Jen Voss

(YSA) Youth Service America

Director of Communications

Check out the videos again for yourself here!

UNITEDHEALTH GROUP ‘HEALTH HERO’ DESIGNATION

Alexandria Students, Mayor William D. Euille and

Superintendent of Alexandria City Public Schools, Dr. Mort Sherman

Participate in a “Kids Empowering Kids” Program

Focused on Supporting Children to Live Healthy Lives

Through Music, Dance and a Celebration of the Arts

as Part of Global Youth Service Day

ALEXANDRIA, VA – Monday, April 25, 2011 – DreamDog Foundation, a local 501(c)(3) brings interactive, cutting-edge experiential learning to local Title 1 students.  The Foundation was awarded a UnitedHealth HEALTH HEROES Grant from Youth Service America (YSA) and UnitedHealth Group, which supports youth-led service-learning initiatives addressing childhood obesity and healthy lifestyles.

The DreamDog Foundation was one of only six Virginia grantees to receive this high honor and is bringing their “Kids Empowering Kids” program to Mt. Vernon Community School, a Title 1 elementary school in Alexandria, Virginia. The DreamDog Foundation ‘Kids Empowering Kids” project is a celebration of the arts including music and movement, visual arts, dance, and written and spoken language.

Students are involved in every aspect of producing their music video from writing the lyrics for the song, to staging the dance moves and creating the art used in the video to EMPOWER other children to make healthy choices in their lives.

Singing and dancing on the video with the kids were Alexandria City Mayor, William D. Euille and Alexandria City Public Schools Superintendent, Dr. Mort Sherman.

The DreamDog Foundation “Kids Empowering Kids” program creates videos that send positive messages made BY KIDS FOR KIDS!  The program, which works on literacy skills while building self-esteem, enables the children to help make a difference – all through a hands-on, multi-media experiential learning program.

The two week-long initiative was a part of Global Youth Service Day, the world’s largest and longest-running youth-led service campaign. To see award-winning singer, songwriter Rainey, Jazz the DreamDog and the DreamDog Kids perform their songs – “Rainbow Chew” and         “B HealthE!” – please click here:

This is the video by the little ones (students in grades 1-2):

“Rainbow Chew“ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_RQzBAEhug

This is the video by the older kids (students in grades 3-5):

“B HealthE!” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zigheLqtaOc

Or you can go to their website www.DreamDog.org to view the music videos and see daily video and photo updates of their adventure in health and learning.

Lorraine Friedman, Executive Director for the DreamDog Foundation said that the program provides a much-needed dose of experiential learning. “You can listen to a million lectures about health and nutrition, but if you are having to write a poem or a song to try to change someone else’s behavior, it really makes you stop and think – what would work for me?  What message would I need to hear to make a change?”  Then she says, “with that empowered thinking, knowing that they have the ability to change another kids’ life, they really create fabulous work, going beyond worksheets or writing assignment.”  She says that two of the older girls added a line in their poem warning kids not to smoke, sharing their experience of losing a family member to lung cancer: “And, never smoke. It’s not a joke and it could even make you choke.”  Friedman said, “making connections to their real life experiences and then sharing those with others – when the students become the teachers – is a very powerful learning tool.”

“These grants were extremely competitive, but the DreamDog Foundation exemplified service-learning and the UnitedHealth HEROES program,” said Steve Culbertson, President and CEO of Youth Service America. “Young people in Alexandria want to make a difference, and UnitedHealth Group, in conjunction with Youth Service America and programs like ‘Kids Empowering Kids’ offers them resources to make a positive, measurable impact on their community.”

“With UnitedHealth HEROES, we are helping young people take action to improve their overall health and quality of life in a way that’s not only educational, but beneficial for their communities.  As people become more aware of health issues through health literacy and advocacy initiatives they will make positive changes to live better lives,” said Kate Rubin, UnitedHealth Group vice president of Social Responsibility.

At the DreamDog website and on their Facebook page, you can follow the daily progress of the “Kids Empowering Kids” program. “Rainbow Chew” a song created by the students and Rainey features 1^st and 2^nd graders teaching their friends and community the importance of eating a variety of fruits and vegetables everyday. “B HealthE!” was written and performed by 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th grade students to empower and inspire others with the lessons they learned about making healthy choices, for food and exercise.  The students’ favorite part of the program was having the Mayor and Superintendent sing parts they had written for their community leaders. The project provided the opportunity for the students to become the teachers sharing all their lessons learned about health and nutrition. That’s the power of “Kids Empowering Kids!”

For more information about the DreamDog Foundation’s “Kids Empowering Kids” project, visit http://www.DreamDog.org.  For more information about Youth Service America and Global Youth Service Day, visit www.YSA.org.

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This is the video by the little ones (students in grades 1-2):

“Rainbow Chew“ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_RQzBAEhug

This is the video by the older kids (students in grades 3-5):

“B HealthE!” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zigheLqtaOc

Thank you to everyone who helped make this “Kids Empowering Kids” program possible!

During art we used Mod Podge to finish up our healthy art.  Can’t wait to put those up all around the school for our friends to see.

Lastly, we spent time practicing in the auditorium getting ready for our performance tomorrow.  We decided to show our friends our morning warm-ups to get them all moving.  We are going to have such fun tomorrow!

Monday we will rehearse our songs and get them down perfect. Tuesday we will record the music with special guests ACPS Superintendent, Mort Sherman and Alexandria Mayor, Bill Euille. Wednesday will record all the footage for our video. Thursday is practice for our live presentation. Then Friday it is time for the big show!