- Now Accepting Applications for School Employee Wellness Award Program
- Childhood Obesity Rapid Response Fund
- Farm to School and School Gardening
- Students Taking Charge Team Nutrition Mini Grant

The Directors of Health Promotion and Education (DHPE) is now accepting applications for the 2011-2012 School Employee Wellness (SEW) Awards Program that recognizes schools and school districts that demonstrate commitment to the health of their employees by implementing school employee wellness programs. Awardees will receive special recognition for their efforts that include grants (Bronze $250, Silver $500, Gold $1000) to be reinvested in their employee wellness programs.

To apply for DHPE's School Employee Wellness Awards Program, or to learn more about school employee wellness programs, visit www.schoolempwell.org. Applications must be submitted by February 15, 2012. No paper submissions will be accepted this year.

Today, about one in three American children and teens is overweight or obese. Childhood obesity is causing a broad range of health problems previously not seen until adulthood, including high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and elevated blood cholesterol levels. The childhood obesity epidemic is causing a national outcry as well as a multitude of efforts designed to help reverse this trend.

The mission of the Childhood Obesity Rapid Response Fund is to make effective strategic investments in ongoing state and local public policy campaigns in order to increase public policy impact on healthy weight and living among children. Efforts target a wide array of childhood obesity policies and give particular focus to impacting the highest obesity prevalence and most at-risk populations. General information on policy areas can be found at www.rwjf.org/childhoodobesity/strategy.jsp.

The resources section of the USDA Farm to School website has been updated to include an extensive list of resources related to Farm to School and school gardening. The resources are organized by topic area and include such topics as: Farm to Childcare, Food Safety, Nutrition and Agriculture Education, Procurement, Resources for Farmers, School Gardens, Training for Foodservice Staff, and much more. Visit http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/F2S/f2s-resources.htm for a complete list. Please contact the Team at farmtoschool@fns.usda.gov with any questions.

There is $750 mini grant available for middle or high school student teams to make improvements to the school nutrition environment. Applications are available at http://doe.sd.gov/cans/teamnutrition.asp. Applications are due by February 6, 2011. Project dates are February 21, 2012 to May 1, 2013. Visit http://studentstakingcharge.org/index.php/investigate for more information.