Out of School Time
Health Empowered Out of School Time
Funded by 
What youth-empowered,
healthy learning looks like
Youth at Health Empowered OST sites harvested 193 pounds of fresh produce from 18 different gardens they tended last year.
Learn more about our impact ⟶
Visit a Health Empowered out of school time (OST) site, and you’ll see more of what makes the youth development movement so powerful. Not just some kids, but all kids doing high-energy Brain Boosters before they start their afternoon activities. Middle school girls practicing yoga together. Youth in aprons measuring and stirring their way through a Cooking Matters class while others are out in the fresh air – planting or harvesting beets or sweet potatoes from the garden.
Everywhere you look, youth are getting more chances to develop and grow healthy habits while bringing their own voices and choices to the mix – organizing their own fitness clubs or participating in weekly challenges that promote healthy eating and physical activity to their peers.
At OST sites like the Boys & Girls clubs of Metro Atlanta, we provide direct services on-site that offer an added layer of support – and live, interactive events – to your regular programming and youth routines.
Each club or OST community advances its own plan for boosting healthy eating and physical activity – but does so within a framework of coaching and support that lasts throughout the relationship.
How It Happens
Dedicated onsite support
Look to your Health Educator for resources and ongoing technical support. This friendly personal coach will connect your team to staff trainings and easy-to-integrate games, activities and taste tests. They can even point you to outside resources, like grant opportunities.
Dynamic professional development
Active learning not only works better – it’s fun, too. Your OST Health Team will determine which nutrition and physical activity goals make sense for your unique culture and climate. In our highly interactive process that’s geared to the National Aftercare Association’s Health Eating and Physical Activity (HEPA) standards, you’ll develop the action plan that works for your youth, staff and community.
Healthy youth and family engagement
Kids are highly motivated by their peers, and at Health Empowered OST sites, Youth Health Advocates help lead the charge. These youth leaders help host live events and direct social messaging for their OST location. Whether leading Cooking Matters classes, tending a garden, organizing fitness clubs or a family health fair, these influencers are on the scene, transforming themselves and their communities.
This material was funded by USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — SNAP. This institution is an equal opportunity provider. For the USDA’s full non-discrimination statement, click here.
“Our relationship with HealthMPowers is the model for effective, mutually beneficial partnerships. They’ve provided hands-on support to each of our clubs, growing our capacity to deliver high-quality cooking and gardening programs. And we’ve seen real results in how our kids make healthy food choices, and their interest in physical activity. HealthMPowers has created opportunities for our kids to think critically about healthy decisions, obstacles to these decisions, and the importance of investing in their bodies in ways that promote health.”
Adrianne Penner,
Senior Director, Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta
Give youth a boost!
Help them grow up nourished and active. Offer them Health Empowered out of school time (OST).
Power Up for 30
Join the movement!
Power Up for 30 is now available for OST sites
Power Up for 30 helps kickoff increased healthy activity throughout a child’s day. In this behavior-changing training, educators experience and identify creative ways to add at least 30 minutes of physical activity into the day for all youth – before, during or after school.
Each out of school time (OST) site implements Power Up for 30 differently, but all see real benefits. Why? Research suggests that physical activity positively influences brain function – and can translate into improved academic achievement, better behavior and reduce the risk of depression and anxiety.
Power Up for 30 is a collaborative effort between HealthMPowers and Georgia Shape, the governor’s statewide initiative to fight childhood obesity and other children’s health issues in Georgia.
