The initial Strategic Plan for the Women's Health Fitness Institute (WHFI) covers the calendar years of 2006 through 2008. During this period, the Institute has a number of activities designed to meet the Institute's three goals, which follow:

I. Create a solvent Institute.

II. Conduct multi-disciplinary research into the health effects of women-centered fitness programs and their implementation.

III. Conduct public education outreach concerning women-centered fitness programs.

I. To create and maintain a solvent Institute, the following activities are being conducted by the Strategic Planning Committee and the Fall Benefit Committee:

A. Secure initial start up funding (complete)

B. Conduct an annual Fall Benefit campaign

C. Develop the web site WHFI Gift program

D. Solicit direct contributions from persons supportive of WHFI's goals

E. Submit private and public research grant proposals

II. To carry out the research purposes of the Institute, the Research Committee is conducting the following activities:

A. Write the WHFI "Policies and Standard Practices for the Protection of Subjects in Research" (complete)

B. Submit the Federal Wide Assurance paperwork

C. Submit the Yale Research Affiliate application (complete)

D. Conduct the Pilot Study to investigate the impact of maternal exercise on some disorders of pregnancy and maternal-fetal outcomes

E. Conduct the Yale research project to examine the mechanisms through which maternal exercise may prevent or treat hypertensive disorders of pregnancy

F. Publish peer-reviewed results from the research project

G. Follow up on interest in research projects expressed by other academic and medical institutions

H. Develop hypotheses for research investigations concerning the impact of woman-centered health fitness programs on prevention and treatment strategies for cancer, menopause and adolescent girls' health

III. To fulfill the public education purpose of the Institute, the Executive Director, Research Associate, Website Development Committee and other members of the Institute are engaged in the following activities:

A. Deliver currently scheduled public lectures and seminars in conjunction with WHFI affiliates, including:

1. Healthy Mothers/Healthy Babies CT Membership meeting, March 9, 2006 at the Connecticut Valley Hospital (complete).

2. Movement For Moms, United Way of CT, April 14, 2006 (complete)

3. DTP Basic Pre/postnatal Health Fitness Training Seminar for Group Fitness Instructors and Personal Trainers, June 16-17, 2006 at the Yale-New Haven Hospital (complete)

4. Fit Beginnings - DTP Pre/postnatal Health Fitness Training, July 7-9, Johannesburg, South Africa (complete)

5. Pre/postnatal Fitness: How did we get here from there? October 21, 2006 at the Stroller Strides meeting at Mission Bay Hilton, San Diego, CA

6. DTP Basic Pre/postnatal Health Fitness Training Seminar for Group Fitness Instructors and Personal Trainers, November 3-4, 2006 at the Yale-New Haven Hospital

B. Solicit and schedule future public lectures, seminars and symposia concerning women's health fitness

C. Add the Institute's 14 neuro-endocrine-immuno metabolic maps to the WHFI website as an aid to researchers. These maps chart the physiological interactions of exercise and female reproduction

D. Explain on the WHFI website the history and impetus behind the growing interest in womenÕs health, how it is affected by the female reproductive system, and why women-centered health fitness is an integral component in maintaining and enhancing women's health

E. Bring the findings from research into the lives of women in ways that matter to women via the Astarte Project

F. Create ongoing program of press releases and pamphlets about topical findings

G. Pursue local, regional and national media opportunities to deliver educational information to the public