![](media/image1.wmf){width="0.9847222222222223in"
height="1.25in"}**Promoting Fitness and Nutrition**

**in Afterschool Settings**

**Presenter Biographies**

**SHANNON CHRISTIAN** is the Associate Commissioner for the Child Care
Bureau in the Administration for Children and Families at the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services. For six years, Ms. Christian
was part of then-Governor Tommy Thompson\'s nationally renowned welfare
reform team in Wisconsin, serving first as Director of Planning for the
Department of Health and Social Services, and then as Senior Policy
Advisor to the Secretary of Workforce Development. Ms. Christian had a
lead role in developing Work Not Welfare, the nation\'s first
time-limited welfare demonstration, and W-2, a complete replacement for
AFDC that required work while offering generous work supports, such as
child care and health care, to all low-income working families.

As a policy and communications consultant, Ms. Christian assisted the
Hudson Institute in managing the evaluation of Wisconsin\'s ambitious
welfare reform efforts and in advising the state as it entered the
post-welfare reform era. In addition, she has consulted on projects to
increase father involvement and on best practices in state child care
policy. For a multimedia production company, she participated in the
design and development of interactive, multimedia distance learning and
training vehicles for clients in social work and workforce development.

From 1988 to 1992, Ms. Christian was a special assistant at the US
Department of Labor, serving under Secretaries Ann McLaughlin, Elizabeth
Dole and Lynn Martin. During that time she helped develop the Work &
Family Clearinghouse for the Women\'s Bureau, served as legislative
officer responsible for Child Care and Parental Leave legislation, and
led the analysis for the Task Force on Child Care Liability Insurance.

Ms. Christian holds a Master\'s Degree in Public Policy from the Kennedy
School at Harvard, where she did her thesis on Child Care for a group
advising the State of Connecticut. Having entered full-day, full-year
pre-school just before her second birthday, and remained in the same
high quality program for years, Ms. Christian welcomes the opportunity
to help all children have access to the same positive early learning
experiences she did.

**KAREN A. DONATO**, S.M., R.D., serves as Coordinator of the Obesity
Education Initiative at National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
(NHLBI)'s Office of Prevention, Education, and Control (OPEC). As
Coordinator of the OEI since January 1991, Ms. Donato is responsible for
the development and implementation of professional and public education
materials and activities related to the prevention and treatment of
obesity/overweight as well as activities related to the promotion of
physical activity. Ms. Donato served as the Executive Director of the
Expert Panel that developed the Clinical Guidelines on the
Identification, Evaluation, and Treatment of Overweight and Obesity in
Adults, supervising the first evidence-based guidelines on overweight
and obesity developed by the NHLBI. She has developed numerous spinoff
products based on the clinical guidelines for health care providers, as
well as materials for patients and the public. Ms. Donato's advice on
the issues related to overweight and obesity has been sought by numerous
professional and public health organizations.

Ms. Donato also spearheads the creation of educational activities
targeting children, youth, and families that encourage heart healthy
habits in order to help prevent cardio-vascular disease later in life
and help impact the public health burden of overweight and obesity. In
this capacity, she oversees the Hearts N'Parks project supported in
collaboration with the National Recreation and Park Association. The
Hearts N'Parks project began in 1999 as a pilot program in North
Carolina and currently involves 50 Magnet Center sites located in 10
states. Current programs include a myriad of activities that promote
healthy eating and increased physical activity for children in after
school programs or summer day camps, for adolescents, and for adults and
seniors. Ms. Donato received a bachelor of science degree, summa cum
laude, in foods and nutrition from Marywood College in 1975 and a master
of science degree in nutrition from Harvard University\'s School of
Public Health (HSPH) in 1977.

**MARY HOSHIKO** has worked with children and youth in YMCA programs for
over 25 years, in various capacities, from school-age center director to
branch executive director. Mary is currently the Vice President of
Program and Community Development for the YMCA of Santa Clara Valley. In
this role, Mary provides leadership and support to seven local YMCA
branches in all program areas with specific emphasis in child care,
camping, teen, and family programming. She leads the YMCA Diversity
Initiative as the change agent, builds collaborative relationships with
school districts and the City of San Jose to create afterschool
education and enrichment programs, develops staff resources and manuals,
writes grants, and supervises the association training director. Mary
received a B.A. in General Humanities from Santa Clara University. She
holds two M.A.s from Concordia University -- one in Education with a
School-Age Child Care Emphasis and one in Human Services with a
Leadership Emphasis.

During Mary's tenure with the YMCA of Santa Clara Valley, she has
created and or implemented many new programs including links-to-learning
in school-age child care, 21st Century, and state and city funded
afterschool programs. She has lead teams of staff and volunteers in
school-age child care initiatives, afterschool initiatives, the YMCA
Diversity Initiative, Strategic Planning for Camping programs and Teen
programs and her newest team -- addressing issues of youth obesity from
a systemic perspective. Mary also serves as the California YMCA Child
Care Public Policy Committee Chairperson. In this capacity, she works
with YMCA's throughout the state on public policy issues with recent
emphasis on collaboration, funding, and sustainability for quality
afterschool programs.

**Jody Figuerido**, is from the Massachusetts Office of Child Care
Services (OCCS) where she serves as the Child Care Services-Child Care
Resource and & Referral Project Training Coordinator. In that role she
has worked with the state to develop child care licensing regulations
that address fitness and nutrition and helped to develop a statewide
training for child care providers to help them address the regulations.
In addition she has collaborated with other state agencies on projects
designed to enhance professional development in Massachusetts.

Jody is also Adjunct Faculty at both Dean College and Mass Bay Community
College. She received a B.S. in Elementary Education and is a Certified
K-8 Teacher and she holds a Masters of Education in Early Childhood.