TSET awards Dover Public Schools $15,000 Healthy Incentive Program Grant
DOVER OK (September 4, 2019) –The Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET) recognized Dover Public Schools on Wednesday for their efforts to improve the health of their students and employees. The school district received a $15,000 Healthy Incentive Program grant after enacting a variety of policies and strategies to promote health and wellness.
“These incentive grants recognize the efforts of school districts and school sites that are actively promoting healthy lifestyles,” said TSET Executive Director Julie Bisbee. “Studies show that active, healthy kids perform better in school and we want to recognize schools that are making it easier for students, staff and the community to make healthier choices.”
The district will use the grant funds to purchase an Action Based Learning Lab at the elementary school. Action Based Learning Labs are designed to prepare the brain for learning. Each activity station in the lab focuses on the connection between the brain the body and the foundations of learning readiness. Research shows that the lab activities improve memory retention, reinforce academic concepts and build brain pathways for learning.
Bisbee and Sharon Howard, TSET healthy incentive program manager for schools, presented a plaque and big check to Dover Public Schools Superintendent Max Thomas, junior high/high school principal Kyle Karns, elementary principal Trilla Cranford and PE teacher Dani Wood. Rep. Mike Sanders was also present to congratulate the school district for creating a healthy environment for students, staff and the local community.
The TSET incentive grant criteria focus on strengthening school district wellness policies to improve school nutrition, increase physical activity and student wellbeing and provide a tobacco-free environment for students, staff, faculty and families. These health-promoting practices and policies are recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Incentive grant funds must be used for projects or programs to improve health.
TSET was created by a vote of the people in 2000 to ensure that settlement payments from a 1998 multi-state lawsuit against the tobacco industry are used to improve the health of all Oklahomans. The funds are placed in an endowment and the earnings from the endowment are used to fund grants and programs.
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About TSET
The Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET) serves as a partner and bridge builder for organizations working towards shaping a healthier future for all Oklahomans. TSET provides leadership at the intersections of health by working across the state, by cultivating innovative and life-changing research, and by 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.