What Sectors Can Do
Everyone has a role to play when it comes to creating a healthier community and environment for kids.
Business
Businesses are an integral part of a community and have an influential role in the options that are available to local residents, their customers and employees.
Businesses have a unique opportunity to raise awareness of Live 5-2-1-0, and to help create a positive environment that supports families to live healthy, active lives. By being a Live 5-2-1-0 supporter, businesses demonstrate to their customers, employees, and community partners, their commitment to investing in shared priorities with the broader community and improving the health and wellbeing of local children.
Community Services
Community services are valuable allies in reaching children and families from diverse backgrounds and circumstances – often including those who can benefit the most from information and resources to support a healthy childhood.
Community services includes many settings such as local non-profit organizations, child care centres, libraries, and faith-based or cultural organizations. They often run programs and offer services that reach new families, newcomers to Canada, and families who face health challenges making them an integral partner in providing information and access to healthy options.
Families
Interested in building healthier habits within your family? That’s great!
Physical activity, healthy eating, and limited screen time are important for physical and mental health. They are especially important for kids! When children develop healthy habits early on, they are more likely to keep those habits as they grow.
Health
Healthcare providers have a unique opportunity to promote and support health behaviour change during interactions with their pediatric patients and their families.
Developing healthy behaviours early on is important for a child’s physical and mental health, and for preventing chronic disease including type 2 diabetes. Families place a lot of importance on the recommendations of healthcare providers and the messaging they hear and receive in healthcare settings, such as public health units and family doctor’s offices. The Live 5-2-1-0 message can be a valuable tool to open the discussion on a child’s current healthy living behaviours and support goal setting with families.
Local Government
Governments and city planners can help promote and protect the health of children by increasing the healthy options available to families through priority and policy setting, action planning, and community design.
Municipal leaders and staff also tend to have community connections across sectors that can help facilitate partnership-building and collaboration. By being a Live 5-2-1-0 champion, local governments lead by example and demonstrate their commitment to building a healthier community for all residents.
Media
The media is a key partner in reaching residents within a community to increase awareness of Live 5-2-1-0 and helping to promote local events and initiatives.
The media can also play an important role in bringing attention to the need for changes to practices, policies, and the built environment – the wider the reach, the more demand created in communities to make changes for a healthier environment for kids. Local media – such as newspapers, radio, and television – is a key link for connecting residents together, sharing information, and helping to raise awareness of local programs and services that support children and their families to lead active, healthy lives.
Recreation
Recreation and leisure services provide children with opportunities to try different activities, build new skills, and develop physical literacy in a fun and supportive environment.
The programs and services offered in recreational settings are well aligned with Live 5-2-1-0. They provide children and families with opportunities to be physically active, participate in a variety of activities, and come together as a healthy, vibrant community. Recreation and community centres can help raise awareness of the Live 5-2-1-0 message and also support these behaviours within their programming and in their settings.
Schools
From kindergarten through to high school, kids and youth spend the majority of their day at school.
Schools are an important setting for promoting healthy behaviours and supporting these through programs, policies, and environments. Live 5-2-1-0 doesn’t replace other local activities and programs, rather it serves as a common, over-arching message that helps tie local efforts together within schools, and across school districts and the broader community.
