Slow Food San Francisco is hosting a mid-year Childhood Obesity Bay Area (COBA) conference on Saturday May 19th, 2012 at Hub SoMa in San Francisco from 9:00am - 2:30pm.

The conference will feature two keynote speakers, including Charlotte Dickson, Director of Local Policy for the California Center for Public Health Advocacy, where she leads the Healthy Eating Active Living (HEAL) Cities Campaign, and Kathryn Boyle, Kaiser Permanente Community Benefit Programs, HEAL Project Manager.  

The conference will also include a presentation by James Kass, Youth Speaks Founder and Director, and Sarah Fine, UCSF's Youth Speaks Health Literacy Partnership Project Manager, about a collaborative diabetes awareness campaign, two slam poetry performances, break out sessions, a lunch catered by Acre Gourmet, and tabling organizations to visit at the breaks. 

The conference will also be live streamed this year! The video can be purchased for $5 per view on Slow Food San Francisco's UStream Channel. 

Themes for this mid-year COBA conference are youth empowerment, health disparities and the economics of obesity. Our goal is to highlight Bay Area efforts to prevent and reverse childhood obesity, and by bringing together a multi disciplinary group of speakers, presenters, and attendees we hope to explore the avenues that exist to contribute and collaborate. 

The Hub has space for 75 attendees, and our target audience is stakeholders in the childhood obesity prevention community, as researchers, non-profits, health care providers, parents, activists, teachers, businesses, and students. The break out sessions and communal lunch will also provide a space to network and create professional and personal connections for everyone and open up opportunities for partnership. 

Break Out Sessions: 

Policy and Economic Incentives to Address Childhood Obesity

Childhood Obesity Related Health Disparities in the Bay Area

Youth Empowerment around Healthy Eating and Active Living

Physical Activity Programs for Youth

Tabling Organizations: 

CA Center for Public Health Advocacy

Kaiser Permanente

Physicians for Social Responsibility

Slow Food San Francisco

UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations

Youth Speaks

Three Squares

Nourish 

A huge thank you to our sponsors for their generous support: 

Hub Bay Area

Acre Gourmet

Two Degrees Food

The Fruit Guys

Rainbow Grocery Co-Op

Slow Food San Francisco's first annual COBA conference took place on September 24th, 2011 for a full venue of 200 people. We've received very positive feedback, and are this mid-year conference is a way for the community to stay connected and continue to learn about work and research being done in the Bay Area.

For more information on last year's confernece, visit our Programs page at slowfoodsanfrancisco.com. 

For any questions, please contact Laura O'Donohue at laura@slowfoodsanfrancisco.com.