Making Strides in Achieving PE for All

For supporters of school wellness, the link between health and academics is apparent. We know that when students are not able to lead healthy lives, it creates both learning and health disparities in low-income communities such as the South Bronx. In New York City, similar to what is happening across the country, schools are faced with the challenge of making sure that all students get adequate physical education. To determine if this is happening, information about New York City’s physical education program should be made public.

The Phys Ed for All Coalition,  of which Bronx Health REACH  is a founding member, advocates for policy, systems and environmental changes that will provide more opportunities for NYC students to receive quality physical education. On November 4th, the coalition celebrated Mayor Bill de Blasio signing into law Intro 644, requiring the New York City Department of Education to report on how much physical education is provided to students in each New York City public school. This is a first of its kind in the country. And as such, one of the PE 4 All Coalition members – the American Heart Association – is aiming to replicate this work nationally. The inaugural report is scheduled to be released publicly by August 2016.

In addition to the required reporting, the New York City Council has added $6.6 million to the New York City Department of Education budget over the next 3 years for the “PE Works Program” to cover central staff for the program, to hire 50 new phys ed teachers, and 4 PE instructors (each covering 2 districts throughout the City). While this all represents very important development in efforts to improve the quantity and quality of PE, we are concerned about the short life span of the funding. By year 4 of the program, schools are expected to fund the PE teachers on their own. How are schools supposed to fund an adequate number of PE teachers for all schools, resolve the problem of overcrowded gyms shared by co-located schools, and schedule adequate time for PE into the school day?

In response to these challenges Bronx Health REACH and one of it’s partners, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, have been educating parents to be better advocates for their children, and raising more awareness about the links between health, physical education, and children’s behavior and academic performance. In addition,the PE 4 All Coalition members have suggested such creative responses to the challenges as: training teachers to provide physical education in small spaces, implementing active recess, using hallway space for physical activity breaks for students who need a break from sitting in the classroom; training school staff to establish wellness councils that can implement wellness policies and take on Active Design projects ensuring that health education and physical education are aligned in ways that lead to demonstrable changes in student behaviors; making physical education a more substantive part of the Principal’s Checklist; and finding ways to incentivize schools that are able to achieve physical education goals through the NYC Excellence in School Wellness Awards.

Bronx Health REACH through its recent Healthy Schools NY  grant and its current Creating Healthy Schools and Communities grant is doing its part by training PE teachers to establish wellness councils and Comprehensive School Physical Activity  Programs. But this should not be the responsibility of outside groups. Making sure that all NYC students receive adequate physical education will ultimately require more financial support than currently allocated. The PE 4 All Coalition will continue to identify and propose solutions that make adequate, quality physical education available for all NYC students, and welcomes new participation in the efforts. Please join us. If you or your school would like to get involved, contact Kelly Moltzen at kmoltzen@institute.org or Erin George at egeorge@nylpi.org.

Bronx Health REACH Applauds Mayor de Blasio’s FY17 Budget Allocation for Physical Education in NYC Elementary Schools

Bronx Health REACH is thrilled about Mayor de Blasio’s budget allocation for physical education in NYC elementary schools.  As Comptroller Stringer mentioned in his “Dropping the Ball” report, many NYC schools have not been meeting the state mandates for physical education, due to a number of challenges such as insufficient numbers of certified physical education instructors, limited training for existing teachers, and space constraints. Now, with this investment into physical education for NYC’s schoolchildren, Bronx Health REACH and the Phys Ed for All Coalition can work together with the NYC Department of Education Office of School Wellness to identify ways to fill the gaps in schools lacking Comprehensive School Physical Activity Programs (CSPAP), which includes physical education, before and after school physical activity, active recess, classroom physical activity breaks, and parent and community engagement.

In 1893, Thomas D. Wood, pioneer in health and physical education, stated: “The great thought of physical education is not the education of the physical nature, but the relation of physical training to complete education, and then the effort to make the physical contribute its full share to the life of the individual.”

Public schools are responsible for preparing pupils to become complete citizens that will propel our society towards new heights. As part of becoming well educated and self-directed citizens, there must be knowledge, skills, capacities, and values along with the enthusiasm to maintain a healthy lifestyle into adulthood. For many Bronx schools burdened with the effects of childhood obesity, children need to learn at an early age how to practice, and adopt a healthy lifestyle, eating fruits and vegetables, exercising daily, and coping with stress. These are life skills that will be a mainstay throughout the course of an individual’s life. Like the right to education, the right to a complete and effective physical education is a right of every student.

Bronx Health REACH has partnered with over 20 schools in districts 7, 8, 9, and 12 in the South Bronx to more closely examine wellness policies and environments. We have discovered in School Districts 7 and 12, districts which have not yet received intensive support on CSPAP implementation from the Department of Education, the impact of the PE deficit.  In District 7, public schools face the highest rates of childhood obesity in New York City.  Several schools are unable to offer daily physical education because of the challenges of co-location, declines in quality of equipment from wear and tear, and the lack of adequate budgeting to not only fund new programs but to increase students’ access to activity before and after school, and most importantly—meeting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s standards for daily recommended physical activity.

Schools in District 7 have responded by partnering with community based organizations such as the National Football League’s Fuel Up to Play 60 initiative, Cookshop, and others. However, the need for integrated physical education programs to support wellness initiatives in schools is sorely lacking. These schools will greatly benefit from Mayor Bill de Blasio’s approval of increased spending for physical education programs in elementary schools.

In District 12, co-location is equally challenging for both students and physical education instructors. Furthermore, one school has outdated facilities that cannot serve a campus with over 500 students from grades kindergarten through eighth grade. A physical education instructor who asked to remain anonymous paints a picture of the situation, “Health and wellness are not taken seriously in my school—it is essentially an afterthought. This has been the mindset for years and this—I believe—begins with a lack of commitment at the city level.” Another PE Instructor residing in upstate New York agrees, “Yes, the funding [for physical education at their school] is much less than where I live—I think that contributes to how healthy students are.”

With strides made in the PE4All Campaign and Mayor de Blasio’s receptivity to fund physical education, Bronx Health REACH and the Phys Ed for All Coalition hope health and wellness begins to be treated as a right and made a high priority in our schools.

Joyce Davis – Giving the Bronx Community an Opportunity to be Heard

Bronx Health REACH continues it’s series of individuals that have made a significant contribution to not only the Institute for Family Health's Bronx Health REACH, but have been strong activists for needed change in the Black and Latino communities in the Bronx. A notable member of this group of change agents is Joyce Davis. After a successful thirty year career in marketing and sales for AT&T, Joyce found her passion working with the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, and Mount Hope Housing Company. Joyce recently completed her Masters of Divinity from New York Theological Seminary.

Growing up in Harlem as a pastor’s daughter, Joyce Davis was just nine years old when her father passed away while giving a sermon. Her mother would emerge as a strong and lasting influence for resilience. "My mother had been the first lady at my father's church, but when he suddenly passed away she now had four children to raise on her own. She had not been working, and there was no daycare in those days, so she transformed the house my father had purchased into a boarding house, and did all the work needed to be done including loading the coal to heat the house," says Joyce.

Her mother was a living example that by having faith and confidence in yourself, you can move forward to overcome any obstacle. “We decided to move to the Bronx and I went with my mother to see a house. After seeing the house she wanted, my mother and gave the owner $50 as a down payment. As we walked away I asked my mother how she was going to pay make the payments for the house. My mother replied, ‘the Lord will provide,’ and she never missed a payment!”

Even though Joyce had spent a successful sales and marketing career at AT&T, she faced challenges of gender discrimination, and felt it may be time to leave the corporate environment. After thirty years of service Joyce accepted a retirement package, but she was uncertain what would be the next journey in her career. Her sister had written a play, “Mama I Want to Sing” (LINK) and was going to embark on a European tour, and asked Joyce if she would be interested in being the tour manager. Joyce accepted and was able to see Europe and Japan with the touring group.

Joyce joined the Northwest Bronx Community and ClergyCoalition (later becoming the first African-American president), a grassroots social justice organization that organized residents to fight for long-term solutions to problems in their communities. “You could see the Bronx was changing as drug dealers took over corners of the neighborhood, and my neighbors were asking for my help in dealing with these drug dealers. The Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition had organizers in each of those Bronx neighborhoods that had been fighting against the drugs and redlining. We rallied with the people, since we had a lot of clergy, priests and rabbis that would do marches, chanting, ‘No drugs here!”

From working with the Northwest Bronx Community Coalition Joyce found her new path. “I began to understand what building community was about when working with the Northwest Bronx Community Coalition, and it became my passion. I credit them with focusing me away from what had been my corporate environment, and into a place where I now could make a difference, where my voice mattered, people valued my opinion, and I was heard.”

Joyce joined the board of the Mount Hope Housing Company(eventually becoming Executive Director) and began collaborating with other organizations such as the Institute for Family Health to transform spaces for community use. The Institute for Family Health asked if the Mount Hope Housing Company would like to have a family practice in the neighborhood, and since Joyce did not know the Institute for Family Health that well at the time she had stipulations, the most important being: if you want to come into our community, we have to be a part of it. “We wanted to be an equal part of designing the building, hiring the staff, setting the hours the facility would be open, etc., and the Institute for Family Health was awesome in that regard where they asked and received input from the community. When we opened that health care center, the community trusted the Institute, and the Institute trusted us,” says Joyce.

Eventually she left the Mount Hope Housing Company and began to work with other organizations doing similar things building community revitalization. At the time the Institute for Family Health was putting together a grant that would address health disparities in the Bronx, and asked Joyce if she would be interested in working on that project. Joyce accepted and also suggested bringing in Rev. Robert Lewis Foley Sr. from Cosmopolitan Church and Rev. Dr. J. Albert Bush Sr. from Walker Memorial Baptist Church to partner with the Institute for Family Health on this issue. She added, “It was great to see the clergy focusing on health disparities since it was difficult for people to speak about this issue since they did not want to ruffle any feathers. When something from the pulpit is said, everyone listens, so let’s use the pulpit. That is the mission of the church,” she said.

Joyce believes the work to end health disparities has improved, but much needs to be done. “Many years ago there used to be a sign indicating a colored door and white door, now even though there is no physical sign on the door, people still get that selective treatment. The hope is that someday people can walk into a medical center or hospital and be treated like a human being, and get the care they need to get healthy. At the end of the day, people in the community want to be heard. They want a safe community with decent housing, jobs, education and health care.”

Pastor Robert L. Foley Sr. – From Civil Rights’ Marches of the 60s to Championing the Cause of Eliminating Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities in the Bronx.

Bronx Health REACH continues it’s series of individuals that have made a significant contribution to not only the Institute for Family Health's Bronx Health REACH, but have been strong activists for needed change in the Black and Latino communities in the Bronx. 

 

A notable member of this group of change agents is Pastor Robert Lewis Foley, Sr., D. Min, D.D. Pastor of Cosmopolitan Church of the Lord Jesus in the Bronx, New York. Rev. Foley was raised in Georgia, graduated from Morris Brown College in Atlanta, and received a master of divinity degree from the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, and a doctor of ministry degree at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey.

Pastor Robert Lewis Foley, Sr. was born in Marietta, Georgia. His father had been a pastor serving several congregations in Georgia and Birmingham, Alabama and would become an influence on Pastor Foley's decision to enter the Christian ministry in 1956 and a pastor himself in 1962. After becoming a pastor in Atlanta, Georgia, Pastor Foley became involved in the civil rights movement by attending meetings in Atlanta with  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  and Dr. Ralph Abernathy,  participating in events with Julian Bond and Stokely Carmichael, and marching  from Selma to Montgomery. At the time Pastor Foley did not realize that working with and marching alongside these historical civil rights leaders would put him on the path to becoming a community leader and providing a voice for underserved communities. "During the time of my involvement with these civil protests, I had no idea that what we were doing would have the impact on this nation that became the reality. I did it because I thought it was the right thing to do, and now I realize it is part of the reason God sent me to this world," says Pastor Foley.

While attending the ITC Seminary in 1965, he married and continued his pastoral ministry in Atlanta. In 1967, after a meeting with the late Bishop John Bright (the leader of all the New York based AME churches), Pastor Foley was transferred to New York where he continued his pastoral ministry in Tuckahoe, New York and in Harlem. After a few years, he decided to organize and establish an independent church. The first worship service of this new church named Cosmopolitan Church of the Lord Jesus, took place at a Prince Hall Masonic Lodge in Manhattan, and the next several services of worship were held in the auditorium of a public school also in Manhattan.

As fate or more likely providence would have it, a colleague of Pastor Foley spoke to him about a realtor who had placed an advertisement regarding a church building for sale in the Bronx, New York. The owner of the Bronx church invited Pastor Foley and his congregation to hold a service in the space, and soon after accepted an offer to purchase the church. At first Pastor Foley was uncertain if the congregation would be able to pay the mortgage, but soon discovered his congregation wanted to stay permanently. “We never missed a payment on the mortgage and retired that 18 year mortgage in 16 years, even though many of our members at that time were retired senior citizens living on a fixed income,” says Pastor Foley, and he continues to serve this congregation after 38 years.

In 1999 Joyce Davis and Maxine Golub from the Institute for Family Health met with Pastor Foley as the Institute for Family Health was launching a community coalition whose goal was the elimination of racial and ethnic health disparities in the South Bronx. A special emphasis of the soon to be formed coalition was to focus attention on the discrimination and health disparities in health services provided by many of New York City’s teaching hospitals. "They gave an overview of how widespread the problem was, and it was an eye-opener for me since I was not aware how large and devastating health disparities were, and seeing how the minority communities were not being properly attended to by the medical community motivated me to join," says Pastor Foley.

Pastor Foley continues to be an active participant in many Bronx Health REACH initiatives. He not only graciously provides his church as a monthly meeting place for the Health Disparities Workgroup, but Cosmopolitan Church of the Lord Jesus has been host to several of Bronx Health REACH’s pastors breakfasts.  The most recent event was the hosting of a meeting of local elected officials and clergy leaders to address the Bronx being ranked 62 out of the 62 New York State counties in health outcomes and health factors in the Robert Wood Johnson’s County Health Ranking Report.

The pulpit is the one place Pastor Foley believes he has the most influence. "Every week I try to say something that speaks to the importance of maintaining your physical and mental well-being. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is an extension of our ministry, and the church must maintain relevancy to the community if we are to serve effectively and meaningfully," says Pastor Foley. Additionally, he serves as a member of the Community Advisory Board of Montefiore Hospital, the Advisory Board of the Bronx Region of the American Cancer Society, the New York Yankees Community Relations Council, and the Police/Clergy Liaison of the NYPD.

Gada Dickerson - Doing All That She Can to Help Improve the Health and Well-being of Bronx Residents

As the Health and Wellness Ministry Chairperson for Thessalonia Worship Center in the Bronx, Gada Dickerson always had an interest in health; not just her health, but improving the health and well-being of others. Her mother and father worked in a hospital, so it seemed natural for Gada to pursue a job as a hospital nurse. She enrolled and graduated from a nursing program, but as fate would have it, her nursing career was not to be. After completing the nursing program a hiring freeze went into effect at New York City public hospitals, which quickly limited her options. As a result, she changed her career focus and, instead, pursued a health services administration degree.

When Gada began attending Bronx Health REACH meetings, she discovered that Bronx Health REACH offered various health programs at Bronx churches. In time, Thessalonia Worship Center joined Bronx Health REACH's Faith Based Outreach Initiative. This Initiative helps faith organizations – of all denominations – raise their congregations awareness of racial and ethnic health disparities; provide health programming around nutrition and fitness, and diabetes prevention and management. The first program launched at Thessalonia Worship Center was Fine, Fit and Fabulous. It was well received by the congregation with 20 church members participating in the program. Gada pointed out that the reason for the success was, “Our late pastor, Dr. Rev. Shellie Sampson, Jr. was a big supporter of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. He viewed obesity as a daily struggle, and allowed us to use the banquet hall whenever we needed it for our Fine, Fit and Fabulous classes. Our current pastor, Reverend Malobe Sampson is also a big supporter."

Following on Fine, Fit and Fabulous, Thessalonia Worship Center implemented the culinary ministry which provided information on selecting, preparing, and serving healthy versions of favorite meals at church events. "Our church provided traditional fare such as macaroni and cheese, fried fish, fried chicken, and collard greens which are not the healthiest options. A Bronx Health REACH nutritionist spoke to the church kitchen staff that had been preparing the meals, and eventually there were changes made that included using less fat and salt, offering fruit and salad at the start of the buffet table, and reducing portion sizes," Gada noted.

As a lifelong South Bronx resident Gada sees many health challenges faced by those living in the community. “When I go grocery shopping and see other shoppers filling their shopping carts with unhealthy items such as frozen pizza and hot pockets, I wonder, where are the fruits and vegetables? If you eat fruits and vegetables as a child, you will continue eating them as an adult. People have to make health a priority in their life.”

For now, Gada is focused on improving the health of her fellow church members. “Our church is always doing a healthy program, and since I am on various email lists, I am able to get Thessalonia Worship Center involved in a variety of health programs. Currently our church is doing blood pressure readings every Sunday for church members.” Whether it be at her church, or a #Not62 – Campaign for A Healthy Bronx! Town Hall event, you can be certain that Gada is doing all that she can to help improve the health and well-being of her fellow Bronx residents.