Jackson, Miss., January 12, 2010 – My Brother’s Keeper has been awarded a $360,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to improve opportunities for physical activity and access to affordable, healthy foods for children and families in Jackson, Mississippi. Based on a rigorous selection process that drew more than 500 proposals from across the country, Jackson, Mississippi is one of 41 sites selected for the RWJF Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities initiative.
In the City of Jackson, 39 percent of boys and 49 percent of girls are either overweight or obese. In response to this epidemic, My Brother’s Keeper, Inc. (MBK) will conduct an innovative community-based, policy-driven healthy eating and active living initiative to address the obesity epidemic among low-income, disadvantaged African-American children and adolescents.
The early efforts of the initiative, called Jump Start Jackson (JSJ), will focus on improving access to healthy foods and increasing opportunities for physical activity. JSJ will seek to attract more fresh grocers to the city and help local farmers’ markets provide low-income families with better access to healthy foods. It will also work with local Safe Routes to School projects to increase the number of kids who are able to walk or bike to school.
“The burden of obesity in Jackson, Mississippi is directly linked to an environment that does not support physical activity and access to healthy foods,” said Dr. Mark Colomb, President and CEO of My Brother’s Keeper. “The grant will start a cultural revolution for health and wellness that will fundamentally change how children and adolescents eat and participate in physical activity in Jackson.”
The long-term objectives of the Jump Start Jackson initiative are to:
(1) develop a culture of health in order to facilitate the adoption of healthy lifestyle behaviors and to improve the quality of life among local residents; and
(2) plan, advocate, and mobilize communities for policy and environmental systems change that will increase and support active living and healthy eating behaviors.
“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 CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “Through this project, My Brother’s Keeper 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
Chattanooga, TN
Cook County, GA
Cuba, NM
Denver, CO
Desoto, Marshall and Tate Counties, MS
El Paso, TX
Fitchburg, MA
Flint, MI
Grant County, NM
Greenville, SC
Hamilton County, OH
Houghton County, MI
Houston, TX
Jacksonville, FL
Jefferson County, AL
Kane County, IL
Kansas City, MO
Kingston, NY
Knox County, TN
Lake Worth, Greenacres and Palm Springs, FL
Milledgeville, GA
Milwaukee, WI
Moore and Montgomery Counties, NC
Multnomah County/Portland, 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
Spartanburg County, SC
Watsonville and Pajaro 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.
###
About My Brother’s Keeper
My Brother’s Keeper (MBK) is a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) organization that is dedicated solely to enhancing the health and well-being of African Americans through leadership in public and community health practices, collaboration and partnerships. MBK works continuously to eliminate health disparities among underserved, uninsured or underinsured populations through health education, health promotion, policy change, and environmental justice initiatives. For more information, visit www.mbk-inc.org.
About Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities
Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), advances community-based solutions that will help reverse the childhood obesity epidemic. It focuses on changing policies and environments to support active living and healthy eating among children and families. The program places special emphasis on reaching children who are at highest risk for obesity on the basis of income, race/ethnicity and geographic location. It will support RWJF’s efforts to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic in the United States by 2015.
The Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities national program office is housed at Active Living By Design, part of the North Carolina Institute for Public Health at the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Established in 2001 as an RWJF national program, Active Living By Design now serves funders and partnerships across the country that are fostering community-led change to build a culture of active living and healthy eating.
About the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. As the nation’s largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans, the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful and timely change. For more than 35 years, the Foundation has brought experience, commitment, and a rigorous, balanced approach to the problems that affect the health and health care of those it serves. When it comes to helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need, the Foundation expects to make a difference in your lifetime. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org.
Be the first to comment