SEARHC - What's New - Steps to a Healthier SE Alaska program awards five school grants

Steps to a Healthier SE Alaska program awards five school grants

The SEARHC Steps to a Healthier SE Alaska program recently awarded mini-grants of between $4,000 and $14,549 to five school districts in Southeast Alaska. This is the second round of school grants awarded by the Steps to a Healthier SE Alaska program.

The grants were designed to help school districts develop school programs that increase healthy food choices, increase physical activity, help prevent or cease tobacco use, better manage asthma or assess school wellness policies or programs. The grants of up to $25,000 were open to school districts only, not individual schools.

The grants went to:

Haines Borough School District ($13,991.76) to implement the K-6 SPARK PE program (SPARK, which stands for Sports, Play & Active Recreation for Kids, is an award-winning national physical education curriculum);
Sitka School District ($13,100) for a district-wide vending machine makeover, administrative regulation and nutrition standard development;
Hoonah City Schools ($7,182.60) for a district-wide School Health Index (a community process involving school officials, nutritionists, health workers and parents to examine the school district's health status and develop a School Wellness Initiative);
Craig City School District ($4,000) for a district-wide School Health Index; and
Chatham School District/Angoon ($14,549) to implement the SPARK PE program in grades K-8.

The SEARHC Steps to a Healthier SE Alaska program targets three main focus areas — obesity, diabetes and asthma — by working with schools, worksites and other community groups to increase physical activity, encourage healthy eating and reduce tobacco use. The grant is part of a national Steps to a Healthier US program run by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention.

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