Creating Healthy Schools & Communities Initiative

In 2015, the Institute for Family Health/Bronx Health REACH received a five year grant from the NY State Department of Health to implement the Creating Healthy Schools and Communities (CHSC) Initaitive in South Bronx school districts 7,8,9 and 12. CHSC is a coordinated, multi-sector initiative designed to increase demand for and access to healthy, affordable foods and opportunities for daily physical activity in high-need school districts and their associated communities. It provides funding to 26 communities across NY State and will end in September 2020. Collectively, our CHSC program provides wellness programming to 91 schools, 30 faith-based organizations, 8 health centers, and 8 other worksites/community-based organizations in the borough. That funding ends in September 2020. Currently, there are no plans for this program to be re-funded by the State.
 
Bronx County is the least healthy county in NY State in health outcomes and behaviors.  36.4% of high school students are overweight or obese, higher than in all NYC boroughs and 43% of elementary aged children are obese or overweight. More than a quarter of NYC students do not meet the required physical education requirements or are not physically active on a daily basis. School wellness creates a healthier environment for students and staff and has many benefits: academic achievement, on-task behavior, increased concentration, decreated absenteeism, and staff morale. 

Over the past four years, CHSC has provided much needed funding to improve the health and wellness of our students and the community members surrounding our schools in the Bronx, including the following achievements: 
 
·         Worked with the NYC Department of Education to update its school wellness policy to align with the Final Rule of the 2010 Federal Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act at the district level. 

·         Helped secure NYC Council funding with the PE 4 ALL Coalition to improve physical education in NYC schools through the PEWorks Program. The program has increased the number of elementary schools with trained PE teachers to 85 percent, has trained 6,200 classroom teachers in physical activity programming, has funded wellness programming in 207 schools and provided facility upgrades to 40 schools.

·         Worked closely with teachers and school administrators from 91 schools in 4 school districts in the Bronx to provide innovative training (classroom teachers from 41 schools and school aides and PE teachers from 58 schools), technical assistance and resources (over 100 NYC schools) to make their school environment healthier. This includes  nutrition education professional development opportunities

·         Sponsored a FoodCorps member for five years to create a healthy school environment where every child is well-nourished and ready to learn. 

To build a sustainable culture of wellness in the Bronx and across New York State our asks include the following:

1.       New funding for another five years of the Creating Healthy Schools and Communities program (2020-2025). This five year program would allow us to continue to increase the demand for and access to healthy, affordable foods and opportunities for daily physical activity in high-need school districts serving grades K-12 and their associated communities; and

2.       Enact A-7607, a bill directing the Commissioner of Education to establish a New York state model wellness policy for local educational agencies, as well as a school district wellness policy database.