Childhood obesity treatment works best when families are not asked to navigate it alone.

It works best when clinical care is connected to real-life opportunities. When healthy habits can be practiced in familiar community spaces. When children feel welcomed instead of judged. When caregivers receive support instead of blame. And when families have access to programs that make movement, nutrition, confidence, and connection part of everyday life.

That is the power of Bull City Fit.

Bull City Fit is an innovative clinic-community partnership that helps children living with obesity and their families build healthier routines through physical activity, nutrition education, family engagement, and community-based support. It brings together healthcare, parks and recreation, and families in a way that makes healthy living more practical, accessible, and joyful.

And importantly, this work is backed by science.

A randomized controlled trial published in Pediatrics found that Fit Together, a model involving Bull City Fit, improved BMI outcomes for children living with obesity compared with usual care. By combining clinical obesity treatment with family-based lifestyle programming in a City of Durham Parks & Recreation setting, the study reinforces something many of us see every day: effective care does not have to stop at the clinic door. It can, and should, extend into the community.

Bull City Fit helps children living with obesity:

1. Improve BMI outcomes
2. Engage in more physical activity
3. Report improved quality of life

But the impact of Bull City Fit goes beyond BMI.

This program creates a space where children and families can move, cook, learn, play, and grow together. It gives families opportunities to try new activities, practice healthy routines, build confidence, and experience wellness in ways that feel realistic and sustainable.

That matters because long-term health is not built through shame, restriction, or quick fixes. It is built through encouragement, consistency, trust, and support.

One of the most meaningful findings connected to this work is who the program reaches. More than 80% of study participants came from marginalized racial and ethnic groups, highlighting the importance of access and community-centered care in pediatric obesity treatment. Programs like Bull City Fit help address a critical gap by creating supportive spaces where families from diverse backgrounds can participate, connect, and feel that they belong.

That sense of belonging is central to the program’s success.

Prior work with this model has shown improvements not only in physical activity and quality of life, but also in how children experience the program itself. Children reported feeling welcomed, supported, and like they “fit in.” For a child living with obesity, that kind of environment can be transformative.

At its core, Bull City Fit is about more than outcomes. It is about dignity.

It is about helping children see themselves as strong, capable, and worthy of care. It is about helping caregivers feel supported as they work toward healthier routines for their families. It is about making wellness something families can experience together, not something that feels out of reach.

I am proud to be part of a program that brings healthcare professionals, parks and recreation partners, volunteers, children, and caregivers together around a shared goal: making healthy living more accessible, practical, and joyful.

Because lasting change happens when families are supported.

And Bull City Fit is proof that when science, family, and community come together, children can thrive.