Youth Wellness with Let's Move!

The National League of Cities is recognizing municipalities that promote youth wellness with Let’s Move!, the initiative started by former first lady Michelle Obama.

The city of Aurora, Colorado was recently awarded gold medals for meeting all five health and wellness goals outlined by the National League of Cities in local adaptations of the Let’s Move initiative. The program is called Let’s Move! Cities, Towns, and Counties. Local officials are encouraged to develop early childhood and healthy living education programs.

“This is the first year that we’ve received all five gold medals,” said spokeswoman Erin O’Neill, spokeswoman for Aurora Parks, Recreation and Open Space. “We’ve participated in the program for about four years now, and achieving gold status in all five categories was due to a combination of things that (Aurora has done) to create healthy options for kids.”

The five categories emphasize early childhood education, increases in healthy foods at city owned food spots such as vending machines, golf courses and swimming pools, nutritional meal programs for kids and creating more public parks for kids to play.