A $300,000 grant over two years will be used to establish a comprehensive health resource center at the Harlem Children’s Zone’s Promise Academy. Seeking to address public health challenges posed to increased incidence and risk of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, like heart disease, obesity and diabetes in children and youths in black minority urban communities, this program will focus on basic health literacy in a population of under-served minorities in New York City’s Central Harlem. This grant comes on top of the Harlem Children’s Zone Obesity Initiative that has focused on better nutrition to stem the growth of type 2 diabetes and obesity among area children.

The Harlem Children’s Zone Obesity Initiative offers interventions to address the imminent pediatric obesity health crisis in the Central Harlem community, while investigating the efficacy of intense intervention to improve caloric balance and education to sustain behavioral change in students and their families. An ongoing program assessment of body mass index, involving 1357 students, revealed that 43 percent qualified as obese.

The program targets students in kindergarten through sixth grade by providing three levels of interventions intended to prevent and mitigate the health risks associated with obesity in 600 students annually. Of these students, 200 will attend Harlem Children's Zone Promise Academy Charter School and 400 students will attend HCZ after-school programs at five public elementary schools in Harlem.

A high intensity intervention group of students will receive healthy, well-balanced school meals that meet or exceed the USDA nutritional guidelines, prepared by a dedicated expert chef; will exercise at least one hour per day; will receive conceptual education in the risk factors contributing to metabolic and cardiovascular disease; and their parents will be offered monthly workshops that promote health and fitness and cooking classes. The Harlem Children’s Zone Obesity Initiative is supported by a $300,000, three-year grant.

$300,000 over four years was granted to establish a model program to improve prevention and treatment of diabetic wounds by educating health care professionals, other health workers, family care givers and the patients themselves at rural health clinics in Central America and the Caribbean. With a high incidence of type 2 diabetes in the region, the disease often progresses to initially treatable ulcers, which can then lead to more serious wounds requiring amputation, if left untreated. The aim is to use modestly equipped rural health clinics for training and education, focused on early diagnosis and care. If successful, this program can be replicated in other areas in the developing world. World Walk is a non-profit organization operating under the leadership of Drexel University in Philadelphia, in collaboration with a wide range of local groups, governments and NGOs.

A $150,000 grant over three years will support specific efforts at this City University of New York Institute to fund "Metabolic Health in Hispanic Students in New York Schools," addressing the significant and growing health threat posed by obesity ­ and its implication for the onset of diabetes ­ for the Hispanic population in New York City. Obesity rates among Hispanic children in New York City elementary schools currently are at 31 percent, with a prevalence of diabetes that is 2.5 times greater for Hispanic than for non-Hispanic white students. Diabetes prevalence is also five times greater in Hispanic adults than non-Hispanic whites under 40. These statistics are even more alarming among Bronx residents than in the rest of the city. The program aims to increase student awareness of diet, fitness and related diseases and through peer and family interventions, lead to positive long-term results. Five pilot high schools will be selected. Program elements will include food preparation sessions for students and parents, academic and athletic stars to act as mentors, female Hispanic students serving as health mentors for elementary and middle school students, the development of fitness routines, planning school menus, more emphasis on the science of these diseases, and community service projects.

The Diabetes and Overweight Screening and Support Program for Children and Teens in Mercer County will intensify efforts to prevent type 2 diabetes in youth through targeted strategies based on healthy lifestyles for healthy weight management in youths between the ages of 8 and 13 years. The program, an extension of the existing Diabetes Screening and Support Program for Children and Teens in Mercer County, will be school and community-based, and aim to raise awareness among youths and parents of the problem of being overweight, leading to a clinical predisposition for type 2 diabetes.

Mercer County school districts will work in close collaboration with RWJUHH to promote healthy eating and lifestyle changes among their students, with school nurses engaged in risk factor screenings to identify high risk youths. Parents and teachers will be encouraged to enroll in the RWJ Hamilton Center for Health and Wellness to take advantage of programs focused on healthy cooking, developing exercise regimens for themselves and family members, and active participation in the RWJUHH SHAPEDOWN program. The program received two-year grant support of $218,000.

With the incidence of heart disease twice as high in American Indians as in non-Indians and currently on the rise for American Indian women, and with one in eight American Indian adults suffering from type 2 diabetes due to genetic predisposition and dependency on high fat foods provided through government food programs, the American Indian College Fund is taking a lead to fight the disastrous consequences of being overweight, established in early life. The program, which builds on “ownership” of the responsibility to change within the tribal community, will develop the curriculum for training of BSc nursing students at four-year colleges to serve as trainers for Assistant Nurses in two-year programs. These nurses are recruited to act as Youth Metabolic Health Leaders at tribal community centers.

The goal of this two-year demonstration project, supported by a $225,000 grant, is to implement a program that leads to effective prevention of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease in American Indian children and youth, and to replicate the program for large-scale impact in the American Indian community.

With an emphasis on exploring the power of the grandparent/grandchild relationship for the purpose of improving health among African-Americans beginning with young children, the ABC has developed a program to recruit and train grandparents for roles as child health coaches. The program seeks to recruit grandparents through ministries and faith-based organizations in the Atlanta, Georgia area. The intent is to build a model training program for adults, with the growing child as the primary intervention target, and to set specific goals to improve metabolic and cardiovascular health. The program, supported by a three-year, $196,000 grant, included an initial focus group study to assess the feasibility of the intervention.