Making Strides in Achieving PE for All

For supporters of school wellness, the link between health and academics is apparent. We know that when students are not able to lead healthy lives, it creates both learning and health disparities in low-income communities such as the South Bronx. In New York City, similar to what is happening across the country, schools are faced with the challenge of making sure that all students get adequate physical education. To determine if this is happening, information about New York City’s physical education program should be made public.

The Phys Ed for All Coalition,  of which Bronx Health REACH  is a founding member, advocates for policy, systems and environmental changes that will provide more opportunities for NYC students to receive quality physical education. On November 4th, the coalition celebrated Mayor Bill de Blasio signing into law Intro 644, requiring the New York City Department of Education to report on how much physical education is provided to students in each New York City public school. This is a first of its kind in the country. And as such, one of the PE 4 All Coalition members – the American Heart Association – is aiming to replicate this work nationally. The inaugural report is scheduled to be released publicly by August 2016.

In addition to the required reporting, the New York City Council has added $6.6 million to the New York City Department of Education budget over the next 3 years for the “PE Works Program” to cover central staff for the program, to hire 50 new phys ed teachers, and 4 PE instructors (each covering 2 districts throughout the City). While this all represents very important development in efforts to improve the quantity and quality of PE, we are concerned about the short life span of the funding. By year 4 of the program, schools are expected to fund the PE teachers on their own. How are schools supposed to fund an adequate number of PE teachers for all schools, resolve the problem of overcrowded gyms shared by co-located schools, and schedule adequate time for PE into the school day?

In response to these challenges Bronx Health REACH and one of it’s partners, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, have been educating parents to be better advocates for their children, and raising more awareness about the links between health, physical education, and children’s behavior and academic performance. In addition,the PE 4 All Coalition members have suggested such creative responses to the challenges as: training teachers to provide physical education in small spaces, implementing active recess, using hallway space for physical activity breaks for students who need a break from sitting in the classroom; training school staff to establish wellness councils that can implement wellness policies and take on Active Design projects ensuring that health education and physical education are aligned in ways that lead to demonstrable changes in student behaviors; making physical education a more substantive part of the Principal’s Checklist; and finding ways to incentivize schools that are able to achieve physical education goals through the NYC Excellence in School Wellness Awards.

Bronx Health REACH through its recent Healthy Schools NY  grant and its current Creating Healthy Schools and Communities grant is doing its part by training PE teachers to establish wellness councils and Comprehensive School Physical Activity  Programs. But this should not be the responsibility of outside groups. Making sure that all NYC students receive adequate physical education will ultimately require more financial support than currently allocated. The PE 4 All Coalition will continue to identify and propose solutions that make adequate, quality physical education available for all NYC students, and welcomes new participation in the efforts. Please join us. If you or your school would like to get involved, contact Kelly Moltzen at kmoltzen@institute.org or Erin George at egeorge@nylpi.org.

Stark Health Disparities Between Bedford Stuyvesant and Bay Ridge/Dyker Heights

Photo via Flickr by Eli Duke

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene continues to address health disparities across New York City. Below is an article from Raven Rakia comparing the Bedford Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn to the Bay Ridge/Dyker Heights neighborhood and the stark health disparities between the two areas.

To read the full Community Health Profile for Bed Stuy click here

To read the full Community Health Profile for Bay Ridge click here



In New York City’s black neighborhoods, poverty, housing issues, and asthma go together

By Raven Rakia on 16 Oct 2015

It’s a tale of two cities. New data from the New York City Department of Health shows the health of New Yorkers can vary drastically by neighborhood and is linked to race, housing issues, and poverty.

Earlier this week, the Department of Health published community public-health profiles that take an in-depth look at each neighborhood in Brooklyn (other boroughs will be coming over the next two months). The profiles detail the poverty rate, access to health care, life expectancy, strokes, asthma, mental illness, and cause of death for each neighborhood’s population. They reveal the stark reality of how health in New York varies along race and income lines.

Living in Brooklyn’s predominantly black neighborhoods comes with an increased rate of asthma hospitalizations. In all but one of Brooklyn’s predominantly black neighborhoods, the number of asthma hospitalizations was higher than the borough and city average for both children and adults. The whiter the neighborhood got, the fewer asthma hospitalizations there were.

The difference is stark: In Bed-Stuy, a neighborhood that is 64 percent black, there were 531 avoidable adult asthma hospitalizations per 100,000 people and 54 child asthma hospitalizations per 10,000 people. In the Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights neighborhood, which is 60 percent white, there were 94 avoidable adult asthma hospitalizations per 100,000 people and nine child asthma hospitalizations per 10,000 people.

The four neighborhoods in Brooklyn with the highest avoidable adult asthma hospitalization rates are all over 83 percent black and Latino, and they also have some of the highest poverty rates in the borough. While showing the connections between race, poverty, and health on a microscopic level, the data also offers a glimpse into some of the reasons why the differences may be so high. In Brooklyn, most of the levels of particulate matter (as a form of air pollution) range from 8 to 9.5 micrograms per cubic meter. When it comes to housing quality, in six neighborhoods, 70 percent or more rented homes have at least one maintenance defect. All six of those neighborhoods are predominantly black and Latino, and four out of the six neighborhoods have high rates of asthma hospitalizations. Poor housing quality could mean the presence of mold or asbestos, which are associated with respiratory illnesses.

The most important thing about all of this data is that it shows a complete picture of how the neighborhood you live in can affect how healthy you are. As NYC’s Health Commissioner Mary Bassett told CBS New York, “The health of a neighborhood doesn’t just rely on the decisions an individual makes, but on the resources that are available to them in that neighborhood.”

New Yorkers, if you want to be healthy, it’s going to be much easier if you’re white and can afford to live in a richer neighborhood. For everyone else: good luck.

The original article can be found here.

Connecting Bronx Communities to Local Farmers Markets

August 2^nd through 8^th marked the 16^th annual USDA Farmers Market Week. Farmers Market Week is an official celebration of farmers markets across the country, connecting consumers to local fresh, seasonal, and healthy produce. In the New York tri-state area, August and September is peak harvest time. Regional bounty includes beets, broccoli, fresh herbs, tomatoes, peaches, plums and much more.

This month, with the bounty of farm produce available at local farmers markets Bronx Health REACH will launch a new campaign to promote Bronx-based farmers markets. This campaign, which is part of a city-wide collaboration of the Partnership for a Healthier NYC, seeks to increase access to farmers markets.

The campaign’s intent is to connect Bronx communities to local farmers markets. These markets are an important source for healthy eating, and improved health in general. The local farmers markets serve as hubs to supply and support increased consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables.

There are 29 farmers markets in the Bronx. To learn more, check out the Bronx Farmers’ Markets map. Next year we anticipate that that number will grow to 30, through collaborative efforts led by Harvest Home, Bronx Health REACH and the Melrose Community.

The campaign to promote farmers markets will focus on raising the awareness that farmers markets are accessible to all. As part of the campaign development process, community coalitions from the Bronx reviewed materials to determine their effectiveness in communicating that message of the accessibility of farmers markets.

In offering feedback, residents expressed that farmers markets accessibility pertains to their location as well as offering good value and prices for high quality produce. In New York, farmers’ markets accept a variety of payments including: WIC FMNP coupons, EBT, SNAP, Health Bucks, cash, debit and credit cards.

So, where is your nearest Farmer’s Market? To find out:

•          Check the map online
•          Text “sogood” to 877877
•         OR, call 311.

Over 20 Bronx Bodegas Participate in Two Day Healthy Bodega Initiative to Promote Healthier Food and Beverages

Bodega owners attending the Healthy Bodega Training on August 4.

Mitch Klein casually walked around the television studio housed discreetly inside Lebron's Restaurant Equipment and Business Machines store awaiting the bodega owners to attend the first ever, Healthy Bodega Training seminar. Mitch would be the trainer for the two day, nine hour sessions that were held on the evenings of Tuesday, August 4 and Wednesday, August 5. Getting to this starting point of the Healthy Bodega Initiative had been many months in the making. Launched by Bronx Health REACH, a program of the Institute for Family Health, in partnership with the Hispanic Information and Telecommunications Network, Inc. (HITN) and The Bodega Association of the United States (ASOBEU), the Healthy Bodega Training is a new and important part of the Healthy Bodega Initiative to address the obesity epidemic plaguing New York City’s most vulnerable neighborhoods.

This in-depth Healthy Bodega training was created to focus on business strategies, food handling and marketing/promotion practices. It is anticipated that the training will lead to an increase in the supply and demand for healthier food and beverages for customers by providing bodega owners with the tools and information to make offering healthy food and drink options a successful business in the high need, low income communities in which they are located. The training focused on best practices for becoming a H.E.R.O. bodega (healthy, educated, responsive, and operational). Topics covered included: the requirements of being a vendor for the SNAP and WIC programs, compliance with alcohol and tobacco vendor licensing, and appropriate responses to dealing with New York City agencies if a bodega receives a fine. The two day training was videotaped and will be accessible online through a password protected link.

Mitch expressed his confidence in the impact of this training. He said, "I have been doing trainings for forty years all across the country, and over the next two evenings I will be talking about how the small bodega can make a difference and compete against the big box stores. We have great success stories after doing similar programs in Miami, Orlando, and Philadelphia, and these bodegas can thrive and grow their business."

Mr. Ramon Murphy, who is not only the President of The Bodega Association of the United States, but has owned his bodega for twenty years noted, "I hope to see those bodega owners attending the training realize that they can have more healthy food offerings for the community. He went on to point out that “a partnership between bodega owners and the community can help to make the Bronx healthier."

While many bodega owners have been willing to participate in efforts to stock healthy food at the behest of healthy food advocates like Bronx Health REACH and others, many owners have not been able to succeed at selling healthy food because they lack the necessary information and tools to market and sell these healthy foods. The training not only provided much of the needed information, but plans are underway to develop and implement education and incentives to make healthy foods affordable and desirable.

The work is funded by a three year REACH (Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health) grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The Institute for Family Health/Bronx Health REACH is a founding member of ‘Not62 – The Campaign for a Healthy Bronx’, a new initiative, responding to the Bronx being ranked 62 out of the 62 counties in New York State by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s County Health Ranking Report since 2009.

Just a few minutes past the scheduled start time the studio was filled with over twenty bodega owners taking their seats and donning headphones since most would need the presentation to be translated into Spanish. Mr. Murphy greeted the bodega owners and thanked them for taking time out of their busy schedule to attend the training. He spoke about how the Healthy Bodega initiative would not only be an economic benefit for their bodegas, but also a healthy benefit for the community. 

Prior to holding the training one of the stated goals Bronx Health REACH, HITN and the Bodega Association had was that the training should be practical and useful for the bodega owners. Following the two day training Julia Mair from HITN expressed how the Bodega Association Board members were excited about the fact that the Healthy Bodega training was useful and meaningful to them and the other bodega owners in attendance.

The feedback from the bodega owners was positive. Some of the bodega owners requested more training and expressed their willingness to participate in more training sessions since the topics discussed could be applied to the day to day work in their bodegas. Attendance for the second evening increased as some of the bodega owners brought in people who also worked in the stores. Those bodega owners felt that the information at the seminar was worth having others from their bodegas attend.

The Healthy Bodega Training seminar is a significant step towards offering the community a better selection of healthy food choices. As more bodega owners attend future Healthy Bodega Training seminars, the changes they make in their bodega will enable them to create sustainable practices that mean good business for them and the health for the community.

Harvest Home Brings Local, Farm-Fresh Produce to Soundview

                                                                Photo by Brian Nobili

From left to right: NY State Assemblyman Marcos A. Crespo, Harvest Home CEO Marita Owens, and NYC Council member Annabel Palma.

Soundview residents no longer have to travel outside the community for farm-fresh produce as the debut of The Soundview Farmers Market officially opened with a ribbon cutting ceremony on Saturday, June 20. New York State Assemblyman Marcos A. Crespo and New York City Council member Annabel Palma along with many from the Soundview community in attendance. This new market, located at Morrison Avenue between Harrod Place and Westchester Avenue in the Bronx, will serve more than 60,000 residents, including approximately 10,000 SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program/food stamp) recipients. The market will offer farm fresh fruits and vegetables from Alstede farms, a New Jersey grower.

To encourage residents to shop at the Soundview Farmers Market, Harvest Home has partnered with the Institute of Family Health through its Bronx Health REACH program to issue Fruit and Vegetable Rx to its patients at the Stevenson Health Center. Located at Morrison Avenue between Westchester Avenue and Harrod Place, the Market is open every Saturday through November 21, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. rain or shine. Bring your SNAP/EBT, WIC Farmer's Market and Senior Farmer Market coupons along with Health Bucks. News12 covered the event.

Having a farmers market in this area has been a long held dream of Assemblyman Marcos A. Crespo (D- Bronx, 85th AD). And, he, in conjunction with other New York State and New York City Elected Officials from the Bronx heartily welcome Harvest Home Farmers market to the Soundview community. Assemblyman Crespo noted that, “Healthy eating habits promote overall healthy lifestyles, which is why I am excited about welcoming Harvest Home Farmers Market to Soundview.” He pointed out that “Bringing in an array of healthy and organic produce to our community, in an affordable way, enhances healthier choices for both adults and children.”

Council Member Annabel Palma (D-Bronx, 18th Council District), a big supporter of the market stated, “I am excited to have a new farmers market in the Soundview section of my district; now my community will have better access to healthy food. I firmly believe that, when given the opportunities, New Yorkers want to eat healthy – they simply need to be provided the option.”

Neil S. Calman, MD, President and CEO of The Institute for Family Health stated, “I am thrilled that there is a farmers market opening in Soundview. We, at the Institute for Family Health, are deeply invested in improving the health and well-being of the residents of the Bronx and bringing fresh fruits and vegetables is a major breakthrough.”

Saturday's events included cooking demonstrations and a Bronx based disc jockey playing music. The Soundview Farmers Market can be reached by taking the 6 train to the Morrison Ave-Soundview station or the Bx4, Bx4a, Bx27 buses. Harvest Home Farmers Market will operate every Saturday rain or shine from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. through November 21st, 2015. WIC, FMNP Coupons, Senior FMNP Coupons, Health Bucks, SNAP (EBT) and Debit/Credit Cards  will all be accepted.

Click here to view photos from the event.

Taking Action for Physical Education

Recent efforts to increase student access to physical education in NYC public schools and obtain data on schools compliance with state mandates for PE have been met with good news: The Department of Education has committed to spending $6.6 million to hire 50 more PE teachers and "conduct a comprehensive needs assessment to address barriers and move schools toward full PE compliance." As part of the city budget, this provision in will address school compliance with federal regulations requiring equal access to sports for girls. School wellness and physical education advocates celebrate this success as a first step to improve the quantity and quality of physical education provided to students in NYC public schools. Still, there is much more to be done in order to make significant changes.

In an effort to work toward these changes, Bronx Health REACH has collaborated with the Phys. Ed. For All Coalition, in partnership with New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, Women’s City Club of NYC, The American Heart Association, and many others to draw attention to the disparities in PE programming our city’s children currently receive, as detailed in Comptroller Scott Stringer’s recent report, “Dropping the Ball: Disparities in Physical Education in NYC Public Schools.” According to the report, more than 400,000 students in NYC public schools do not have access to either a full-time, certified PE teacher, designated gym space, or nearby park for outdoor fitness activities. The Phys. Ed. For All Coalition has been crafting legislation for Intro 644 — a reporting bill that would require the Department of Education to track and report data on which schools are adhering to state mandates for physical education, including the required amount of time and certified teachers dedicated to PE and other demographic information. While the DOE is concerned that this bill could place an undue burden on individual schools, it would bring us one step closer to being able to identify which schools require additional assistance. Such transparency would ensure that all students receive the quality PE program they are entitled to by law.

Recent highlights of this campaign have included a press conference and oversight hearing led by City Councilmembers Dromm and Crowley, and Bronx Health REACH staff members Charmaine Ruddock and Kelly Moltzen featured in the media. Our coalition is optimistic about the future of the reporting bill and the impact it would have on the health of our city’s children. Given the evidence that high quality physical education is linked with reduced risk for obesity, enhanced focus and memory, and improved academic outcomes in children, increasing access to PE could have important implications for the overall health and success of future generations.

You can view NY1 coverage on Intro 644 here.

Reducing Obesity: Not Simple But Doable

Photo via k lachshand

Eating these is one way to reduce obesity.

James R. Knickman President & CEO at the New York StateHealth Foundation  asked the million dollar question in his Huffington Post piece, “What's Workingto Reduce Obesity?” In his post Mr. Knickman reveals that researchers from Drexel University studied a range of experiments aimed at reducing obesity, assessing how effective those strategies were. Researchers concluded that measures such as improving sidewalks and banning trans fats had strong impact but other approaches such as restaurants posting nutrition information had very little, to no impact.

So what does work to reduce obesity?

Mr. Knickman believes reducing obesity comes down to the following points:

- Better and more research will provide a better sense of the impact of various strategies reducing obesity in communities

- Different populations require different strategies so research can determine which approaches are most effective for high risk populations

- Seek out the economic and social benefits of interventions

- Success happens when communities and neighborhoods make it easy and affordable to be physically active and eat healthy foods, rather than one method such as banning trans fats

- All these healthy components add up to create “a neighborhood value, a point of pride” and becomes a part of the culture.

Mr. Knickman asks, “What is the best bang for your buck?” Here at the Bronx Health REACH Coalition we have launched the Towards A Healthier Bronx initiative using policy, systems and environmental improvements that increase access to healthy food, healthy beverages and opportunities for physical activity for over 75% of 675,215 residents residing in 12 high need South Bronx zip codes. Many public health campaigns rely heavily on clinical evidence, but fail to research the motivating factors relevant to that audience. To avoid this our campaign emphasizes actionable health behaviors.

Led by the Institute for Family Health, Bronx Health REACH was formed in 1999 to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in health outcomes in diabetes and heart disease in African American and Latino communities in the southwest Bronx. Since then the Bronx Health REACH coalition has grown to include over 70 community-based organizations, 47 faith-based organizations, and health care providers. Bronx Health REACH serves as a national model of community empowerment demonstrating ways to build healthier communities by promoting healthy life-style behaviors.

The plan behind Towards A Healthier Bronx is:

- Increasing the number of bodegas and restaurants involved in incentive programs offering and promoting affordable healthy foods

- Increasing the number of farm stands making healthy food more affordable and available to the community

- Increasing the number of public and charter elementary schools emphasizing nutrition education and supporting related school policies

Partnering with bodega, deli and restaurant owners by providing them with training and education makes these initiatives not only a healthy benefit for their customers, but an economic benefit for the business owner. Encouraging chefs to attend monthly trainings on healthy food preparation results in offering patrons 2 to 3 healthier menu options. As New York City neighborhood demographics change, the restaurants and bodegas can now more easily adapt to the healthy choices their new customers are seeking resulting in those restaurant and bodega owners seeing more customers come into their stores and restaurants and gaining more revenue.

Mr. Knickman also states, “So if menu labeling isn't working for the target population--as the Drexel research and other studies suggest--we need to find and test other ways to make the healthy choice the easy choice.” Euny C. Lee, Evaluator and Policy Analyst at Bronx Health REACH agrees with Mr. Knickman citing a New York University study, “Calorie Labeling Has Barely Any Effecton Teenagers' or Parents' Food Purchases” which revealed that posting calories for food items at fast food restaurants had no impact on what consumer purchased.

Euny has moderated several focus groups with our faith-based coalition members to determine which types of messages encourage healthy behavior such as healthy eating and physical activity. Findings reveal educating the community about daily calorie intake to be important as most were not aware that you should consume no more than 2000 calories a day to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Messaging matters as well. Signs and posters promoting a health benefit rather than a scare tactic elicit more positive behavior changes. Interventions have to be customized to a specific demographic/ethnic group so that it is culturally and linguistically understandable and appropriate. Other results include social support such as having a friend or family member who you are accountable to for your actions to reach the desired health goals.

Focus group members felt this ad was not accurate saying the soda bottle should be bigger and would be more effective if other ailments such as diabetes and heart disease that causes stroke were listed.

Focus group members felt the above ad was actually a real advertisement selling juice boxes and a better message would have been the child drinking from a water bottle.

But the question still remains. “What is doable in the fight to reduce obesity?” Bronx Health REACH can point to a few projects. A city wide campaign was created to serve only low-fat and fat-free milk rather than whole milk at New York City public schools. Bronx Health REACH educated policy makers, Coalition members and residents from the community about obesity and the benefits of reduced fat milk. This led to the New York City Public school system adopting the policy and impacting over 1.1 million children in 1,579 schools as well as a model for public schools in 15 other states.

I don't know if the day will ever arrive where the only thing one needs to do is take a miracle pill that sheds those excess pounds without any physical effort while drinking a large vanilla milkshake every day. What I do know is these healthy initiatives together will begin slowing the overweight/obesity epidemic we now face.

Success Story: Lucero Elementary School Hosts Second Annual Family Fitness Night

On the evening of May 21^st, Lucero Elementary School in the Bronx held its second Family Fitness Night since the school opened in 2013. The event featured physical activity stations, a nutrition education workshop led by Corbin Hill and New Settlement Apartments, tastings from the SchoolFood Alternative Menu facilitated by George Edwards of Garden to Café, and a variety of healthy food samples for students and their families.

The event was organized by Lucero’s School Wellness Council, spearheaded by Ms. Muia, the PE teacher. The school has won Gold for the Excellence in School Wellness Award for the past two years, and this year Ms. Muia was recognized as runner up for School Wellness Champion of the Year. She was also chosen to participate in the NYC Department of Education’s new PE Focus Grant, an opportunity for select PE teachers to participate in professional development and promote best practices for physical education among other schools in their district.

Family Fitness Night was the culminating event of Fitness Week—a school-wide effort to promote physical activity among the student body. Each day of the week fostered awareness around a different activity, such as Move Around Monday and Touch Your Toes Tuesday. Regular announcements made over the intercom reminded students to get up and stay active throughout the school day. Since regular physical activity is linked with improved academic performance in addition to better health outcomes, we hope other schools will follow Lucero’s lead in providing more opportunities for students to be physically active.

Active Design Toolkit for Schools Celebrated at Earth School Rooftop Garden

The Partnership for a Healthier New York City released the Active Design Toolkit for Schools with a celebration at the Earth School’s rooftop garden, “the Fifth Street Farm.” The Earth School is a featured success story in the new toolkit, which was developed by the Partnership for a Healthier NYC in collaboration with representatives from New York City’s Departments of Health & Mental Hygiene, Education and Transportation. The Partnership for a Healthier Bronx and Partnership for a Healthier Manhattan, the Institute for Family Health and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai all worked in concert on the toolkit. A strong group of community advocates, parents and students gathered to mark the launch of the new publication, which promotes creative changes, like the Earth School’s rooftop garden, to guide schools to design spaces that make physical activity and healthy foods easy, accessible choices.

The Active Design Toolkit for Schools provides ideas, resources and tools to help school communities and advocates foster physical activity and promote well-being of students across New York City schools.  The focus areas include Active Recreation, Healthy Food and Beverage, Green Spaces and Nature, and Getting to and From School.

Among those in attendance was Charmaine Ruddock, Director of Bronx Health REACH at the Institute for Family Health. She noted, “With the crisis of overweight and obese children,  especially in the Bronx, the toolkit provides schools with the necessary information to make changes that have a real impact on how students interact with and move in their environment. Resources found in the toolkit are adaptable to a range of school settings. Active Design for Schools creates ample opportunities for children to be physically active in school settings where they spend so much of their time.”

The Active Design Toolkit for Schools believes that "Every child deserves a healthy, positive school environment. Children’s physical, emotional and social development all benefit from daily physical activity and healthy eating. Better fitness levels are also associated with better academic performance."

At present only 20% of New York City high-school students are getting 60 minutes of daily physical activity and less than half participate in daily school physical education.  Another shocking statistic is that 40% of New York City students in kindergarten through 12th grade are overweight or obese, and this could become a greater problem as they can be at greater risk for chronic diseases as they enter adulthood. The physical spaces in schools makes a difference as to whether children will or will not become physically active. The benefits of children being physically active at school include: more focus and attentiveness on school tasks, higher self-esteem, and lower risk of chronic diseases as they enter adulthood.

Two Bronx schools are included in the Active Design Toolkit for Schools: P.S. 87 in the Wakefield section of the Bronx and Jonathan D. Hyatt School (P.S. 154), located in Mott Haven. P.S. 87 transformed an asphalt yard into a sports park featuring a soccer field, running track, play equipment, and a water fountain. Built over three years, Jonathan D. Hyatt School (P.S. 154) created a  fruit and vegetable garden for the school's Gardening Afterschool club that also includes a chicken coop. Used as an outdoor classroom to educate students about healthy eating, the school would like to partner with the Department of Education SchoolFoods's Garden to Cafe program and create a student-run farm stand. Now there may be more farmers markets coming to a school near you. Click here to download a copy of the Active Design Toolkit for Schools.

The Price We Pay for Cutting Gym

Photo via Jordan Richmond

According to a Center for Disease Control report 26 percent of New York City public school Kindergarten through 8th grade students are obese. Think about that. One in four New York City public school students are obese. With such a startling statistic you would think physical education is a top priority for the New York City Department of Education. But New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer's report, “Dropping the Ball: Disparities in Physical Education in New York CitySchools,” reveals a severe lack of certified physical education teachers, lack of space for physical education classes, and dismal reporting procedures implemented by the New York City Board of Education.

Specifically the report reveals:

- 41 percent of high schools have no physical fitness space

- 35 percent of middle schools have no physical fitness space

- 230,000 students lack a full-time, certified Physical Education teacher

- 91,000 students attend a school that does not have access to an outdoor school yard or nearby park

Bronx Health REACH’s school wellness program, Healthy Schools NY, works with 22 Bronx schools involving school staff, parents, and administrators to change policies and practices on nutrition and physical activity. One of the goals is to achieve the New York State-mandated 120 minutes of physical education per week. When children engage in school-day physical education, results can be seen in improved academic classroom performance such as better concentration, attentiveness and success in the classroom.

This is not the first time a New York City Department of Education audit has been conducted by the NYC Comptroller. A 2011 NYC Comptroller audit revealed that 100 percent of 31 elementary schools examined (at the time) were out of compliance with State PE regulations. A 2001 study conducted by a local non-profit group in partnership with the NYC Board of Education analyzed 391 schools (one third of the New York City public schools in the system that year) and concluded that “physical education [was] among the last areas of the New York City school system to recover from the fiscal crisis of the mid-1970s” and had been “persistently undervalued” and “sacrificed to the push for academic achievement, despite research showing that organized sports and physical fitness improve children’s performance both academically and socially.

Inset of Bronx public schools that lack a full-time certified PE teacher.

So here we are in 2015 and the problems still persist. Spaces for physical education in the schools disappeared as the Board of Education converted gyms and school yards into classrooms and parking lots, permitting athletic facilities to fall into disrepair. Lack of accountability can be traced back to the New York State Education Department failing to enforce its own regulations around physical education. When asked by the Comptroller's Office, State officials responded that they “counted on local school districts to monitor their own compliance.” Without full and complete data the Comptroller’s Office was not able to do a complete analysis of whether New York City schools are meeting New York State physical education instructional time requirements or contractually agreed-upon class size mandates.

According to Department of Education data, 2,216 full-time, licensed Physical Education teachers at general education schools are assigned to 1,072 schools leaving 506 schools citywide (over 32 percent) without a fulltime, certified PE teacher. A parent speaking to the New York Daily News stated, "All our kids are dealing with health and weight issues," said Synthia Bachman, 42, a programmer from Manhattan whose son attends the Children's Workshop School in the East Village. Kids and parents at the Children's Workshop School said the school has no gym. Students said they use an adjacent playground for exercise when the weather is good and the school's lobby for gym class in the winter." Yes, you read that correctly. The school’s lobby is being used as a gym.

Inset of Bronx public schools lacking fitness spaces.

Providing physical education to over 1 million New York City public school students can be a challenge but the New York City Board of Education must take steps to improve students’ access to physical education by implementing a system that tracks and monitors where resources are needed.

With that in mind the Comptroller recommends the following:

- Comply with state regulations requiring that all New York City public school students receive physical education instruction from, or under the supervision of, a certified physical education teacher

- Update the New York City Department of Education’s District Physical Education Plan, submit it to NYSED and post a copy on the DOE website

- Develop instruments for tracking and monitoring schools’ provision of physical education for all students

- Develop internal systems allowing the agency to track and monitor schools’ compliance with State PE regulations

- Post physical education data for every New York City school on the Department of Education website

Lack of physical education in New York City public schools over the long term wreaks economic havoc as children become adults. In New York City alone, obesity is projected to cost the City over $4 billion in health care expenses annually. Eventually we all end up paying these costs that can easily be prevented by holding those accountable and meeting physical education mandates for every school that will improve the health and well-being of all New York City children.

Images used above by NYC Dept of Education, Citizens' Committee for Children used in the Stringer report, “Dropping the Ball: Disparities in Physical Education in New York CitySchools.”

The Bronx Selected as One of 15 Finalists for Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Culture of Health Prize

Photo via Dan DeLuca

We are hoping that the Bronx will be one of 15 finalists for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Culture of Health Prize.

Great news! The Bronx is one of 15 finalists for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Culture of Health Prize. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Culture of Health Prize is an annual competition that awards $25,000 to 10 communities making strides in their journey to better health. With over 340 applicants for the Prize, communities are selected by a team comprised of leaders in health, community development, policy, leadership, and coalition building from across the United States.

The 2015 finalist communities are:

Bridgeport, Connecticut

Bronx, New York

El Paso County, Texas

Everett, Massachusetts

Itta Bena, Mississippi

Kansas City, Missouri

Lac du Flambeau Tribe, Wisconsin

Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

Lawrence, Massachusetts

Marin City, California

Menominee Indian Tribe, Wisconsin

Quad Cities, Illinois & Iowa

Santa Clara County, California

Sonoma County, California

Spartanburg County, South Carolina

Past winners have included:

Spokane County, WA

Durham, NC

Brownsville, TX.

The process takes place over the course of a year in phases where each applicant must meet the following criteria:

1. Define health in the broadest possible terms

2. Commit to sustainable systems changes and policy-oriented long-term solutions

3. Cultivate a shared and deeply-held belief in the importance of equal opportunity for health.

Judges then perform site visits from April through June selecting 10 final communities in the fall. We wish the Bronx the best of luck and hope it will be selected as one of the final 10!

Bronx Health Reach Schools-Based Nutrition & Fitness Workgroup: Recap and Looking to the Future

The 2014-2015 school year has been an exciting one for Bronx Health REACH. With recently awarded funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), we've welcomed three new staff members, and plan to bring on two more later this spring. This growth allows our team to dedicate even more time and energy to addressing barriers to health equity in the Bronx.

                With our new REACH funding from the CDC, we have awarded several small grants to a number of our community partners. Churches, schools, and local organizations will receive funding to implement various projects aimed at improving access to healthy food and physical activity. Four of our 22 school partners were given grants to address nutrition. The funding will go towards compensating teachers for attending professional development trainings and workshops on nutrition education outside regular school hours; purchasing nutrition education curricula/materials; and coordinating field trips to local farmers markets. In an effort to make nutrition education a sustainable part of classroom instruction, this project will help teachers integrate nutrition topics into their existing lesson plans. In addition to these four schools, two other schools were given funding for Active Design projects. The goal is to increase physical activity through creative design and infrastructure changes in schools.

                This new REACH initiative goes hand-in-hand with Bronx Health REACH’s existing schools-based work through its Healthy Schools NY grant, from the NY State Department of Health. This grant allows us to provide technical assistance to our 22 school partners in meeting city and state mandates for school wellness; to establish school wellness councils; and to support them in expanding health-related programming that promotes healthy eating and physical fitness. During the past eight months, four of our schools submitted successful applications for School Wellness Council Grants through the NYC Department of Education (DOE) Office of School Wellness. Other school successes include: three schools transitioned to the Alternative Menu, four schools signed on to work with a new nutrition education program, and four schools submitted successful applications for school garden grants through Grow to Learn NYC.

                One challenge that has been consistently present throughout our work in the schools is the lack of capacity and resources schools face when providing their students with physical education. We have been collaborating with New York Lawyers for the Public Interest on their PE for All Coalition—a city-wide effort to ensure students’ rights to a quality physical education program. A reporting bill that would require the DOE to report on which schools are complying with state mandates for PE has recently been introduced into the City Council. This is an important development that Bronx Health REACH and its Nutrition and Fitness Workgroup members are excited by and supportive of. The bill’s passing would be an important step towards the goal of full compliance by NYC public schools with the PE/PA mandate for its students.  

              One topic we would like to see mandated is a coordinated and institutionalized nutrition education program in NYC DOE schools. Currently, the standards for nutrition education are couched within a weak health education and physical education mandate. Furthermore, there are few incentives in place to prompt schools to opt in to a nutrition education program. With strong input from our partners who specialize in nutrition education and student wellness, we are planning to draft a series of recommendations for nutrition education for the policy makers at NYCDOE and NYCDOH to consider and act on. The aforementioned policies represent only a few of the policy changes that we and our partners are promoting.

                In addition to local projects and policies, there are state and nation-wide policy issues which directly affect children’s ability to live healthy lifestyles. Bronx Health REACH and many of our partners are watching with intense interest the reintroduction of the Fitness Integrated into Teaching (FIT) Kids Act. This year the bill’s language includes the restoration of a 37% cut to the only source of federal grant funding dedicated to physical education (the Physical Education Program, or PEP). The FIT Kids Act would provide support for PEP’s work, including curriculum evaluation, fitness assessment reporting, data collection and professional development for health and physical education teachers. For more information about this bill, please contact kristy.anderson@heart.org.

We are also closely monitoring the 2015 Childhood Nutrition Reauthorization (CNR). This bill will have a major impact on the nutritional standards and access to healthy foods for children across the country. NYC4CNR, a local coalition of partners working on child nutrition issues, is advocating for a strong CNR that will ensure NYC children are healthy, well-nourished, and ready to learn. Additionally, CNR advocates strengthening local economies and communities.

The Nutrition and Fitness workgroup affords those of us working in the Bronx to coordinate efforts through policy and system changes at the local, state and national levels. Our monthly workgroup meetings allow us to share and collaborate with our community partners to improve and promote school wellness. The workgroup also offers a powerful opportunity to mobilize organizations and individuals who are working towards a common goal. We look forward to identifying new opportunities for collaboration in our upcoming workgroup meetings and to achieving tangible policy changes throughout the year.

“When One Voice Is Not Enough”: Fashion Show at Validus Preparatory Academy High School Promotes Health and Cultural Pride

 

Media Contact: Kelly Moltzen 212-633-0800 x 1328 845-304-1521 kmoltzen@institute.org Darlene Perez perez@validusprep.org

Bronx, NY (March 20, 2015) -- Students at Validus Preparatory Academy have organized a fashion show that will promote awareness around eating disorders, health, cultural pride, LGBTQ awareness and body image. The event will be held on Friday, March 27th* from 5:00 – 8:00 PM (1595 Bathgate Ave). Students will showcase their poetry, music, dance and fashion designs.

The fashion show will incorporate a range of health-related topics, including violence, self-esteem, LGBTQ acceptance and AIDS and cancer awareness. High school students at Validus have brought these important issues to the forefront of their communities, and health teacher Darlene Perez has supported her students’ interests and helped them organize the event. According to Ms. Perez, the planning committee for the fashion show was initially small—a group of 10 students who dedicated time both during and after the school day to organize the logistics of the event. Student interest grew rapidly over the course of the school year, with more than 50 students contributing in the weeks leading up to the show. Ms. Perez has played a critical role in the implementation of these programs, dedicating hours of her free time to supporting students in health and wellness initiatives.

“I believe that if you empower students, they will then learn to take initiative to lead a positive movement,” says Ms. Perez.

Validus Prep will partner with Bronx Teen Connection; Build ON; and The Body Project, a program of the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) to host this event. The school was introduced to NEDA, as well as Chefs for Change, through Healthy Schools NY, a program of the NY State Department of Health implemented by the Institute for Family Health’s Bronx Health REACH initiative. Healthy Schools NY provides technical assistance to schools to implement programs and policies that promote school wellness. The Body Project has contributed to the overall theme of the upcoming fashion show, giving students a platform to actively promote health education and support their peers.

The Institute for Family Health (www.institute.org) is a federally qualified health center network that operates 27 practices in New York State with more than 90,000 patients served annually.  Services are available to people of all ages, regardless of ability to pay.

Bronx Health REACH is committed to improving the health of Bronx residents by creating opportunities for residents to make healthy choices. The Bronx Health REACH coalition, led by the Institute for Family Health, includes over 70 community‐based organizations, schools, health care providers, faith‐based institutions, housing, and social service agencies. To learn more, please visit www.bronxhealthreach.org

*Note: This event has been rescheduled from March 20 due to the weather.