TSET Board of Directors Approve Incentive Grants for Oklahoma Schools
Playground equipment, hydration stations among projects
OKLAHOMA CITY (Nov. 19, 2019) — The Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET) Board of Directors approved Healthy Schools Incentive Grants today for 19 Oklahoma school districts and two school sites. The grants will fund health-promoting projects such as playground and physical education equipment, hydration stations, walking tracks and more.
“It’s much easier to develop life-long healthy habits when those habits are formed at a young age,” said TSET Board Chair Dr. Bruce Benjamin. “The purpose of the Healthy Schools Incentive Grant program is to ensure schools have the policies in place and the resources they need to promote health among students because our young people deserve every opportunity to live a healthy life.”
Schools are awarded grants funds for adopting policies and strategies that promote being tobacco-free, increasing fruit and vegetable consumption and increasing physical activity for students, faculty, parents and staff. Local districts and schools decide how grant funds will be used. TSET requires that the projects promote health. These health-promoting practices and policies are recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Projects funded by school incentive grants include physical education equipment, playground improvements and equipment, walking tracks, hydration stations to encourage increased water consumption, action-based learning lab equipment as well as automated external defibrillators (AEDs) and even greenhouses.
“These schools are doing a great job promoting healthy habits and practices to their students, and we are proud to recognize those efforts,” said TSET Executive Director Julie Bisbee. “Today’s kids are facing the prospect of living shorter lives than their parents, and that’s a trend we must reverse. Teaching the next generation to move more, eat nutritiously and be tobacco-free is a crucial step for Oklahoma to become a top 10 state in health.”
The community grants awarded to school districts on Tuesday were:
- Afton Public Schools $17,000
- Allen Public Schools $17,000
- Altus Public Schools $30,000
- Anadarko Public Schools $25,000
- Blair Public Schools $15,000
- Bowlegs Public Schools $15,000
- Caney Public School $15,000
- Crescent Public Schools $20,000
- Drumright Public School $20,000
- Fort Towson Public Schools $15,000
- Grove Public Schools $30,000
- Haileyville Public School $15,000
- Idabel Public Schools $20,000
- Leach Public School $15,000
- Madill Public Schools $10,000
- Pittsburg Public Schools $15,000
- Silo Public School $20,000
- Stonewall Public School $15,000
- Warner Public Schools $17,000
In addition, the Board approved grants to two individual school sites:
- Central Elementary School in Guthrie $7,500
- Jefferson Elementary School in Norman $10,000
A second round of TSET Healthy Schools Incentive Grants will open for applications on Dec. 2, 2019. Visit TSET.ok.gov for more information.
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The Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET) serves as a partner and bridge builder for organizations shaping a healthier future for all Oklahomans. TSET provides leadership at the intersections of health by working with local coalitions and initiatives across the state, cultivating innovative and life-changing research, and working across public and private sectors to develop, support, implement and evaluate creative strategies to take advantage of emerging opportunities to improve the public’s health. TSET – Better Lives Through Better Health. To learn more go to: www.ok.gov/tset.