Helping Youngsters Fight Fat: Recent Grants

Colorado Trust (Denver)

— For a program that promotes physical activity and good nutrition for preschool children

from low-income families: $119,310 over three years to the Colorado Nutrition Network at Colorado State University at Fort Collins.

— For an exercise physiologist and dietitian to lead an after-school program for middle-school students that encourages activity and better nutrition, plus efforts to prevent weight gain among adults: $143,619 over three years to Teller County Health Department (Divide, Colo.).

The Connecticut Health Foundation (Farmington)

— For a survey comparing 34 public elementary schools in the city of Bridgeport with 22 private schools in suburban Bridgeport to assess differences in nutrition and physical-activity opportunities: $30,000 to the Bridgeport Child Advocacy Coalition.

The Gatorade Company (Chicago)

— To study four North Carolina cities and towns to better understand how doctors and local organizations can work with families to increase activity levels among children, and then copy the strategies nationwide: $4-million over four years to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Public Health.

General Mills Foundation (Minneapolis)

— For a one-week camp program for children ages 8-12 that promotes learning about nutrition and physical activity, and also for monthly meetings with camp participants during the following school year: $10,000 to Allegan County 4-H Clubs (Michigan).

The HealthCare Foundation for Orange County (Santa Ana, Calif.)

— To develop a childhood-obesity treatment center that will focus mainly on youngsters who can’t afford to visit health care professionals, as well as to recommend ways to distribute obesity information to primary-care physicians: $245,250 to the University of California at Irvine Medical Center and the Children’s Hospital of Orange County (both in Orange, Calif.).

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (Princeton, N.J.)

— To update a June 2000 report on state legislation requiring physical activity in school curriculums: $9,804 to the National Conference of State Legislatures (Denver).

— To advise the foundation in making grants on weight control in children: $132,942 to David Satcher, former surgeon general of the United States and director of the National Center for Primary Care, Morehouse School of Medicine (Atlanta).

Kaiser Permanente Health Plan/Hospitals (Oakland, Calif.)

— For expanding an elementary-school-based fitness program aimed at preventing obesity: $25,000 to the YMCA of the East Bay (Oakland).

Nike Inc. (Beaverton, Ore.)

— For a hiking club for youngsters ages 9-15 that also promotes healthy eating: $50,000 in cash and equipment to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Hawaii (Honolulu).

Sunflower Foundation: Health Care for Kansans (Topeka)

— To collect data on children in kindergarten through grade 12 to determine the prevalence of overweight children and adolescents in Kansas: $242,892 over three years to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, Office of Health Promotion (Topeka).

— To develop a curriculum designed to reduce obesity in teenage girls who are moving out of a shelter for troubled youngsters: $7,684 to Florence Crittenton Services (Topeka).