Our nation’s youth need guidance to help build fit bodies and strong minds. Working together, Americans can foster a generation that is less prone to disease, has higher academic achievers, and is more educated about food and its effects on health. These factors can have lasting effects on a child’s overall development and future.
In this spirit, the Corporation for National and Community Service has again implemented the summer United We Serve: Let’s Read. Let’s Move. initiative. By encouraging Americans to serve, the Corporation is addressing summer reading loss and childhood obesity by engaging youth in summer reading and physical activity, as well as providing information about healthy, affordable food.
This initiative is an Administration-wide effort led by CNCS in collaboration with First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! and four other federal agencies: U.S. Department of Education, Department of Interior, Department of Health and Human Services, and Department of Agriculture.
Service provides a sustained, collaborative, and simple way for individuals and organizations to meet community needs--the President’s United We Serve call to service seeks to make service a way of life for all Americans. Let’s Read. Let’s Move. provides information and support for service opportunities to help young people during the summer. It's going to take all of us working together to help our youth build fit bodies and strong minds.
Here are some ways that individuals and organizations can get involved.
Individuals can:
- Find volunteer opportunities on Serve.gov to fight hunger in their community.
- Read to kids or encourage them to read five books over the summer to prevent summer reading loss.
- Encourage young people to take the Presidential Active Lifestyle Award (PALA) challenge.
- Access toolkits to create a service project or event.
Organizations can:
- Learn more about summer reading loss and childhood obesity.
- Organize an event that provides summer reading, physical activities, and/or access to healthy, affordable food.
- Register to receive free books from one of the Let’s Read. Let’s Move. book resources.
- Administer the Presidential Active Lifestyle Award (PALA) challenge to the young people in the community.
We want to hear about your own Let’s Read. Let’s Move.
activities! Share how you or your organization is joining in the efforts
to combat childhood obesity and summer learning loss by posting your
service story on our
Facebook page or letting us know on
Twitter using the #LRLM hashtag.
For more information, contact us at
ServiceInitiative@cns.gov.
Want to create your own service project or event, but not sure how? Check out our helpful toolkits to help you get started.
Find Toolkits










