Twenty-one different organizations signed on to a “Declaration of Cooperation” Wednesday to create the Childhood Obesity Reduction Coalition of Wasco County.  The coalition has come together through an Oregon Solutions process with members representing health, K-12 education, early learning, sports and recreation, and healthy food perspectives.   Coalition members come from the public, private, and non-profit sectors.  The group came about after the North Central Public Health District discovered elevated rates of overweight and obese children in several elementary schools, and found Wasco County’s rates of overweight and obese children are significantly higher than the national and state averages.  The non-binding declaration calls for the participants to take steps to ensure all children enter kindergarten at a healthy weight, make a healthy school environment the norm, make physical activity a part of youngsters’ every day activity, make healthy foods and beverages affordable, available, and desired, and eliminate the consumption of sugar sweetened beverages among children up to the age of five.