2010-01-13 - United Way of Santa Cruz County’s Go For Health! Collaborative Receives Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Major Grant to Increase Opportunities for Physical Activity and Availability of Healthy Foods

Capitola, CA, January 12, 2010 – The United Way of Santa Cruz County’s Go For Health! Collaborative 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 Watsonville and the Pajaro Valley.  Based on a rigorous selection process that drew more than 500 proposals from across the country, Watsonville/Pajaro Valley is one of 41 sites selected for the RWJF Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities initiative. According to the California Healthy Kids Survey, 36% of Pajaro Valley Unified School District’s 5th, 7th and 9th graders were overweight or obese.  And while the Pajaro Valley is home to an abundance of fields which grow strawberries, lettuce, artichokes and other fruits and vegetables,  these fruits and vegetables rarely end up on the farm worker’s tables or in their children’s school cafeterias.  The United Way of Santa Cruz County’s Go For Health! Collaborative will work to change the surrounding environment to increase children’s access to fresh fruits and vegetables and increase their opportunities to participate in physical activity.    Specifically Go For Health! will refine and share community data with area leaders, policy-makers and advocates; address city and regional policies regulating  food outlets and built environment features such as sidewalks and bike lanes; and, help corner stores offer more product from local farms. “Addressing the issue of childhood obesity through an environmental change strategy is perhaps the most effective way of helping our children maintain a healthy weight,” states Mary Lou Goeke, Executive Director of the United Way of Santa Cruz County.  “That is, we must change the environment where our children grow up so that it is easy to make a healthy choice and difficult to make the unhealthy one.  This grant will help the Go For Health! Collaborative in its efforts to bring health-minded, lasting changes to Watsonville and the Pajaro Valley.”   “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, The United Way of Santa Cruz County 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: The new program grants will continue through June 2013. Visit www.healthykidshealthycommunities.org to learn more about these communities’ work and plans.