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April 19, 2016
Beth Feehan and Chris Cirkus and the organization formerly operating as the NJ Farm to School Network received the first NJPHK “Culture of Health Champion” award in the Food Access category during the Building a Culture of Health in New Jersey Conference last year. The award recognized leadership and commitment in creating changes that surround families with opportunities to make healthy choices. Feehan and Cirkus were acknowledged for their advocacy and support of Farm to School programs across the state, as well as promoting and encouraging local farm connections to schools, leading the passage of Farm to School bills that promote community and school gardens and collaborating on the initial launch of Trenton’s Greenwood Ave Farmers Market. “These Farm to School champions are committed to building a Culture of Health by helping to bring healthy, fresh food to children, families and communities throughout New Jersey,” said Darrin Anderson, deputy director, […]
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February 25, 2016
Originally posted on mycentraljersey.com The New Jersey Healthy Communities Network, through a funding collaborative, awarded $860,000 to 43 nonprofit organizations to enhance the built environment and develop policies to support healthy eating and active living. Grant awards are $10,000 per year for two years, with the stipulation that action plans and goals are being met by the end of year one. “Our community grants program is made possible by the generous support of a funding collaborative,” said Bill Lovett, Executive Director of the New Jersey YMCA State Alliance. “Their support allows us to not only award grants, but also to provide technical assistance and to develop an evaluation tool to measure the impact of the work.” Each member of the funding collaborative provides both financial and in-kind contributions such as website development, administrative support, or GIS mapping skills, for example, to the collective impact model. The funding collaborative includes: Atlantic Health System, New Jersey […]
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February 21, 2016
With more than 17 percent of Trenton households regularly lacking enough food to eat*, food pantries have continued to experience a huge increase in demand. The USDA defines food insecurity as a state in which “consistent access to adequate food is limited by a lack of money and other resources at times during the year. That’s why on October 30th, 19 community leaders came together as part of the Coordinated Food Pantries Project to explore opportunities to improve the food acquisition and distribution system. Members of the group included food pantry leaders from various Trenton area organizations, along with representatives from New Jersey Partnership for Healthy Kids – Trenton (NJPHK-Trenton) and the Trenton Healthy Food Network (THFN). “Creating a coalition of Trenton area food pantries is the first step in fully understanding the challenges around facilitating redistributions, coordinating pantry hours of operations, and ensuring that those who need it most […]
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February 21, 2016
A series of workshops designed to engage parents of Newark preschoolers on nutrition and physical activity has proved eye opening for attendees according to workshop facilitator Courtney Price, project manager for New Jersey Partnership for Healthy Kids-Newark (NJPHK-N). The workshops came out of Price’s meetings with school principals. They all asked for help with the same issue: “How do we encourage our kids to eat more healthy foods?” The idea was to reach the parents and educate them about nutrition related topics, such as reading labels, portion control, and how to make dollars stretch in the grocery store. Attendees have been struck by the cause and effect between poor nutrition and oral health—a topic that is not always associated with healthy eating. And the nationwide statistics on the growth of obesity over 20 years also have been enlightening for many parents. Through a series of PowerPoint slides, parents watch the […]
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February 21, 2016
With 25 Vineland corner stores participating in the Healthy Corner Store initiative, the effort is expanding throughout the three-county area served by the Cumberland Cape Atlantic YMCA. Four stores in Millville have signed on to sell and promote more healthy food choices, as have two stores in Bridgeton. In Atlantic City, seven stores are committed. Stores participating in Healthy Corner Stores benefit from consultation from The Food Trust and Live Healthy Vineland/New Jersey Partnership for Healthy Kids-Vineland (NJPHK-V). “We advise the store owners on effective ways to display and promote healthy foods,” said David Calderetti, NJPHK-V project manager. The promotion may include health screenings and consumer education too. “We also help owners apply for grants for freezers when they become available.” In Atlantic City, NJPHK-V partners with AtlantiCare Health Systems and Rutgers SNAP-Ed. They hope to host a health fair in a local school this spring complete with health screenings […]
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February 21, 2016
“I feel so bad when my mom calls me fat.” That message, written by a student and left on Nurse Robbin DeMuth’s desk, was the impetus for creating a Comprehensive Approach to School Wellness grant program at Joyce Kilmer Middle School. “The note was a cry for help,” DeMuth said, “and I knew we had to do something to get and keep our kids healthy.” Shortly after receiving the note, DeMuth found an ally. Speaking at a forum for school nurses, Marissa Davis, Project Manager for New Jersey Partnership for Healthy Kids-Trenton (NJPHK-T), encouraged the audience to “dream big, together we can turn our schools of need into schools of opportunity.” “I asked for an exercise bike,” said DeMuth. With Davis’s help and a generous grant from Novo Nordisk, the school was able to get that and so much more: a fitness room equipped with cross-trainers, elliptical machines, treadmills, and […]
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February 20, 2016
Originally posted on mycentraljersey.com by Sheila Cort, NJ Partnership for Healthy Kids The New Jersey Partnership for Healthy Kids (NJPHK), a program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, hosted the Building a Culture of Health in New Jersey Conference on Dec. 2 at the Pines Manor in Edison. The conference keynote speaker, Sandra G. Hassink, MD, MS, FAAP, president, American Academy of Pediatrics, spoke about “Childhood Obesity from the Perspective of a Pediatrician: Social Determinants of Health and Civil Rights Pertaining to Food Access and Physical Activity.” “We can’t build a culture of health without raising the value of a child in our society,” said Dr. Hassink. “We need to change the framework of how we think about children. As a pediatrician, I would have never thought that I would treat children with such illnesses as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, liver disease, and many others that were once only seen in middle-age […]
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February 20, 2016
Originally posted on Inside Philanthropy by Tracey DeFrancesco The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation kicked off a new 10-year partnership with the YMCA on January 1, 2016, as part of its efforts to foster a “Culture of Health.” The collaboration is building on existing programs and introducing new initiatives by starting with a grant of just under $12 million over the next three years. With a presence in 10,000 neighborhoods across the United States, the YMCA is well positioned to coordinate a national strategy at the local level. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has a long history of working with the YMCA to promote healthy communities with actions such as creating more farmers markets, building sidewalks to encourage walking, and establishing smoke-free areas. The organizations have mapped out two areas of focus for the initial three years of the next decade. First is a project to advance a model of community-integrated […]
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February 20, 2016
Click the video below to view highlights of the retreat. Zip lining across the sky is generally not an activity associated with city life. So when Frost Valley YMCA teamed up with the New Jersey Partnership for Healthy Kids (NJPHK) to host its first Healthy Family Retreat in November 2015, more than 80 individuals joined the adventure. Buses full of families and NJPHK team leaders from Camden, Newark, New Brunswick, Trenton and Vineland rolled up the highway and arrived late Friday night at Frost Valley YMCA. Located on over 5,500 acres in the heart of the Catskill Mountains, two hours north of New Jersey, Frost Valley YMCA provides people of all ages and abilities with a variety of enriching, outdoor experiences. After a good night’s sleep, everyone got up early Saturday morning to partake in a variety of healthy activities and experiences. “We initially split the families into three groups that included cooking, gardening and […]
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February 20, 2016
Youth Coach Captain Mike Bobadilla doesn’t hold back in expressing his passion about the Soccer Academy he leads in New Brunswick. Back in 2000, a friend asked him to assist him with a summer youth soccer team and, since that time, it’s been a major part of his DNA. The program started with 30 kids a few times a week in Archibald Park. By the end of the season, the program had grown to nearly 100 kids. Unfortunately, due to lack of funding and resources, the program was discontinued. “In the back of my mind, I knew how vital the program had been in keeping kids off the street and decided to create a summer academy in 2008,” said Captain Bobadilla, who worked on the local police department’s night shift. Called the Bobadilla Soccer Academy, 125 kids were initially recruited for a six-week summer soccer program at Roosevelt School and […]
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