WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker will be in Tupelo tomorrow, Friday, September 18 at 11:00 a.m., to announce $399,350 in funding he secured for SHAPE (Strengthening Health And Physical Education), a program designed to assist childhood obesity prevention efforts in Mississippi schools and communities.  The announcement will be made at HealthWorks! Children’s Health Education Center.

Sen. Wicker worked for a number of years to secure the $399,350 grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that will fund the SHAPE program.  SHAPE will be a health education outreach resource program based at HealthWorks!, the acclaimed children’s health education center located in Tupelo.  A portion of the CDC grant will expand HealthWorks! staffing and enhance facilities to incorporate SHAPE into programs offered at HealthWorks!. 

Specifically, SHAPE will: develop and offer outreach programming to schools on health and physical education; create a resource center containing relevant information and best-practice methods on the prevention of childhood obesity; provide school administrators and teachers with current health related grant opportunity information and other grant writing resources; and implement actions to evaluate the effectiveness of childhood obesity prevention programs.

WHAT:          
Sen. Roger Wicker to Announce $399,350 Grant for SHAPE Childhood Obesity Prevention Program

WHEN:          
Friday, September 18 at 11:00 a.m.

WHERE:       
HealthWorks!
219 South Industrial Road
Tupelo, MS