Faith, Food, & Health Disparities Summit: Oct. 29-30
NY Faith and Justice (a Bronx Health REACH Legacy grantee) will be hosting the “Faith, Food and Health Disparities Summit” on October 29 and 30. This will bring together all stakeholders – community members, churches, food advocates, faith and political leaders, and public health professionals – to identify solutions to increasing the quality of food offered in underserved areas. Rally the troops, it’s time to fight for better food for our community! Please pass the information along to your contacts, and register today! Register online at: http://tiny.cc/FoodFaithHealth or via phone or email by contacting Saralyn Jones at: sjones@nyfaithjustice.org, (212) 870-1254. Find out more information at http://www.nyfaithjustice.org/
October 29th from 7:00pm – 8:30pm (Kickoff)
October 30th from 8:30 am – 6:30pm (Dialogue Circles/Action Forum)
The Riverside Church in NYC
490 Riverside Drive
New York, NY 10027
Bronx Health REACH School Program Grants
Bronx Health REACH is the recipient of two new grants! One grant, from the New York State Department of Health, will allow us to provide technical assistance in setting up and moving forward school wellness councils through a new program called “HEA+LTHY Schools NY.” We have also recently been awarded a grant from the Johnson & Johnson Community Health Care Program, which will allow us to provide nutrition education support to elementary schools serving children ages 6-12 years old. Please contact us if you would like to be more involved in either of these programs.
Salad Bars
The Office of SchoolFood recently received some stimulus money and has ordered salad bars for a number of schools in the Bronx. In addition United Fresh has offered to fund several salad bars as well. Among the recipients will be:
District 7: PS1, PS 5, PS 29, PS 18, PS 277, PS 43, PS 49, Young Leaders
District 8: PS 72, PS 75, PS 93, PS 100, PS 138, PS 182
District 9: CES 58, CES 73, CES 114, CES 126,
District 10: PS 7, PS 9, PS 32, PS 37, PS 51
District 11: PS 21, PS 68, PS 87, PS 83 Ax, PS 89, PS 96, PS 107, PS 153, PS 106, PS 108, PS 111, PS 121, PS 178
District 12: CS 6, CS 44, CS 47, CS 61, CS 66, CS 92, CS 134
There is an additional funding opportunity for any other schools wishing to receive salad bars – the deadline is November 1: http://www.saladbarproject.org/
If your school has a salad bar and/or a school garden and you are interested in getting more garden-based school lunches, please let us know and we will help you work with the Dept. of Education’s Office of SchoolFood to discuss the possibility of implementing Garden to Café at your school.
MARC Academy Featured in the NYC DOH Newsletter
Congratulations to Anna York and the MARC Academy staff for being featured in the Eat Well Play Hard Child Care Center Newsletter (see attached). Anna has helped make significant changes in creating a healthy eating environment at MARC. If you know of an afterschool program that would like to work towards similar changes, please contact Kelly at kmoltzen@institute2000.org to find out more information about a new grant opportunity.
Upcoming Nutrition and Fitness Workgroup Meetings
Monday, October 25, 10:00am-12:00pm
Monday, November 22, 10:00am-12:00pm
Meetings will be held at the Morrisania Neighborhood Family Health Center, 1225 Gerard Avenue, Room 214.
Legacy Grantees
Bronx Health REACH is pleased to announce four new Legacy Awards were granted for 2010-2011:
Factors of the Seven, Inc. (FOTS) of Charlotte, NC will implement Motivating and Nurturing through Unified Purpose (MAN-UP) to address diabetes prevention and management among African American and Latino men. The program will build on a faith based diabetes screening initiative developed in partnership with the local department of health in 2009. Legacy Project activities include screening 200 men for diabetes, training 100 male health ambassadors in diabetes prevention, and coordinating diabetes activities in each church. FOTS will also assemble two teams to assess and promote opportunities for healthy eating and physical activity in Mecklenburg County.
The New York City Coalition Against Hunger (NYCCAH) will start new community supported agriculture (CSA) program through its project The South Bronx Farm Fresh Initiative. NYCCAH will organize a core group including community members from its Food Action Board to guide the development and implementation of the CSA. The CSA will collaborate with a local farmer to bring 25,000 pounds of fresh produce community members in the South Bronx throughout the 2011 growing season. The CSA will reach 150 shareholders including at least 50 low-income members who will receive subsidized shares. NYCCAH will also incorporate nutrition education into their monthly Food Action Board meetings and at the CSA distribution site.
United Federation of Teachers (UFT) will implement its project Healthy Schools, Health Communities to promote physical activity and healthy eating to public school students, teachers and parents. UFT will work with 16 schools to train teachers to implement nutrition education and physical activity in elementary school classrooms. In addition to classroom-based education, they have proposed nutrition education for parents, promoting and providing space for the Shape Up New York family fitness program, and using platforms available through the UFT (newsletters, conferences, website, etc) to promote the project to other schools and teachers.
Highbridge Community Life Center will use a supplemental Legacy grant to develop a community action plan to address stress as a fundamental cause of health disparities in the Highbridge neighborhood of the Bronx.
YouToons Explain Health Reform
Health Reform Hits Main Street, a new animated short video from the Kaiser Family Foundation, features the YouToons explaining the health reform law to an American public still confused by how it works. The short movie has three major sections: explaining problems in the current health care system, short-term changes that will take place between now and 2014, and major provisions that will take effect in 2014. View it online and share it with colleagues, friends and family: http://healthreform.kff.org/the-animation.aspx
Bronx Health REACH Coalition meeting
Our next Bronx Health REACH Coalition meeting will be November 12 at Walker Memorial Baptist Church from 9:30am-12:00pm. Please contact Yvette Holland at yholland@institute2000.org or (212) 633-0800 x 1232 to RSVP.
Social Media!
Bronx Health REACH is expanding into the world of social media. Find updates on our blog at http://bronxhealthreach.blogspot.com/, “Like” us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/BronxHealthREACH, and follow us on twitter at http://twitter.com/BxHealthREACH!