Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois (BCBSIL) has provided a $75,000 grant to support the Health and Leadership program at Erie Neighborhood House for the next 12 months.<\/p>\n
Awarded through the Healthy Kids, Healthy Families\u00ae (HKHF) initiative, the grant will help provide nutrition education and promote wellbeing for children and families in the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe value our partnership with BCBSIL,\u201d says Erie House executive director Kirstin Chernawsky. \u201cThis grant empowers us to continue offering a variety of wellness initiatives to our participants and live more fully into our mission as an organization.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen a corporate partner like Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois works with a community organization to achieve results, everyone benefits,\u201d says Chernawsky.<\/p>\n
Erie House Health and Leadership program director Micaella Verro believes firmly in the impact her program\u2019s Super H (ages 5-12) and Super H-itos (ages 2-5) initiatives are making on students.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that obesity, heart disease, and diabetes disproportionately impact the Latino community,\u201d says Verro. \u201cOur Super H initiative interrupts that inequity by focusing on the entire family in a culturally competent way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last year, the Health and Leadership program reached 236 students ages 2-12 with nutrition education. The program also managed a summer garden with the agency\u2019s School-Age program in which children grew fruits and vegetables and learned how to prepare healthy snacks for themselves and their families.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, the program provides cooking classes and other education opportunities for adults in the community to help reinforce the wellness initiatives.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you demystify nutrition and break health into a serious of small, manageable choices,\u201d says the program\u2019s assistant director, Jane Chung, \u201cparticipants learn that they can make changes for themselves, their families, and the Latino community more broadly.\u201d<\/p>\n
HKHF has impacted nearly 3 million children since its inception in 2011. It is now an integral part of BCBS’s ongoing commitment to the health and wellbeing of children and families across the state.<\/p>\n
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Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois (BCBSIL) has provided a $75,000 grant to support the Health and Leadership program at Erie Neighborhood House for the next 12 months. Awarded…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":2355,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[22,16],"class_list":["post-2354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-grants","tag-hlp"],"yoast_head":"\n