Georgia SHAPE, the Governor’s childhood obesity initiative, awarded 26 schools $104,000 in physical activity and nutrition grants for the 2016-2017 school year. From Savannah to Villa Rica and from Atlanta to Quitman, Ga. the 26 schools include elementary, middle, and high schools that are either initiating physical activity and nutrition activities or building on previous efforts.
Georgia SHAPE was established in 2012 to improve the health status of Georgia’s kids and adolescents with particular focus on improving fitness and decreasing childhood obesity prevalence. The Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) administers the grant program while the Georgia Health Policy Center (GHPC) provides technical assistance (TA) to the school grantees as they plan and implement programs and policies to improve the overall health of their students.
“It was exciting to see that we received double the number of applications from last year, making it a highly competitive grant opportunity,” says Kia Toodle, deputy director of Adolescent and School Health, Chronic Disease Prevention Section at DPH. “We are thrilled that more teachers and administrators are taking an interest in putting health and wellness at the center of their school environments.”
Half of the schools were awarded $3,000 core grants, which are nutrition focused, while half received $5,000 enhanced grants that focus on both nutrition and physical activity. Collectively, these efforts aim to improve the state’s youth health outcomes initiated under the Georgia School Health and Physical Education Act. The grants also aid schools meet in meeting federal nutritional guidelines, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act.
As part of the grants, schools receive technical assistance from GHPC to ensure they develop and maintain a sustainable program customized for the needs of their student body. GHPC staff helps evaluate existing wellness programs; design surveys to gauge interest and to guide policy development; support with implementing school wellness best practices; and provide tools, materials, and evidence-based curriculum on physical activity and nutrition education, as well as professional development opportunities for school staff. Since October 2012, the GHPC team, led by Debra Kibbe and Rachel Campos, provided TA to 116 Georgia elementary, middle, and high schools throughout the state.
“Over time, SHAPE grantees have become more knowledgeable about the physical activity and nutrition strategies that they may adopt to impact student and staff health,” says Debra Kibbe, a GHPC senior research associate and SHAPE technical assistance consultant. “Many of the grantees selected evidence-based approaches that will touch many students and are likely to be sustained following the grant cycle.”
Prior grant recipients have successfully utilized the SHAPE grants to create school gardens, host cooking classes and taste tests led by local farmers, and launch student task forces dedicated to getting the school community moving in fun and engaging ways. Best practices from previous grantees, as well as model school wellness policies, are included in the Physical Activity and Nutrition Toolkit, developed by the GHPC and DPH. The toolkit provides schools with practical examples on how to develop, implement, and promote a coordinated school health plan.