Initiatives
The attention given to increasing physical activity for children and youth in the county led to one of the most successful policies of the initiative: expansion of physical education to all kids in middle school, every day. This policy joins others the Clinton coalition has successfully implemented: replacing the deep fryers in the school kitchens with combination ovens, prohibiting the sale of high-fat, high-calorie snacks to students; and requiring that healthy snacks be sold in the park concession stand. As part of this greater commitment to improving children’s health, this year Mayor Nicky
Investing in Kentucky's Future
A Healthier Tomorrow Starts by Engaging Today’s Children
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Communities throughout Kentucky will find valuable examples of successful strategies in the Foundation’s seven Investing in Kentucky's Future (IKF) community coalition grantees for reducing chronic disease factors among school-aged children, so they can grow into healthier adults.
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Six of the coalitions are working on childhood obesity prevention, and the seventh is addressing the effects of toxic stress on children. The Foundation provided a grant to a coalition in each
community, as well as training and technical support. Our training in 2017 focused on systems changes in schools within the Whole School, Whole Community and Whole Child (WSSC) framework and Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA); coalition sustainability; and communicating the coalition’s story using data, social media and other channels.
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Highlights of IKF grantees work in 2017 include:
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Breathitt County: The Breathitt County Health Planning Council for Children implemented local policies to enhance physical activity for children in schools and the community. With the successful engagement of the Parks and Recreation Department and the Schools, Breathitt has now expanded year-round sports for children and youth. Agreements have been signed between the schools, the City of Jackson and Jackson Parks and Recreation, and the Kentucky Community Technical College System, Hazard Community College, for the shared use of fields and gymnasiums.
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These policies complement the Breathitt coalition’s implementation of the physical activity and nutrition best practice curriculums Take 10! and Planet Health in Breathitt County Schools and Jackson Independent School. Community participation has grown in the Run for the Honey 10k and 2-mile walk and the 5k Breast Cancer Awareness walk that took place this year.
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Nutrition best practices are also being implemented in Breathitt through the healthy backpack program, which continues to grow in Breathitt County Schools; in 2017, 109 students were served each month. Additionally, LBJ Elementary, Highland Turner Elementary, and Marie Roberts Caney Elementary continued to participate in the Fresh Fruits and Vegetables program.
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In terms of community-wide systemic changes, coalition members are now seated on local boards and can influence the message to include health and wellness, following a “health-in-all-policies” approach. Businesses that provide resources for healthy lifestyles have now joined the coalition to coordinate their efforts. There has been an increase in health-focused workshops, activities and
groups in the county, including creation of the Breathitt County Diabetes Coalition this year.
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Members of the Breathitt County Youth Health Council, a successful youth engagement effort of the coalition, continued to deliver innovative ideas to promote a healthier lifestyle for their peers. One of the campaigns the youth council took up this year was “Rethink Your Drink,“ to raise awareness of the impact of sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs) on obesity. With slogans such as “You are Sweet Enough” and “Don’t Sugarcoat Our Future,” the youth council provided education and materials on options for healthier drinks at events in which youth were involved. As part of this effort, the coalition has installed filtered water fountains in the schools.
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Clinton County: The Clinton County Healthy Hometown Coalition was one of the first IKF grantees to implement youth engagement practices, including having youth on the coalition board. In addition, in 2017 the Clinton coalition implemented Fitness Buddies, a program in which high school students engage 3rd and 4th graders who have a high BMI in 30 minutes of extra physical activity in the middle of the school day. Youth in Clinton also worked on an SSBs campaign with high school students, engaging their peers in a challenge to drink only water, milk or 100 percent juice for an entire week.
Smith and Judge Executive Richard Armstrong signed a proclamation designating October 1 Child Health Day in Clinton County, to raise awareness of the importance of improving the health of children.
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Farm Fresh Fridays, the summer mobile food bus (Bus Stop Café), a backpack program, and free healthy suppers to children who stay after school. Additionally, the Healthy Kids Clinic, housed in Clinton County schools, offers nutrition and fitness information during all well-child checkup exams. The Lake Cumberland District Health ​Department, during well-child exams, discusses
nutrition and exercise with parents and students; children in need of obesity counseling are referred to a nutrition consultant.
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Grant County: The Fitness for Life Around Grant County (FFLAG) Coalition’s IKF initiative, called Starting with Children, has continued to transform the cities in Grant County. In 2017 they completed the Williamstown Splash Park, which is part of a larger project for the City of Williamstown that also will include a baseball and soccer field. The FFLAG coalition has invested in sustainable built environment changes to their community, which include the playgrounds and five walking paths in the schools, sidewalks to school, and modifications in the parks, such as a volleyball court, improvements to their basketball and tennis courts, and now, the splash park. Led by the health coalition, Grant County is now embarking on another large project: a 48-mile trail which will have trail heads at the schools.
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FFLAG had already been successful in getting complete streets policies passed in the cities and at the county-level. In 2017, it helped pass a Healthy Food Policy Resolution which will make the City of Williamstown one of the first “Edible Cities” in Grant County. Edible Cities are public places that produce fresh healthy food each year. The Youth Service Centers and the Future Farmers of America Club at the Williamstown School District will set up a community-shared agriculture program (CSA) providing the harvested fresh fruits and vegetables to students living below the poverty line.
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Grant also became a county with 100 percent tobacco-free schools and this coalition’s work promoting tobacco-free living contributed to the City of Williamstown passing a resolution designating the City Parks as tobacco-free.
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Additionally, schools in the county have expanded active workstations, including standing desks, mini exercise bikes, and
desk exercise bike pedals, and added a school garden. Grant also has been working on nutrition policies with the School Wellness Councils.
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Louisville Metro: The Bounce Coalition is addressing the issue of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), working to mitigate the impact of toxic stress on children through in-school and out-of-school time provider training and behavioral health interventions.
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The coalition has been tracking several indicators to measure the impact of the interventions in the first two elementary schools where the program is being piloted: Semple and Wheatley Elementary. Some of the accomplishments for this year include: overall improvements in student attendance and student Comprehensive School Survey (CSS) ratings, staff indicators related to skills in dealing with ACEs, as well as parent engagement (e.g. parent conferences were up 195% since baseline).
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The Bounce coalition also has been coordinating with Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) since the beginning of the grant. The success of Bounce's pilot program in two JCPS schools has now led the district to request that Bounce coordinate with JCPS's new Trauma-Informed Program. The coalition will weave together Bounce and the JCPS Trauma-Informed Program and have Bounce provide the current schools with an intense first year of training with ongoing support from JCPS. Recently, school administration officials approached Bounce to institutionalize the training for new district staff.
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Bounce also has been emphasizing parent engagement. The Bounce Coalition merged its Parent Engagement Committee with the School Based Parent Committee to plan and execute activities to engage parents. Some of these activities include: Parent Lunch and Learn, 1-2-3 Magic (Effective Discipline for Children), Kindergarten Camp, a Back to School Bash, a Spring Fling, Homework Help and Grandparents Raising Grandchildren.
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In terms of additional policy gains, Bounce partnered with Louisville Metro Government (LMG), JCPS and other organizations to provide a youth certification program. The LMG Office of Youth Development now requires ACES training for any agency executive working with youth and receiving LMG financial support. Bounce led the establishment of the Building Resilience in our Community’s Kids (BRICK) network in Louisville to foster collaboration among stakeholders providing trauma-informed interventions.
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McLean County: The Partnership for a Healthy McLean County Coalition, also addressing childhood obesity prevention, has been expanding the SPARK Physical Education (which includes PE equipment) program in county elementary schools. This complements the walking path at the McLean County Middle School and improvements at the local park, which include the construction of the playground and installment of physical activity equipment. Linked to the walking path at the school, the coalition has now engaged the middle school students in StrideTrack, a web-based physical activity tracking program, as well as the 100-Mile Club, which promotes daily physical activity.
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The coalition partnered with the schools to conduct school health assessments, hold the annual health fair and continue the healthier food options for the backpack program.
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McCracken County: The Purchase District Area Connections for Health Coalition – Healthy Paducah Chapter has concluded the first phase of the Paducah Health Park. On August 1, 2017, Foundation President Ben Chandler joined the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Phase one of the park includes a playground, walking trail, community gardens, fitness station and playing field and has been financed in a partnership between the Foundation and the coalition partners, including the City of Paducah, Baptist Health and the United Way. Additionally, the Rotary Club contributed funding for the playground at the park, which was designed with the participation of 100 children and youth.
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The second phase of the park has received $500,000 in funding to add a pedestrian plaza and, potentially, a small clinic for preventive health services; this is an example of the many additional dollars that the IKF grants have helped leverage for these communities. The Kentucky League of Cities (KLC) has given the City of Paducah a 2017 Enterprise Cities Award for the park.
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In 2017, the coalition also continued its work to improve physical activity and nutrition for children in Paducah schools with the implementation of the CATCH program, a best practice nutrition and physical activity program, in a partnership with the Parks and Recreation Department.
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In addition, the coalition began work on a resource guide to identify service gaps for physical activity and wellness. They have also been working with the schools on implementing school wellness and tobacco-free policies.
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Perry County: The Perry County Wellness Coalition began implementation of their Kids on the Move! (KOTM!) initiative. Beginning with the Feeding Program Kickoff event in late May, Perry County's KOTM! has launched a series of physical activity and nutrition programs.
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In 2017 the Perry coalition provided train-the-trainer professional development for teachers, therapists and after-school caregivers around physical activities, classroom redesign and the use of standing desks, among other strategies. Standing desks have been installed in both Hazard Middle School and Robinson Elementary.
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In terms of nutrition, the coalition launched the new Carrot Cash program, which provides farmer's market vouchers to low-income families with middle-school children to
purchase healthy food. Additionally, middle school youth have been involved in the development of school vegetable gardens, which also will be expanded to other schools later in the project. This complements the campaign to encourage students to drink water instead of soda, for which filtered water fountains have been installed in the schools. Appalachian Regional Healthcare (ARH) has donated 1,200 bottles, in the school colors, for distribution at the two middle schools that have received filtered water fountains.
These policies join the many built environment changes Clinton has implemented during the IKF grant, such as playgrounds, walking paths in school, multi-purpose fields, and fitness stations.
Nutrition strategies have been a strong component of this coalition’s work, including: instituting mobile school breakfast carts, making free fresh fruits and vegetables available to all elementary school students, adding “Try This Day” to introduce new foods,
For additional information about IKF, please email our Senior Program Officer Amalia Mendoza at amendoza@health-ky.org.