Improving Access to Physical Education for All NYC Students

New York State requires that all schools provide students in all grades with physical education (PE). However, in New York City, the majority of schools are failing to meet the state PE mandate. Several reports demonstrate the breadth of the problem. A New York Times article found that about 1 in 5 NYC high school students reports having no gym class in an average week. An audit conducted by former Comptroller Liu reported that none of the 31 NYC elementary schools visited was meeting the New York State PE mandate.

While the problem affects nearly all NYC schools, schools in neighborhoods that are predominantly low-income and Black or Latino are even more unlikely to provide adequate PE. The disproportionate lack of access to PE for low-income students of color only exacerbates existing racial disparities and inequities in child obesity and academic achievement.

Ensuring access to PE for all students in NYC could go a long way to addressing these health and educational inequities. There is a plethora of evidence demonstrating that PE improves student health, reduces child obesity, and improves academic performance, including test scores. Yet with all that said, why are schools failing to provide their students with adequate PE instruction?

The cause of the problem is manifold. Many schools are simply unaware of the requirements. The PE standards as laid out by the state require that students in grades K through 6 receive 120 minutes of PE per week. The students in grades 7 and 8 should receive at least 90 minutes of PE per week and all students in grades 7-12 should have at least three gym classes per week in one semester and two classes per week in the other semester. Recess cannot be counted toward meeting these minimum time standards.

Yet even when schools have knowledge of the requirements, many struggle to meet them. Some schools utilize non-certified instructors for PE, which may prevent students from receiving quality physical education instruction. And space limitations due to co-location of multiple schools in buildings with one gymnasium also impede a school’s ability to provide all students with adequate PE time.

So what can be done? With a new mayoral administration bent on tackling the city’s widening inequities, education and health advocates alike are coming together to raise the importance of providing quality and comprehensive PE to all of NYC’s students. New York Lawyers for the Public Interest has teamed up with a wide variety of stakeholders, including Bronx Health REACH, to advocate for improved access to PE in all NYC public schools.

The NYC Department of Education (NYC DOE) has the opportunity to reverse the trend in PE and work to support and ensure compliance with the state PE mandate. The NYC DOE should provide schools with resources on the PE requirement by posting information on their website and sharing best practices across the five boroughs, including examples of co-located schools that have coordinated schedules to meet the PE time requirements. The NYC DOE should also document and regularly report schools’ compliance.

The NYC DOE should also adequately staff the department with professionals who can provide schools with support and technical assistance with offering a comprehensive PE curriculum. The NYC DOE could work toward these goals within the Office of School Wellness, which it jointly oversees with the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

The new mayoral administration is in charge of one of the largest public school systems in the nation, with one of the most diverse student populations. We hope that the new mayoral administration will improve the physical and academic wellbeing of millions of students and take a step to advance health and educational justice by making improved access to quality physical education a priority.

This blog post was written by Sascha Murillo, a Community Organizer in the Health Justice Program at New York Lawyers in the Public Interest, and can also be found on the NYLPI Health Justice page here.)

NYC Takes Lead Once Again with New E-Cigarette Ban

As one of the final acts as Mayor, Michael Bloomberg signed into law a bill to expand the Smoke-Free Air Act to include electronic cigarettes. It seems fitting that as one of his final official acts, Mayor Bloomberg was signing a bill to expand New York City’s successful smokefree law.  New York City recently celebrated the 10 year anniversary of the law, which protects workers and patrons from cigarette smoke at our workplaces, bars, and restaurants.  It’s hard to even remember that just over ten years ago, a night out in New York often left you smelling of smoke and forcing you to endure hours of secondhand smoke exposure.                                

More recently, our smokefree bars and restaurants have become increasingly filled with secondhand electronic cigarette emissions.  As e-cigarettes have increased in popularity, New Yorkers are once again being unwillingly exposed to potentially harmful emissions.  While we await the US Food and Drug Administration to assess their authority to regulate e-cigarettes, we are glad that the City of New York has asserted its own authority to protect the health of its residents, workers, and visitors.  Not only have e-cigarettes not been proven to be safe, they also have not been approved as a smoking cessation tool.

A couple of important facts to remember about e-cigarettes:

• This new law does not ban e-cigarettes, but simply restricts where they are allowed to be used.
• We also want to remind anyone who is thinking about quitting smoking to talk to their doctors, call 311 and consider using one of the seven FDA-approved smoking cessation products.

To learn more about e-cigarettes, please visit www.nycsmokefree.org  

This blog post was written by Michael Seilback, Vice President, Public Policy & Communications, at the American Lung Association of the Northeast.

 
 

The Voices of Melrose

In 2015, Women’s Housing and Economic Development Corporation (WHEDco) will open a new development in Melrose called the Bronx Commons.  Melrose, which is located in the nation’s poorest congressional district, has a high poverty rate and a young population. More than 1 out of 3 Melrose residents are under 19 years old and according to the NYC Department of City Planning, almost 2 out of 3 receive some income support.  Additionally, there are high crime rates and very few recreation centers and places that sell healthy food.

According to WHEDco’s website, the Bronx Commons will be a “361,600 square foot mixed-use development which includes affordable housing; the Bronx Music Heritage Center, a community performance and event space; a rooftop urban farm including a hydroponic greenhouse; a grocer offering healthy food options; and green recreational space.”  

The Bronx Commons will be a welcome site for the community. However, WHEDco wants to do more than just create a building; they want to enhance the entire community.  Modeled after their community development work around Intervale Green (2544 Valentine Ave, Bronx, NY 10458), another affordable housing development in the South Bronx, WHEDco is working with Bronx Health REACH to do a comprehensive needs assessment of Melrose to identify other resources that the community needs.  A needs assessment is a way of asking residents what types of services and programs their community needs with the goal of incorporating them into community improvement plans. This needs assessment includes: meetings with organizations and residents, developing and distributing a survey, analyzing and sharing the findings with the community, and working with community residents and organizations to develop and implement projects that improve the health and wellness of the community. 

We met with 10 organizations this summer, including FEGs, the Bronx Defenders, Montefiore, and Bronx Community 3.  In late September/early October, we organized community meetings at three locations: the Classic Center at the Melrose Houses, DreamYard Project, and SoBRO.  The meetings focused on 8 different themes, including: crime and safety, youth programs, adult education, jobs, and re-entry programs, health (food access and green space), culture and business.  The meetings provided a space for community members to talk about what they felt were the major issues in their community and share ideas about how to fix them.   Below is a summary of the some of what we heard.

Crime and Safety: There is a spiraling effect around crime and safety.  There are not enough activities for youth, so they turn to crime as an alternative.  When there is violence, people begin closing facilities to make the community safer.  However, these areas could be used to run programs or simply offer a safe space for adolescents to congregate.  When these spaces close, more teens are unable to access these resources and end up following their peers “down the rabbit hole”. 

The stories told by the attendees were tough to hear.  Children as young as 12 are wielding guns, shootings happening just as schools are letting out, abandoned basket ball courts because shootouts are expected there; and the reports of police responsiveness were just as bad.  The lack of care many people perceived by the investigating officers was depressing. It makes one feel as though the police have given up on the neighborhood.  

Youth Programs: After school programs are great, but what happens when kids age-out?   Youth aging out of programs at 16 means that they have more free time to engage in “bad” activities.  Creating new opportunities to engage teens is important in ensuring that they stay out of trouble and encourages healthy development.  For example, setting up an apprenticeship program where adults with marketable skills and professional experience can mentor and train youth would be ideal for skills development, providing teens with hands-on training in areas in which they are interested.  Additionally, providing programs for teens to learn more about safe sex, preventing abuse, and leadership skills will foster a generation of healthy, motivated and responsible youth with the ability to change their own lives as well as their community.

However, there is a lot that stands in the ways of these programs.  Lack of funding means there is no way to buy equipment and the lack of space means there is nowhere to house the programs.  Many spaces that could be utilized are closed due to criminal activity, a consequence of unengaged youth. Remember that spiral I mentioned earlier?!

Adult Education, Jobs and Re-Entry Programs: Adult education is vital to employment, but with a busy schedule and ever changing financial and social landscapes, many people cannot dedicate themselves to fulltime classes.  Thus, it is important that these opportunities are flexible enough to accommodate the ever-changing needs of the students. Job trainings should be offered for individuals to acquire new skills that will open doors to higher paying, living wage jobs. Job recruitment centers, like Workforce 1, should open up a new location so that more people can access these resources. Along with this, job fairs should be provided for individuals seeking employment.

In addition to jobs, re-entry programs need to be updated in the Melrose area.  Helping individuals find jobs and stay clean and sober is essential to preventing recidivism.  Without these services, individuals often turn to crime as a means for survival. Having mentoring and counseling programs located in easily accessible places, such as in housing units, is essential to aiding re-entering individuals to stay out of the criminal justice system.

Health (Food access and Green Space): Fresh produce is so hard to come by that one person referred to the area as a “Health Food Desert.”  The attendees called for more locations selling fruits and vegetables such as Green Carts and restaurant offering healthier options, like Chopped, a chain restaurant in Manhattan that sells affordable salads. 

Along with fruits and vegetables being difficult to find, the prices for these items is also higher than in other areas. Grocery stores should be encouraged and incentivized to not only offer fresh produce, but to price it fairly so that it is both accessible and affordable.

Green places, not empty spaces – parks, playgrounds, athletic fields, community gardens and the like need to be established to offer residents a chance to smell the roses, literally.  Attendees also called for educational programs to be run throughout these establishments to teach youth and adults about the world around them. Most importantly, these places need to be OPEN to the public so that they  can be enjoyed by all, not just one particular group!

Culture and Business: Attendees noted that establishments dedicated to cultural expression are few and far between.  In fact, three community centers have closed in the area, reducing the availability of activities such as open mikes, poetry readings, performance spaces, etc. While residents noted that the DreamYard Project was a great asset, they spoke of the need for more of these programs.  Additionally, programming aimed at engaging adults and developmentally disabled population needs to be created.  

In respect to businesses, the Melrose area has a ‘money leakage’ problem.  With the lack of “Big Box” stores in the areas, such as the Gap, Old Navy, etc. many residents prefer to travel to Manhattan to shop.  This means that the businesses in Melrose are missing much of those consumer dollars.  One remedy is to bring higher quality, name brand shopping options to the area and update current businesses to attract shoppers.  In addition, adding entertainment venues i.e. more movie theatres, book stores, bowling alleys, and live theatre performance spaces are needed to promote safe options for recreation and to keep residents spending their hard earned money in their own community. SoBRO has been trying to do this for a long time, but hasn’t had much success.  They hope through partnering with WHEDco and other organizations in this effort, the tide will turn.

Please join the conversation!  Do you have an opinion about what the Melrose community needs? Look out for our survey or email erodgers@institute2000.org with "Melrose Needs Assessment" as the subject title. 

This blog post was written by Caroline Dunn, a first year student at Silberman School of Social Work and intern at Bronx Health REACH.

4 Prominent Bronx Organizations Adopt Smoke-Free Outdoor Air Policies

We are proud to announce the newest additions to the growing list of organizations dedicated to reducing exposure to deadly secondhand smoke and improving the health of Bronx residents.  The Bronx YMCA, the Mary Mitchell Family & Youth Center, Kingsbridge Heights Community Center and Archdiocese of New York Drug Abuse Prevention Program (ADAPP) signed smoke-free outdoor air policies this fall for their grounds and entryways.  Smoke-free policies protect the health of an organization’s members and employees.

Sharlene Brown, the Executive Director of the Bronx YMCA, commented, “The Bronx YMCA is proud to declare the outdoor space of our facility as a ‘clean air zone.’  Through the Smoke-Free Outdoor Air Policy, the Bronx Y aims to improve the health of our members.”   Ms. Brown went on to point out that, “As people enjoy the health benefits of smoke-free areas indoors, it is only natural that the Bronx YMCA would want our members to enjoy those same benefits in our outdoor areas, especially as this is where our members gather during the spring and summer months.”

Charmaine Ruddock, Director of Bronx Health REACH, noted that “The commitment to create smoke-free environments demonstrates to the employees, the people who use their services and to the Bronx community at large the priority these organizations place on their health and wellness.”

Even brief exposure to secondhand smoke is harmful to individuals, causing changes in the upper airways and prompting more frequent asthma attacks in children with asthma.  Joanne Timmins, Community Organizer for the Throggs Neck Community Action Partnership, a program under the auspice of ADAPP, remarked, “I appreciate the commitment and concern of my workplace to protect me from the harms of second-hand smoke.” 

“By adopting outdoor air policies, these four organizations are being leaders in the Bronx community,” said Lisa Spitzner, Borough Manager of the Bronx Smoke-Free Partnership, which is part of the NYC Coalition for a Smoke-Free City.  “Their decision to go smoke-free demonstrates their commitment to the health and safety of their staff and the many community members who enjoy their facilities.  We hope they will serve as shining examples to all their Bronx neighbors.”  

The Bronx YMCA, the Mary Mitchell Family & Youth Center, Kingsbridge Heights Community Center and ADAPP join Montefiore Hospital, CUNY, and the Riverdale YMCA in adopting a smoke-free outdoor air policy for their grounds and entryways.  In addition to the many health benefits, smoke-free entryway and grounds reduce cigarette litter and fire hazards.  The Partnership for a Healthier Bronx and Bronx Smoke-Free Partnership provide free support and technical assistance to organizations interested in adopting smoke-free policies for their grounds and entryways. This includes providing free smoking cessation services for members and staff as well as developing personalized signage and materials. 

For more information, please visit www.NYCSmokeFree.org/smoke-free-outdoor-spaces or contact Emma Rodgers at erodgers@institute2000.org or (212) 633-0800 x1249