For over a decade, the Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Child Care, or NAP SACC program, has worked with early care and education programs to set preschool children on a lifelong path to healthy eating and activity.
NAP SACC was created in 2002 by a team of child obesity researchers at UNC Chapel Hill in association with colleagues in the Nutrition Services branch at the North Carolina Division of Public Health. Conversations with early care and education providers, families, and experts in child health and education guided NAP SACC’s early development. The team brought these perspectives together with current research and national standards to develop a set of best practices—the most important actions child care programs could take to shape children’s healthy eating and physical activity habits.
The NAP SACC team developed self-assessment, action planning, and educational tools to help early care and education programs set goals and make improvements to their nutrition and physical activity practices. Technical assistance providers trained as NAP SACC consultants used these tools to coach programs through NAP SACC’s 5-Steps to healthy change.
