SHOW ME STRONG KIDS was developed by pediatricians at the University of Missouri in response to the community level disruption caused by the COVID 19 Pandemic. Program goals include increasing partnerships between child-serving leaders across multiple community facets and supporting multidimensional, evidence-informed decision making to improve child health and well-being. SHOW ME STRONG KIDS continues serving as a conduit for evidence-informed decision making for communities in Missouri.

In 2022, SHOW ME STRONG KIDS partnered with local physicians from eight Missouri communities from rural to urban settings throughout the state to bring together community leaders dedicated to child wellbeing. Community Leader Roundtables facilitated cross-cutting discussions about pressing child-health issues. Networks of community leaders continue working together through regional SHOW ME STRONG KIDS community meetings and projects.

Additionally, SHOW ME STRONG KIDS engaged Missouri’s pediatric medical specialists to serve as key topic resources. Expert teams developed community child-health toolkits to support community level programming. SHOW ME STRONG KIDS toolkits support evidence informed decision making around the following topics:

• Staying Strong (infection prevention)
• Strong Lungs (asthma)
• Strong Minds (mental health and well-being)
• Strong Early Years (child development and positive parenting)
• Strong Neighborhoods (safe homes and communities)
• Strong Bodies (healthy activity and nutrition)

The tool kits include posters, flyers, short social stories, and videos about the topics designed to be shared with families, healthcare providers, schools, businesses and in the community. We invite you to explore our page and tool kits!