Children and Education

Today’s families face a troubling future: Research suggests that the current generation of children may be the first Americans ever to live shorter, sicker lives than their parents. Childhood obesity is on the rise, but many children never get the physical activity necessary to avoid it. Many families must raise their children in neighborhoods where healthy food is scarce, and opportunities for exercise virtually nonexistent.

Addressing these problems will require a diverse set of strategies cutting across disciplinary lines. And Burness Communications has been active in a wide range issues affecting children and their families. Our work touches on education, childhood obesity, healthy lifestyles, health promotion, and disease prevention.

Whether we are raising awareness about the social factors that affect health, record childhood obesity rates or successful strategies for encouraging physical activity among children, Burness’ advocacy has helped our clients challenge conventional wisdom and advance opportunity for children.

In recent years, we have:

• Led the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s communications efforts in support of its multi-pronged, $500-million-dollar effort to reverse the national childhood obesity epidemic by 2015.
• Worked with Nemours Health and Prevention Services to highlight the need for physical activity in early childhood settings to fight America’s obesity epidemic.
• Communicated the negative impacts of “teaching to the test” in civic education with the Carnegie-Knight Task Force at Harvard.
• Helped tell the stories of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation’s work with high-achieving, low-income students.