Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Awards Grants to Nine Communities In Launch of $44 Million National Program to Reverse Childho...( Comprehensive Health Initiative Will ...),Health

Comprehensive Health Initiative Will Expand to 70 Cities and Regions by 2010

PRINCETON, N.J., Dec. 2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As the first investment of a new $44 million initiative, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has awarded grants of up to $400,000 to nine communities across the country that will serve as leading sites for its most ambitious effort yet to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic.

Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities will support local action to increase opportunities for physical activity and access to healthy, affordable foods for children and families. The goal is to catalyze policy and environmental changes that can make a lasting difference and be replicated across the country.

The program is a major part of RWJF's five-year, $500 million commitment to reverse the epidemic in the United States by 2015. The Foundation is also focused on building the evidence about what works to prevent childhood obesity and on supporting advocacy to educate policy-makers and leaders at all levels about the best solutions.

"Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities will be a cornerstone of our work into the next decade," said Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, M.D., M.B.A., RWJF president and CEO. "This is one of the largest community-action programs ever supported by the Foundation and one that holds great potential for changing many people's lives."

The leading sites are urban and rural, large and small. They include Chicago; Columbia, Mo.; Louisville, Ky.; Seattle; Somerville, Mass.; Washington; and Baldwin Park, Central Valley and Oakland in California.

Through impressive partnerships of neighborhood associations and public agencies, all are pursuing an array of strategies to reshape their communities and promote active living and healthy eating - from farmers markets in public schools to community gardens and produce-stocked corner sto
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