A Brief History

Let’s Go! was born in 2006 with support and funding from seven Maine-based business leaders (a group of organizations that we now refer to as our Founding Partners). Building off the success of the 5-2-1-0 healthy habits message, which originated with the Maine Youth Overweight Collaborative (MYOC), a team of dedicated professionals set out to tackle childhood obesity. The program expanded and in 2007 committed to working in multiple settings (school, out-of-school, child care, health care, community, and workplace). Let’s Go! continues to use this multi-setting model today.

More developments came in 2008 when Let’s Go! introduced ten evidence-based strategies for childhood obesity prevention. The success of the program was evident by 2010 when Let’s Go! expanded to twelve of Maine’s sixteen counties. The program has continued to reach children and families across the state of Maine (and in select communities in New Hampshire and Massachusetts) due to strong leadership, committed partners and the continued generosity of funders who recognize the importance of establishing healthy habits beginning in childhood.

In 2016, as Let’s Go! celebrates its ten-year anniversary, the program is stronger than ever, fueled with the energy and commitment of 1,000 site champions. Let’s Go! is now in fifteen of Maine’s sixteen counties and implemented in 229 towns, including some in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. A network of Dissemination Partners support local Let’s Go! Coordinators, in organizations from community coalitions to hospitals. The program has become a movement fostering positive changes, one healthy choice, one healthy habit, one healthier environment at a time.