Reducing Early Childhood Obesity (RECO) Evaluation
Highlights
- Early childhood obesity is a serious and growing problem.
- Abt evaluated the reach and impact of First 5 LA’s RECO investments.
- Results suggest broad reach and significant impacts of RECO across and within LA County.
Many young children are overweight or obese, which can lead to poor health outcomes later in life as well as higher health care costs. First 5 LA, an independent county agency that helps prepare children for kindergarten during their first five years, funded diverse investments to improve children’s health. First 5 LA wanted to assess the reach and impact of the Reducing Early Childhood Obesity (RECO) investments in Los Angeles County.
Abt led the RECO evaluation, which consisted of two interrelated studies. One study assessed the impact of the RECO investments on LA County as a whole and on communities within the county by employing several innovative methods, including a synthetic comparison group method and a comparative interrupted time series method. A separate reach study described the extent to which the RECO investments targeted and reached the intended families and those most in need of services.
Results indicate that RECO investments reached over half of the census tracts in LA County. Abt also found that RECO reduced early childhood obesity across LA County. Looking within the county, we found that RECO reduced early childhood obesity in communities that received RECO activities.
Related Resources:
- Reducing Early Childhood Obesity Impact Study
- Assessing the Reach of Investments to RECO in Los Angeles (LA) County, California (ISBNPA 2020 Conference video)
- RECO at the County-Level: Impacts of Efforts to Improve Nutrition and Physical Activity in Los Angeles County, California (ISBNPA 2020 Conference video)
- RECO at the Community-Level: Impacts of Efforts to Improve Nutrition and Physical Activity in Los Angeles County, California (ISBNPA 2020 Conference video)
- RECO Interactive Map and RECO Interactive Map User’s Guide
- Infographic: RECO Community Level Impacts
- Infographic: RECO County Level Impacts
- Infographic: RECO Reaching Individuals, Communities and Policies
- Reach Study Interim Findings Report – December 2017
- Reach Study Interim Findings Brief
- Addendum to the Interim Report - Reach Study Updates
- #AskAbt: Michelle Blocklin answers questions about RECO, a childhood obesity prevention initiative