In the Seattle school system, the fight for student access to adequate physical fitness is a multi-faceted one. There are organizations like Cascade Bicycle Club that go directly into schools to provide resources and education. These organizations tend to have some kind of financial backing and a specific job to do when they interact with students, but they are not interested in advocating for structural or political change.<\/p>\n
Other groups, such as Lunch and Recess Matter, are organizations of concerned parents or neighborhood adults who do lobby school administrations for changes in school policy. Specifically, Lunch and Recess Matter and similar organizations like Arizonans for Recess or Recess for Miami students feel that current lunch and play times in their local schools are inadequate. They fight for relatively small amounts of time to be diverted away from classroom instruction and towards eating and playing, a diversion they believe will pay dividends during academic periods. These organizations are all Facebook groups and thus represent an entirely different kind of organizing, one that relies less on physical resources and more on the power of concerned citizens to rally together when necessary.<\/p>\n
Lastly, there are organizations that operate out of schools entirely but with students’ interests in mind. Feet First and Seattle Neighborhood Greenways lobby for safe pedestrian pathways in the Seattle Area, particularly to and from schools. In combination, all of these organizations form a cohesive unit that advocates for opportunities for student exercise from the moment they step out their front door till the moment they return home at the end of a day full of classroom education, physical education, and recess. With each of these organizations interested in a different element of student well-being, there is great potential for these groups to work together, to create a cohesive set of goals for the future, and to come together as a collective lobbying group when the need arises.<\/p>\n
Below is a list of Seattle-based and National organizations concerned somehow with\u00a0<\/em>student health and wellness\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n