King County, Washington – The King County Housing Authority in partnership with the Seattle Housing Authority and Public Health – Seattle & King County has been awarded a $400,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to improve opportunities for physical activity and access to healthy, affordable foods for children and families.

Based on demonstrated success in increasing active living and healthy eating, Seattle–King County is one of nine leading sites selected for the Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities initiative. This $44 million national program is RWJF’s newest and largest investment to date in community-based solutions to childhood obesity. By late 2009 it will include approximately 70 communities across the country.

“Low-income people suffer from disproportionately high rates of preventable, diet and lifestyle-related diseases such as diabetes and coronary heart disease. Because there is a greater likelihood that obesity beginning in early childhood will persist throughout the lifespan and because obesity is easier to prevent than treat, we are excited by the possibilities this grant affords us. It allows us to address the factors that combine to make it difficult for children from low-income families to maintain a healthy diet and an active lifestyle,” said Linda Weedman, resident services director at the King County Housing Authority. Surveys of middle and high school youth across King County show that 9 percent are obese and 13 percent are overweight. Nearly three-fourths of King County youth do not consume sufficient servings of fruits and vegetables and only 39 percent are sufficiently physically active.

Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities is a cornerstone of RWJF’s five-year, $500 million commitment to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic in the United States by 2015.

“The program will provide replicable, real-time solutions for addressing the epidemic,” said Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, M.D., M.B.A., president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “We expect that this vital work by the King County Housing Authority and its partners will help the greater Puget Sound region become the kind of community where all children can have healthier lives.”

The eight other cities or regions named as leading sites and receiving four-year grants are Baldwin Park, the Central Valley and Oakland in California; Chicago; Columbia, Mo., Louisville, Ky.; Somerville, Mass.; and Washington. All were selected because of strong leadership and a readiness to make lasting change in their communities. Soon they will be serving as models and mentors for approximately 60 additional partnerships to be funded in December 2009.

RWJF today released a call for proposals for that second round of Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities funding. Partnerships from across the United States and its territories are eligible to apply. Preference will be given to applicants from communities in 15 states where rates of childhood obesity are particularly high—Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia. About five dozen grants of up to $360,000 will be awarded to qualified community partnerships. The deadline for brief proposals is Feb. 3.

Visit www.healthykidshealthycommunities.org to download the call for proposals and obtain additional information.

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About King County Housing Authority

King County Housing Authority administers a range of quality affordable rental and homeownership programs for residents of King County. The Authority serves more than 18,000 families, elderly and disabled households on a daily basis.

About Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities

Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), advances community-based solutions that will help reverse the childhood obesity epidemic. It focuses on changing policies and environments to support active living and healthy eating among children and families. The program places special emphasis on reaching children who are at highest risk for obesity on the basis of income, race/ethnicity and geographic location. It will support RWJF’s efforts to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic in the United States by 2015.

The Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities national program office is housed at Active Living by Design, part of the North Carolina Institute for Public Health at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health in Chapel Hill. Established in 2001 as a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Active Living By Design now serves funders and partnerships across the country that are fostering community-led change to build a culture of active living and healthy eating.

About the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. As the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans, the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful and timely change.

For more than 35 years the Foundation has brought experience, commitment and a rigorous, balanced approach to the problems that affect the health and health care of those it serves. When it comes to helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need, the Foundation expects to make a difference in your lifetime. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org.