The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced awards of more than $372 million to 44 communities, to support public health efforts to reduce obesity and smoking, increase physical activity and improve nutrition.
The awards are part of the HHS Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW) initiative, a comprehensive prevention and wellness initiative funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
CPPW awards to cities, towns, and tribes across the country will provide communities with the resources to create healthy choices for residents, such as increasing availability of healthy foods and beverages, improving access to safe places for physical activity, discouraging tobacco use, and encouraging smoke-free environments.
In addition to the public health benefits of the initiative, the competitively-awarded grants will also support putting Americans back to work—an essential component of winning plans. Communities will have two years to complete their programs.
Of the 44 communities receiving grants, 23 communities are receiving funding for obesity prevention; 14 communities for tobacco cessation; and seven others for both obesity and tobacco cessation efforts. The awards are being are distributed among communities of various sizes, with an average grant of $17.3 million to each large city grantee; an average of $7.7 million to urban areas; an average award of $4.7 million to small cities or rural areas, and an average award of $1.3 million to tribes.
Small city and rural awards will be administered through state departments of health in nine states, providing funds to 16 small and rural communities.
To view a complete listing of grant awardees, visit http://www.hhs.gov/recovery/programs/cppw/grantees.html.
To view a fact sheet on Communities Putting Prevention to Work visit http://www.hhs.gov/recovery/programs/cppw/factsheet.html.
To learn more about Communities Putting Prevention to Work, visit http://www.hhs.gov/recovery and http://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/recovery.