Healthy Harlem¶
Product or Programme · All products and programmes
Evidence · 7 claims (6 for, 1 mixed) · 2 studies (2 causal),q2· 0 of 2 report an effect size · 7 claims rest on one study
Description¶
Healthy Harlem is a school-based health and wellness programme whose Get Fit and Prevention components promote students' physical fitness, nutrition knowledge, and physical-activity self-efficacy.
Components¶
- Get Fit and Prevention components of Healthy Harlem: Get Fit and Prevention are the two Healthy Harlem components to which the brief attributes fitness gains. The key findings state that "students who were overweight or obese and participated in Get Fit and Prevention had large and statistically significant increases in PACER laps two and three years later," and the brief concludes that "participation in Healthy Harlem's Get Fit and Prevention components increased levels of physical fitness." (Martha Bleeker et al. (2018))
- Healthy Harlem initiative (Harlem Children's Zone after-school program): Healthy Harlem is an initiative of the Harlem Children's Zone (HCZ) delivered through its after-school programs for middle and high school students, evaluated by Mathematica from 2012 to 2018 for the JPB Foundation. The brief states that "participation in Healthy Harlem's Get Fit and Prevention components increased levels of physical fitness" among overweight and obese students. Researchers monitored students during an initial baseline year and then measured program impacts after two and three years of participation. (Martha Bleeker et al. (2018))
- Healthy Harlem two-tier program: universal Prevention component plus targeted Get Fit program: Healthy Harlem is a comprehensive program aimed at promoting healthy lifestyles among Harlem Children's Zone after-school students. It has two tiers: a universal Prevention component, which "includes physical activity, healthy snacks, nutrition education lessons, and parent workshops," and Get Fit, an intensive program for overweight or obese middle and high school students in which students "identify and work on specific goals for improving their eating and/or physical activity habits." The evaluation examined impacts on knowledge, attitudes, social support, fitness, and BMI. (Mabli et al. (2017))
Claims¶
- Overweight or obese students who participated in Get Fit and Prevention had large and statistically significant increases in PACER laps two and three years later [+W]
- Increases in the percentage of students in the Harlem Fitness Zone were generally larger for boys than for girls [~W] — (also cited [+W])
- The percentage of students in the targeted Harlem Fitness Zone was significantly greater after two and three years of participation than at baseline [+W]
- Among students overweight or obese at baseline who received both Get Fit and Prevention, BMI z-scores and overweight/obesity prevalence were reduced [+W]
- Healthy Harlem generally increased students' fitness levels, with variation by gender [+W]
- Healthy Harlem had some positive impacts on other measures of student self-efficacy and social support [+W]
- Healthy Harlem increased students' nutrition knowledge and physical-activity self-efficacy, with gains sustained over three years [+W]
Related Products and Programmes¶
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Key Sources¶
- Martha Bleeker, James Mabli, Mary Kay Fox, Betina Jean-Louis, Marlene Fox. (2018). The Impact of Healthy Harlem on Student Fitness Outcomes after Two and Three Years. Princeton, NJ: Mathematica Policy Research. https://www.mathematica.org/publications/the-impact-of-healthy-harlem-on-student-fitness-outcomes-after-two-and-three-years
- Mabli, J., Bleeker, M., & Fox, M. K. (2017). The Impact of Healthy Harlem on the Prevalence of Child Overweight and Obesity and Contributing Factors: Interim Evaluation Report. Washington, DC: Mathematica Policy Research. https://www.mathematica.org/publications/the-impact-of-healthy-harlem-on-the-prevalence-of-child-overweight-and-obesity-and-contributing
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
product |
id |
healthy-harlem |
title |
Healthy Harlem |
description |
Healthy Harlem is a school-based health and wellness programme whose Get Fit and Prevention components promote students' physical fitness, nutrition knowledge, and physical-activity self-efficacy. |
status |
review |
moved_from |
element/get-fit-and-prevention-components, element/healthy-harlem-initiative-element, element/healthy-harlem-program-element |
product_kind |
programme |
generated |
by process:sweep-kinds on 2026-10-10 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
2 — martha-bleeker-2018, mabli-2017 |
Frontmatter is the page's machine-readable record — see the Schema & Guide.