YMCA of Greater Seattle awarded grant to expand efforts to ensure healthy living is accessible to all in south King County
YMCA of Greater Seattle awarded grant to expand efforts to ensure healthy living is accessible to all in south King County
Mon, 06/25/2012
Press release:
The YMCA of Greater Seattle received a $65,000 grant Monday, June 25 from the Community Transformation Grants Program (CTGs) to lead efforts in South King County to ensure more healthy opportunities are available to all residents, with a specific focus on increased access to African Americans and Hispanics.
The grants are part of the Community Transformation Grants program (CTGs) – a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) initiative to support public health efforts to reduce chronic diseases, promote healthier lifestyles, reduce health disparities and lower health care costs.
YMCA of the USA (Y-USA), the national resource office for the nation’s 2,700 YMCAs and one of seven national organizations to receive funding through CTGs, is re-granting the funds to 10 local Ys to deepen their efforts to implement programs and strategies that support the health and well-being of individuals in their communities.
“As a leading nonprofit committed to health living, the Y believes that everyone deserves to live life to its fullest regardless of socioeconomic background, ethnicity, age, abilities, where they live or who they are,” said Robert B. Gilbertson, Jr., President and CEO of the YMCA of Greater Seattle. “The Community Transformation Grants will ensure our programs and initiatives are helping those individuals who face the greatest barriers to healthy living.”
The Y’s CTGs efforts will focus on two main areas:
1. Coordinating and linking systems between health care providers, clinical settings and community-based organizations in predominately African American and Hispanic communities to help guide individuals to prevention efforts/programs such as the YMCA’s Diabetes Prevention Program that are proven to increase health outcomes.
2. Enhancing local efforts to implement community-wide strategies that create environments in early childhood and afterschool settings that ease the adoption of healthy eating and physical activity standards with an emphasis on locations serving African American and Hispanic populations.
