Foundation awards $89,700 to support community wellness
The Oklahoma City Community Foundation’s Wellness Initiative has awarded $89,700 to seven charitable organizations that support community wellness in central Oklahoma.
Through the Wellness Initiative, the foundation works with organizations to develop communitybased programs that motivate people to adopt a healthy lifestyle and make healthy choices simple and accessible.
“Our community has banded together to address the chronic obesity that plagues our city and create a culture of health in central Oklahoma,” foundation President Nancy Anthony said in the announcement. “Wellness is an ongoing effort of prevention rather than reaction, and many vulnerable populations do not have the same access to the education and programs that lay the groundwork for prevention.”
A 2017 Oklahoma CityCounty Health Department report shows the city’s focus on wellness is gaining ground, particularly in a decline of chronic diseases, but the improvements are not true with all populations. The study showed poor and vulnerable populations in particular continue to need the greatest improvement, Anthony said.
The Oklahoma City Community Foundation awarded the following grants:
• Among Friends of Norman — $11,200 to fund daily health and wellness classes for adults with disabilities and additional needs.
• Healthy Schools Oklahoma — $20,000 to expand their early childhood SPARK program that provides sports, play and active recreation to prekindergarten students in 20 Oklahoma City metro-area elementary schools.
• Infant Crisis Services— $12,500 for the Nutrition Education for Healthy Beginnings, Healthy Lifetimes, a monthly nutrition class for low-income parents and their children.
• Metro Technology Centers — $10,000 to provide free MetroFit youth fitness and nutrition classes at the northeast campus.
• Metropolitan Better Living Center — $10,000 for health and wellness classes for seniors and caregivers in the northeast quadrant of Oklahoma City.
• Opportunities Industrialization Center of Oklahoma County — $14,000 for the Heads Over Meals Project, a health and wellness class for low-literacy adult learners and those who work with them.
• ReMerge of Oklahoma County — $12,000 for biometric screening to supplement the ongoing health and wellness program tailored for highrisk women participating in the ReMerge diversion program.
Since the Wellness Initiative was launched in 2014, it has awarded nearly $720,000 for projects to improve physical activity, good nutrition and healthy lifestyle choices among central Oklahoma residents. For more information, go to www.occf.org/wellnessinitiative.