Childhood Obesity Prevention/Intervention in New York City

Asphalt Green is a sports and fitness facility located in Manhattan’s Upper East Side, known best as New York City’s premiere aquatics facility. Catering to a diverse group of New Yorkers, Asphalt Green serves fee-based clientele through youth and masters swim teams, a high quality fitness center, and training programs for elite athletes. The organization also spearheads a number of community fitness programs that serve both the city’s elderly population and youth through introduction to competitive sports and recess enhancement in public schools. Overwhelmed by the city’s skyrocketing childhood obesity rates that now surpass 20%, Asphalt Green asked the Capstone team to help create a strategic plan to launch an East Harlem-based childhood obesity prevention program that would be well-researched, effective, and financially sustainable. After an in-depth literature review and relationship building with key stakeholder organizations in the city, the Capstone team provided recommendations and an implementation plan. The resulting plan will be implemented in a number of after-school programs in East Harlem in fall 2007 in conjunction with Cornell Cooperative Extension provided receipt of sufficient funding.