Linda Ko, assistant professor of health services at the University of Washington School of Public Health, has received a $2.5 million grant to help prevent obesity among Hispanic/Latino youth.

In the Lower Yakima Valley of eastern Washington, 34 percent of youth are obese and a large portion of these children are of Hispanic/Latino descent. Ko and her colleagues in the Fred Hutch Center for Community Health Promotion plan to launch a study of 900 Hispanic/Latino children from eight elementary schools in the area.

The study, funded by the National Institutes on Minority Health and Health Disparities, will test various community-based obesity interventions—from teaching the children about healthy eating to teaching their families how to cook healthy meals together. The researchers will then make recommendations on which interventions should be implemented to prevent obesity over the next five years.

Through the study, researchers are hoping to make significant progress in the prevention of childhood obesity by reducing children’s body mass index, improving their diets and increasing their physical activity.

The study is called “Together We STRIDE,” an acronym that stands for “Strategizing Together Relevant Interventions for Diet and Exercise.”