Happy Second Birthday Let's Move!

A look back at the launch of the First Lady's campaign on Feb. 9, 2010; Childhood Obesity Task Force reports, Videos...
"It’s time for a moment of truth for our country; it’s time we all had a wake up call," First Lady Michelle Obama said as she launched the Let's Move! campaign from the State Dining Room of the snow-covered White House on February 9, 2010. Today, Mrs. Obama begins a three-day tour to check on the progress of that wake up call as she marks the second anniversary of her now-massive campaign. Check out the White House list of achievements. (Above: Mrs. Obama speaks as she unveils her campaign in 2009)

The long-term generational goal of the campaign: Returning America to a childhood obesity rate of 5% by 2030, down from the current level of a little more than 17% who are identified as obese, or as the White House describes it "one in three children who are overweight or obese." On Feb. 9, 2010, President Obama signed a memorandum creating the first-ever White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity.

Chaired by former Domestic Policy Council Director Melody Barnes, who has now left the White House, the Task Force members included Cabinet Secretaries Arne Duncan, Kathleen Sebelius, Tom Vilsack and Ken Salazar. All were at the First Lady's launch event, seated in the front row. (Above: The signing ceremony)

"I just want to say how proud I am of the First Lady for her outstanding work," President Obama said during the very brief Oval Office signing ceremony. He was not present for the launch.

The campaign has involved thirteen different federal agencies over the last two years, with USDA being the most active, since it is responsible for school feeding programs, and making these healthier has been a crucial component of the campaign.

As Mrs. Obama unveiled her campaign, the State Dining Room was jammed with members of Congress, child health and food advocates, medical professionals, farmers, gardening experts, policy makers, and agency officials, all invited for the big roll out. With a huge video screen as a backdrop--and a group of school kids clad in Let's Move! t-shirts seated on the stage behind her--as Mrs. Obama described the very ambitious, comprehensive series of initiatives that would comprise the key pillars of the Let's Move! campaign. Senior Policy Advisor for Healthy Food Initiatives Sam Kass watched Mrs. Obama speak, leaning against the fireplace. He had a different title at the time: Food Initiative Coordinator. (Kass, above)

The First Lady was introduced before her remarks by 12-year-old Tammy Nguyen, one of the students who had worked in her Kitchen Garden. Dr. Judy Palfrey, who just resigned her post as Let's Move! Executive Director, also spoke; she was President of the American Academy of Pediatrics at the time. Urban farming expert Will Allen was also a speaker, as was Mayor Joseph Curtatone of Somerville, MA. Both are still involved with the campaign. Football star and NBC commentator Tiki Barber served as "emcee;" he is now "retired" from public life.


At the launch event, Mrs. Obama unveiled USDA's Food Environment Atlas. The web-based tool was designed to provide "a spatial overview" of "a community's ability to access healthy food and its success in doing so." Mrs. Obama noted that it was a good way to visualize the 23.5 million Americans, including 6.5 million American children, who live in food deserts, which she defined as "'communities without a supermarket."

Food deserts have now received enormous attention from the campaign in terms of private sector commitments from Walmart and other grocers to build in these areas, but Mrs. Obama no longer uses the term "food deserts" when discussing the importance of making healthy food more affordable and accessible. The White House now uses the phrase "underserved communities," but does not have a definition for this.

The Task Force Report and Updates: Bending The Curve
The Task Force issued a Report in May of 2010, which detailed a comprehensive series of recommendations and an action plan for the campaign. It called for a rapid "bending the curve," in childhood obesity statistics, with a 2.5% reduction in overweight and obese children by 2015, and by 2020, a 5% reduction, in order to reach the 20130 goal.

"For the first time--we’re setting really clear goals and benchmarks and measurable outcomes that will help tackle this challenge one step, one family and one child at a time," Mrs. Obama said of the Report.

*Download the Full Childhood Obesity Task Force Report. [PDF].

*Last year, during the one year anniversary of the campaign, the Task Force issued a One Year Progress Report [PDF]. No progress report was released this year.

*IN THIS POST, First Lady historians, acclaimed nutritionist Dr. Marion Nestle, and Mrs. Obama's top aides discuss the impact of the Let's Move! campaign after the first year.

The First Lady's first Let's Move! video, below, explained the campaign. It appeared on the LetsMove.gov website, which launched on Feb. 9, 2010.


*Photos by Eddie Gehman Kohan/Obama Foodorama; oval Office photo by Pete Souza/White House