Childhood obesity in Georgia was the topic of the 2008 Family Impact Seminar recently sponsored by the Child and Family Policy Initiative in Atlanta for members of the Georgia General Assembly. The program was cosponsored as a committee meeting by Sen. Don Thomas, chair of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee and Rep. Judy Manning, chair of the House Committee on Children and Youth.

Guest speakers reviewed the state's efforts to address childhood obesity over the last three years and compared Georgia policies to those of other states. They were Richard Lewis, College of Family and Consumer Sciences, University of Georgia; Rodney Lyn, Institute of Public Health, Georgia State University; and Joe Thompson, director, Arkansas Center for Health Improvement and state surgeon general.

“The primary goal of the Family Impact Seminar is to offer policymakers timely, objective information and research on compelling family issues confronting our society today,” explains Karen Baynes, an associate director of the Vinson Institute, which coordinates the activities of the Child and Family Policy Initiative. “The seminar and briefing materials are intended to help legislators and their staffs become better equipped to understand, interpret, and evaluate complex policy options that will impact families today and in the future.”

The Child and Family Policy Initiative brings together expertise across various units of the University of Georgia.