For City Council Meeting [October 26, 2021]
TO: Honorable City Council
APPROVAL: Marcus Fuller, City Manager
FROM: Cynthia Alvarado-Crawford, Director of Community Services
Title
Request City Council to Authorize the Submission of a Grant Application with No Local Match to the United States Conference of Mayors Childhood Obesity Prevention/Environmental Health and Sustainability Awards Grant Program.
Body
BACKGROUND
The U.S. Conference of Mayors is the official nonpartisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. There are more than 1,200 such cities in the country today, and each city is represented in the Conference by its Chief elected official, the Mayor. This year the U.S. Conference of Mayors will award a total of $745,000 in funding to nine cities, in three populations categories; Small City (population less than 75,000); Medium City (population 76,000-250,000) and Large City (population more than 250,000). The City of Rialto falls under the Medium City category.
All member cities of the United States Conference of Mayors are eligible to receive this award, including the City of Rialto. This award aims to support programs that engage community members and promote or stimulate behavior change, in the categories of:
a) Childhood obesity prevention;
b) Environmental health and sustainability or;
c) A hybrid of both.
The City of Rialto intends to apply for the grant adopting a hybrid program in collaboration with Healthy Rialto.
ANALYSIS/DISCUSSION
Childhood obesity in our country has more than tripled in the past 30 years. Today, one in six children in our country is obese. Being overweight or obese puts kids at risk for high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, and other diseases we normally see in adults. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly $150 billion annually is spent by taxpayers on health care costs due to childhood obesity. What's truly inconceivable is that, for the firs...
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