More than 500,000 African-American women and men will converge on New Orleans, Louisiana for Time Inc.’s highly acclaimed 22nd annual ESSENCE Music Festival, from June 30 to July 3. ESSENCE Festival, one of the largest consumer live events in the country, also serves as the backdrop for Play Like a Girl’s Pop-Up Play Day Tour which will celebrate the power of play this summer with free events to encourage kids to get up, get out and get active. Hip Hop Public Health will join the Pop-Up Play Day Tour for four days of programming intended to break down barriers to regular physical activity and connect children and families to active play opportunities in their local communities.
In New Orleans, Play Like a Girl is teaming up with Hip Hop Public Health in addition to Brown Girls DO Ballet, Girls on the Run NOLA, KIDS in the GAME, Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition, Youth Run NOLA, and Xavier University of Louisiana for events during the festival weekend. Hip Hop Public Health and other Tour partners will facilitate a Pre-Event Summit specially designed for networking, learning and information sharing. Xavier University will host a Collective Impact Workshop, where local residents will learn more about the Pop-Up Play Day Tour as well as the tools and resources available through Tour partners. This workshop will take place on Thursday, June 30 from 1PM until 3PM. Attendees will include coaches, physical education and general education teachers, school administrators, parents and community leaders, representatives from nonprofits and government agencies, public health professionals, and others engaged in the fight to end childhood obesity. The Pop-Up Play Day Tour (PUPDT) will feature daily Double Dutch demos as part of its activation at the ESSENCE Music Festival from July 1 to July 3, between 9AM and 5PM.
Double Dutch is a fun and engaging way for young people to increase their physical activity levels, which Hip Hop Public Health encourages in children and families through its Hip Hop F.E.E.T. (Finding Exercise and Energy Thresholds) program. F.E.E.T. focuses on imparting specific behavioral skills that children—and their parents—can utilize to engage in physical activity in any environment and promotes personal fitness over competition.Through fun, interactive hip hop songs, videos and games, Hip Hop F.E.E.T. applies anaerobic threshold training to improve physical fitness and to promote a healthy understanding of exercise for enjoyment and personal health. The goals of the program are to motivate children to engage in regular, tailored physical activity and instill healthful habits that can last a lifetime and to empower children to educate and encourage their parents and caregivers to participate in regular exercise.
Attendees will be able to sign up for our HHPH Ambassador program at the PUPDT tour booth so that they can access the Hip Hop F.E.E.T. programs multimedia tools to share with children and families in their communities. Doug E. Fresh, HHPH’s Founding Artist, and Easy A.D. of the Legendary Cold Crush Brothers, HHPH’s Director of Hip Hop Educational Programming, will also be joining the PUPDT partners at the Essence Music Festival to engage attendees. You won’t want to miss it!
Free registration for the Collective Impact Workshop is available through June 28. If you are in the New Orleans area or know people in the area who would be interested in learning more about and signing up for the HHPH Ambassador program, please be sure to attend or spread the word about the Collective Impact Workshop and visit our booth at the Morial Convention Center. Learn more at http://bringbackplay.org
