In 2007, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) announced it would invest at least $500 million over five years toward its goal of reversing the childhood obesity epidemic by 2015. RWJF will focus on improving access to affordable, healthy foods and opportunities for safe physical activity in schools and communities across the country.

As part of this initiative, RWJF asked Public Health Law & Policy (PHLP) to design a National Policy and Legal Analysis Network to Prevent Childhood Obesity (NPLAN). The network would provide leaders in the childhood obesity prevention field with

• focused legal research,    
• model policies,
• fact sheets,
• toolkits,
• training, and
• technical assistance to explain legal issues related to public health.