Partnership gets grant to help with childhood obesity

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February 26, 2010

Anonymous The Randolph Guide Fri Feb 26, 2010, 01:07 PM EST

ASHEBORO — The Randolph Partnership for Children has received a $3,000 grant from the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation to improve the outdoor play area at Precious Memories preschool child care center in Asheboro.

Many North Carolina child care centers have poor quality outdoor environments, with areas of mulch or concrete and negligible greenery in the way of trees, flowering shrubs or other plantings.

These outdoor environments in child care are not compelling spaces that teachers value or children would be eager to enjoy for physical activity and outdoor play.

In the spring of 2009, a project was launched to address this issue as well as the trend of childhood obesity in the state.

The Randolph County Partnership for Children was selected with nine other Smart Start Partnerships from across the state to participate in the Preventing Obesity by Design (POD) project.

POD is a result of a partnership between the Natural Learning Initiative (NLI) of North Carolina State University and the North Carolina Partnership for Children Inc., with support from the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation.

The POD project is designed to improve the outdoor play and learning environments at 30 child care centers over a three-year period through training, design assistance, and technical support from the NLI team.

The first round of outdoor environments were assessed in summer 2009 and a design plan was created to improve quality and add natural elements to the space.

Teacher education to support children’s physical activity and healthy eating is also a part of the project. By the end of the project, other teachers in Randolph County will be able to visit Precious Memories child care center to get ideas for their own programs.

Applications have been sent out by the Partnership to select two include two additional centers in Randolph County

“We applaud the efforts of the Randolph County Partnership for Children and value this opportunity to continue to align our foundation with organizations, programs and people committed to improving the health and well-being of North Carolinians,” said Kathy Higgins, president of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation.

Statewide, the BCBSNC Foundation invested more than $726,000 in grants to 32 organizations as part of this most recent grant cycle.

The BCBSNC Foundation focuses on three key areas: improving the health outcomes of vulnerable populations served by safety-net organizations, promoting healthy and physically active communities, and increasing the effectiveness of nonprofit organizations in the state.

To match the funds from the foundation, the playground at Precious Memories is in need of donations of materials (plants, tress, lumber, mulch, etc.) and volunteers to help complete the project.

Call (336) 629-2128 for more information.

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