About Us
Program History
Originally started by the Florida Department of Health in 2018 as the Florida ECE Award through funding from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the FL HEROs recognition was a statewide recognition and award program for licensed child care providers in Florida that awarded programs for taking voluntary steps to implement evidence-based best practices for promoting a healthy weight among children 0-5.
The program transitioned to being managed by the Health Council of Southeast Florida (HCSEF) in 2019 with funding from Nemours Children's Health System through the Healthy Kids, Healthy Future Technical Assistance Program grant which aimed to improve ECE level system policies and environments to support the health of young children.
Through the work within this grant and the strong partnerships built by HCSEF, Go NAPSACC became available in FL in 2020 and the local TA Network was established to help support ECEs statewide. DOH at the state level made this possible by funding this initiative and later-on the University of Florida Institute for Food and Agricultural Sciences Family Nutrition Program also funded part of the program to support the sustainability after the grant ended.
The recognition program, along with the other grant activities, sunset last summer in 2023.
The Let's Be HEROs Technical Assistance Program currently continues on so ECEs can receive personalized technical support from TA providers across the state implementing the evidence-based practices and participating in professional development training within Go NAPSACC. HCSEF currently serves as the State Lead for Go NAPSACC and helps coordinate the TA network and implementation with DOH and UF/IFAS Extension FNP. While these two organizations now serve as TA providers, any organization who would like to provide TA to ECE providers can go through the Go NAPSACC training and be a TA consultant through this program.
Florida ECE Award Launched
Launched by Florida Department of Health, funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Management Transition
Management of the program transitioned to the Health Council of Southeast Florida, with funding provided by Nemours Children’s Health System, as a part of the HKHF TAP grant.
Go NAPSACC launched in FL
Go NAPSACC became available in Florida, and the local Technical Assistant Network was established to help support ECEs state-wide.
Florida’s HEROs Recognition Program Sunset
The recognition and award program ended in the Summer of 2023. Thanks to our partners at FDOH and UF/IFAS, Go NAPSACC continued on!
State Partners
Free access to Go NAPSACC for all early childcare education providers in Florida is generously funded through two state partners, the Florida Department of Health Division of Community Health Promotion and the University of Florida Institute for Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension Family Nutrition Program (UF/IFAS Extension FNP). Thank you to our partners who make this work possible!
Florida Go NAPSACC Committee
The Florida Go NAPSACC Committee is composed of a wide range of ECE system partners across the state that serve children and their families. The intention for this committee is to be a forum where organizations can connect with one another to help further support building the ECE network in their local and regional areas and talk about roadblocks, solutions, and strategies to encourage healthy habits within childcare programs.
We welcome individuals who would like to be a guest speaker, and during our committee meetings, we also provide updates to our Let’s Be HEROs program to ensure all committee members have the most up to date information.
Want to join our Florida Go NAPSACC Committee?
Email us to get put on our contact list!
Resources
Let's Get Started
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State Partners
The Let’s Be HEROs Technical Assistance Program website is made possible with funding from the Centers for the Disease Control and Prevention through a Cooperative Agreement (6 NU38OT000304-05-05) with Nemours Children’s Health. The views expressed in this website do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the CDC or imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.
