diabetes have shown a 6% reduction in their risk factors for diabetes in just 3 years.
Fort Worth is now the largest city in the U.S. to join the Blue Zone Project, a strategic partnership backed by Texas Health Resources that helps make healthy choices the easy choice.
“As a nation, a city and a state, we still have a lot of work to do,” said Mayor Price. “We can make people’s lives better.”
The power of public-private partnerships They say it takes a village to raise a child, but what does it take to raise a generation of healthy children? Nancy Brown While family members and teachers work together to make an impact on the individual children in their lives, larger collaborations are required to make change on a grander scale for all children.
American Heart Association, CEO
“Vision helps USA Football lift education and playing standards in our sport across schools and our youth leagues in all 50 states.”
Today’s children are facing a serious, but preventable, health crisis.
Nearly one-third of today’s youth are overweight or obese and 75% of young adults are ineligible to serve in the military. This generation is facing a shorter lifetime of debilitating and expensive chronic health conditions. Imagine the impact on our future workforce if we don’t change their trajectory now.
Scott Hallenback
USA Football, CEO & Executive Director
“Fuel Up to Play 60 has helped over 14 million students eat healthier and 18 million get more active.”
Widespread initiatives to improve the health of children and teens wouldn’t be possible without the cooperation of like-minded public and private businesses all sharing the same vision. “More than a decade ago, the American Heart Association and the NFL Foundation teamed up to improve children’s health nationwide through NFL PLAY 60,” said Nancy Brown, CEO of American Heart Association. “Together, we’ve encouraged more than 4.5 million students to become physically active for at least 60 minutes daily through programs that teach heart-healthy fitness and nutrition.” Additional partners such as the National Dairy Council, USA Football, and The Cooper Institute help validate and broaden the scope of the program to get kids active and healthy.
Jimena Tinoco
Fuel Up to Play 60, Youth Council Member
“NFL Foundation, thank you for recognizing that every child should have the right to play.”
Legacy Award Dinner
Alexis Glick GENYOUth, CEO
Honoring The
N AT I O N A L F O OT B A L L L E AG U E F O U N DAT I O N
“National Dairy Council has been working with schools to improve the health and wellness environment of students for over a century.”
NFL PLAY 60 programming provides millions of children the opportunity to grow into strong, healthy adults, but there is more work to be done. Let’s work together to change the lives of millions more.
For more information, please contact Amy Johnson at 214-543-6533 or visit cooperinstitute.org/advocacy.
“Together, we’ve encouraged more than 4.5 million students to become physically active for at least 60 minutes daily through programs that teach heart-healthy fitness and nutrition.”
Jean Ragalie-Carr, RDN
National Dairy Council, President
