The Chattanooga-Hamilton County Health Department/Step ONE program has been awarded a $360,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to improve opportunities and access for physical activity and healthy eating in the East and South Side communities of Chattanooga.
Based on a rigorous selection process that drew more than 500 proposals from across the country, Chattanooga, is one of 41 sites selected for the RWJF Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities initiative.
The Grow Healthy Together Chattanooga partnership will focus the resources of lead agency Step ONE (Optimize with Nutrition and Exercise) and key allies in the effort to eliminate childhood obesity in the high-risk communities of East and South Chattanooga. Nearly 30% of East and South Chattanooga's 33,000 residents live in poverty. Seventy-one percent of the predominantly African-American population is overweight or obese. Nearly 30% are physically inactive and only 21.9% consume five or more servings of fruits and vegetables daily.
Yet these communities also have a healthy grassroots infrastructure including well-organized neighborhoods and community-based organizations ready to provide leadership to a collaborative effort to reduce childhood obesity.
“By identifying strategic efforts to target childhood obesity in Chattanooga, our partnership will provide children in our community with the essential tools needed to stay healthy throughout their lives,” said John Bilderback, Step ONE program manager. “We are so pleased that the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has recognized a need in our community and is committed to helping implement necessary changes to improve the lives of our children.”
“To reverse this epidemic, communities are going to have to rally around their kids and provide the opportunities they need to be healthy,” said Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, M.D., M.B.A., president and chief executive officer of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “Through this project, the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Health Department and its partners are doing what it takes to make sure children lead better lives.”
Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities is a $33 million national program and RWJF’s largest investment to date in community-based solutions to childhood obesity. With nine Leading Sites chosen in late 2008, the program now spans 50 communities from Seattle to Puerto Rico. All are targeting improvements in local policies and their community environment—changes that research indicates could have the greatest impact on healthier eating, more active living and obesity prevention. Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities is a cornerstone of RWJF’s $500 million commitment to reverse the country’s childhood obesity epidemic by 2015.
The 40 other cities and regions just announced as Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities sites are:
Benton County, OR
Boone and Newton Counties, AR
Buffalo, NY
Caguas, PR
Charleston, WV
Hamilton County, OH
Cook County, GA
Cuba, NM
Denver, CO
Desoto, Marshall and Tate Counties, MS
Duval County, FL
El Paso, TX
Fitchburg, MA
Flint, MI
Greenville, SC
Houghton County, MI
Houston, TX
Jackson, MS
Jefferson County, AL
Kane County, IL
Kansas City, MO
Kingston, NY
Knoxville, TN
Lake Worth, Greenacres and Palm Springs, FL
Milledgeville, GA
Milwaukee, WI
Moore and Montgomery Counties, NC
Multnomah County, OR
Nash and Edgecombe Counties, NC
New Orleans, LA
Omaha, NE
Philadelphia, PA
Phoenix, AZ
Rancho Cucamonga, CA
Rochester, NY
San Antonio, TX
San Felipe Pueblo, NM
Silver City, NM
Spartanburg, SC
Watsonville and Parajo Valley, CA
All were selected because of strong vision, partnership and a commitment to make lasting change in their communities. The new program grants will continue through June 2013.
Visit www.healthykidshealthycommunities.org to learn more about these communities’ work and plans.