Creating Healthy Schools & Communities: A Worthwhile Investment for New York State

15 Girl Scout members and three teachers from Bronx Delta School, a Bronx Health REACH partner school, participated in a healthy celebration lesson which culminated in making fruit kabobs designed to look like caterpillars, lady bugs and butterflies.

Every year since 2009 the  Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s County Health Rankings & Roadmaps Report has ranked the Bronx 62 out of New York State’s 62 counties in health outcomes. The obesity and overweight rates of our public school students is 39%. In 2015, with a five year grant from the New York State Department of Health through its Creating Healthy Schools and Communities (CHSC) program, the Bronx, along with 45 other counties across New York State, was provided an opportunity to create healthy environments in our school districts and surrounding communities. Since then, we have made tremendous strides with this program.

Through CHSC, Bronx residents can eat healthier through a collaboration between Bronx Health REACH, the Bodega Association of the United States and Goya Foods which has been stocking healthier products in Bronx bodegas, and providing taste tests and cooking demonstrations. We have been helping Bronx youth and low-income communities of color counter the targeted marketing of unhealthy foods and beverage products by supporting efforts for them to create their own counter-marketing campaigns. We have also trained school aides on fitness programming enabling them to structure physically active recess time for students. And, we have engaged community leaders and residents to advocate for street safety improvements. One of those leaders, a Bronx Health REACH partner church, Word of Life International, was named Transportation Alternatives’ 2017 Partner of the Year.

However, in 2017 significant cuts were made to the CHSC grant, and it is  under threat again this year to further cuts. With these cuts the question surely is, how can we ensure that the health and wellbeing of Bronx children, as well as the children in other high need New York communities, become a priority of our elected officials in Albany? Funding such a critical public health program helps the many community organizations across the Bronx and other areas of New York State make a difference in the lives of our children and community members.

Public health programming such as CHSC represents an investment with significant returns in New York State. In the first two years of funding, CHSC grantees have worked with 4.5 million New Yorkers, or about 23% of the state’s population, infusing wellness and health information and programming into 226 local communities, 83 high-need school districts, 358 retailers, and 498 worksites, enacted 51 policies and 120 infrastructure projects encouraging walkable and bikeable communities.

Our community partners have incredible capacity to create healthy and livable communities, as these successes demonstrate. CHSC and other public health funding goes a long way to improving the health and well-being of New Yorkers, and these programs should be further supported, not cut. Public health funds are important and well spent in the most vulnerable communities as they work to promote equity where all residents should have the opportunity to thrive.

The United States Department of Agriculture, recognizing the importance of the type of Policy, Systems and Environmental change work that CHSC grantees do, recently approved reallocating  SNAP-Ed (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education) funding to the New York State Department of Health from the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance for CHSC, but it is not guaranteed that this funding will continue to be used for the CHSC program. We hope to see CHSC funding maintained in the FY 2018-2019 Governor’s budget. The more funds provided for this program, the more grantees will be able to accomplish in the communities where we serve.

Rev. Dr. Theresa Oliver, Always Willing to Help Someone Along the Way

Bronx Health REACH continues its series on individuals who have made a significant contribution to the Institute for Family Health's Bronx Health REACH, and have also been strong activists for needed change in the Black and Latino communities in the Bronx. A notable member of this group of change agents is Rev Dr. Theresa Oliver, Pastor at Mt. Zion CME Church in the Bronx, New York, and a partner in the Bronx Health REACH faith based outreach initiative.

Growing up in Fairfield, Alabama outside of Birmingham, Rev. Dr. Theresa Oliver didn't realize how unjust the separate but equal policies were until a visit to the dentist’s office when she was in college. "I went with my mother to the dentist’s office and the Blacks had to sit in a waiting room in back that was separate from the main room in the front. I was trying to read one of my textbooks but found it difficult to concentrate as there was a lot of talking by others in the waiting room. I noticed that the other waiting room was empty so I sat down in that room, and was able to read in silence. After a few minutes the receptionist came out and informed me that I was not allowed to sit there. I asked her why, and I can't recall if she gave me an answer, but I was so annoyed and ended up going outside to sit in the car. That experience did something to me as I kept thinking, no one else was sitting in that room and I didn’t see why my sitting there and reading quietly to be a problem, but that receptionist was so insistent telling me that I had to leave. That encounter deeply affected me."

After graduating from Miles College Rev. Oliver married and moved to New York starting a career as a registered medical technology staff member at Bellevue Hospital working the overnight shift. "I preferred the overnight shift because it was good for my mental health. During my breaks I would open up my bible and this particular scripture would always pop up:


The Year of the Lord’s Favor
    The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
    because the Lord has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
    to proclaim freedom for the captives
    and release from darkness for the prisoners,
  to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
    and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
      and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
    instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
    instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
    instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
    a planting of the Lord
    for the display of his splendor.
Isaiah 61:1-3 NIV

After seeing this scripture always pop up at various times the turning point came when one of the church members told me that I was going to be a pastor at another church. As he was speaking to my heart, I put my faith in the Lord and enrolled at New York Theological Seminary. I received a Masters in parish ministry and eventually got a doctorate. The pastor at my church decided to move to South Carolina and requested I replace him as pastor, so I have been a pastor at Mount Zion CME Church since 2000."

In 2010 Rev. Oliver was introduced to Bronx Health REACH through Dr. Sandra White, a sister of a Mt. Zion pastor. "Dr. White told members of our congregation about a program that would introduce healthy eating to our congregation. "I became interested because my doctorate was on holistic ministry and improving the health among African- Americans. There has always been a stigma around discussing health within our congregation - that's from the secrecy that we always had in the South with people; you just didn’t go to the doctor on a regular basis for a check-up. If you did, by that point it was too late and there was nothing that the doctor could do to make you better.”

Bronx Health REACH started a nutrition program with Mt. Zion, and at the first meeting, staff from Bronx Health REACH passed out survey sheets for the congregation to complete. It consisted of questions around the health and eating habits of those participating. “Other than a few members, I was surprised to find that everyone completed the sheets. Our church would go on to host a couple of health fairs, and eventually we began serving healthier food at our church dinners. We also eliminated soda. To this day we use the fruit infused water pitchers to serve water flavored with pineapple and orange. The parishioners love it and I like to see them drinking that rather than soda."

When funding for that program ended, Rev. Oliver was asked if she would continue to work with Bronx Health REACH, even though there was no stipend to do the work. "My answer was yes, I wanted to continue working with Bronx Health REACH because the work that has been done is so important in improving the health and well-being of those in our church. We have gotten people to open up about their health, talk about improving their diets with fresh fruits and vegetables, do blood pressure checks and hold exercise classes.”


Rev. Oliver’s past encounters with racism motivates her to fight for health equity on behalf of African-Americans and Latinos residing in the Bronx as a member of the Health Disparities workgroup. Looking back, the path Rev. Oliver chose turned out fine, "If you can help somebody along the way, then your life won’t be in vain. I am happy where I am.”