FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Kate Cyrul
October 26, 2004
(202) 225-3661
DeLauro Joins Middle-School Students and Administrators To Announce Funding For Physical Education Program
PE4Life Pilot Program to Get Underway in Three Area Schools
NEW HAVEN - Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (Conn.-3) today joined students and administrators at Jackie Robinson Middle School to announce the development of PE4Life - an innovative physical education program that promotes healthy, active lifestyles - in the New Haven School System. Earlier this year, DeLauro secured $250,000 in federal funding to bring the program to three schools in New Haven: Hill Regional Career High School, Jackie Robinson Middle School and Prince/Welch School. The program is the first of its kind in Connecticut.
School Principal Dr. Belinda Carberry, Supervisor of Physical Education and Athletics Joe Canzanella, and Yale University Professor Dr. David Katz joined DeLauro. Yale University will administer the research component of PE4Life.
“Teaching students to live active, healthy lifestyles will make for stronger, healthy adults,” said DeLauro. “For too long, schools have had limited access to resources necessary for physical education programs. The funding announced today brings PE4Life to three schools and the promise of healthier students to our community.”
The funding announced by DeLauro today will be used to set up a research program, which will monitor student’s activities at each level: a pre-test before they start the program, set personal fitness standards based on that assessment, and a post-test after the students have gone through the program. It will allow the schools to determine students’ level of physical fitness and where improvements should be made. The resources for this type of program did not exist prior to this funding.
“This grant fits well with the goals of Healthy Kids First, our new initiative to promote healthy lifestyles for all families,” said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Reginald Mayo. “We have limited the availability of soda, candy and junk food in school buildings and we look forward to demonstrating how physical education and fitness can reduce health-related hazards like obesity.”
Physical inactivity has contributed to the 100 percent increase in the prevalence of childhood obesity in the United States since 1980, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The number of teenagers participating in physical fitness activity has declined by 22 percent since 1987.
“PE4life is thrilled to be working in conjunction with New Haven and Yale University to develop a program that will help inspire active, healthy lifestyles in the children of this school district. In only two short years, PE4life Institutes have helped more than 63 school districts around the country deliver premier physical education programs, positively impacting more than 800,000 students. We are confident that our program will significantly benefit children in New Haven in both the near-term and long-term,” said PE4life President & CEO Anne Flannery.
PE4Life was founded in January 2000 by President Anne Flannery under the notion that daily physical education provides a simple and inexpensive solution to reduce children's exposure to chronic diseases, while fostering lifelong fitness habits.
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