North Carolina ranks 25th in adult obesity and 18th in childhood obesity in the nation. Eat Smart Move More North Carolina (ESMMNC) is a state-level organization focused on healthy lifestyle initiatives and education. The ESMMNC mission is “To reverse the rising tide of obesity and chronic disease among North Carolinians by helping them to eat smart, move more and achieve a healthy weight”. In 2012, the ESMMNC developed a policy strategy platform, an important document to provide a link between current legislative updates and its NC plan for obesity prevention in North Carolina. The purpose of this public service project was to update the ESMMNC 2012 policy strategy platform for 2015. These updates reflect recommended changes made in the North Carolina Plan and Healthy Plan NC 2020, another ESMMNC document. New strategies were added from the current ESMMNC plan which included state legislative actions. The final product is an updated ESMMNC policy strategies platform (2015), which will be available on the ESMMNC website. This document will provide quick access to current information on obesity prevention policy strategies. This public service project provided insights into the challenges associated with keeping advocates and other health promoters updated on policy changes, as well as the amount of work that is involved in providing the public with this information.
