Public Health Law & Policy’s first step in developing NPLAN was to conduct a needs assessment of nutrition and physical activity experts to understand their legal and policy concerns. In 2007 NPLAN conducted nearly 100 in-depth interviews with prospective stakeholders, including community-based advocates, health department staff, legal scholars, research scientists and policy-makers. Participants identified a number of challenges facing the movement to prevent childhood obesity:

• Scientific evidence is beginning to emerge indicating the types of policies that will be effective, but more research is necessary.
• Coalitions must be built and strategies aligned throughout the field.
• There is no single approach to dealing with the food and beverage industries; a multipronged strategy is needed.
• Agents of change throughout the system, from federal government to grassroots organizations, are looking for unified leadership within the movement—leadership that is coalescing and will continue to develop.

The needs assessment also revealed several major lessons on how to move forward:

• A focus on changing environments to improve access to healthy foods and increase physical activity is most likely to demonstrate success, because it’s easier to measure such changes than to show that a policy is lowering obesity rates.
• Policy resources should promote concrete, actionable strategies and identify legal criteria for innovative policies.
• All legal and policy concerns must take into consideration the specific implications for low-income and racial and ethnic minority communities.
• Advocates are very interested in practical, useful legal and policy tools, especially model ordinances and policies and simple fact sheets—along with the in-depth legal research and analysis to back them up.
• Tools and resources created for practitioners in the field must be tailored to be relevant for a broad range of target audiences.

The interviews uncovered many specific legal and policy strategies that NPLAN could address. To help determine the most viable and effective interventions, NPLAN developed an online survey that asked stakeholders to rank dozens of policy options in various categories; more than 2,300 stakeholders responded. NPLAN also convened conference calls and in-person meetings to further pinpoint short-term strategies and services.

The collective input of thousands of stakeholders has helped NPLAN map out and prioritize a plan of action. By harnessing the best legal and policy minds in the country and providing a forum for collaboration with leading scientists and advocates, NPLAN will empower and propel the childhood obesity movement by continuing to develop research, recommendations and practical tools that are informed by the communities we serve.

NPLAN is a nonprofit organization that provides legal information on matters relating to public health. NPLAN attorneys do not represent individual clients, provide legal advice, or otherwise form attorney-client relationships. For legal advice or representation, readers should consult a lawyer in their state.