30 Schools from 18 NJ Counties Receive Grants to Fund Health and Wellness Actions

Sustainable Jersey for Schools Announces the Recipients of Grants Funded by NJ Department of Health

Today, Sustainable Jersey for Schools announced the thirty New Jersey schools that were selected to receive a Sustainable Jersey for Schools Small Grant of up to $4,000 funded by the New Jersey Department of Health. These grants will support school health and wellness initiatives

“Sustainable schools are healthy schools, and schools that promote health and well-being will see benefits,” said Donna Drewes, who co-directs Sustainable Jersey with Randall Solomon. “These grants funded by the New Jersey Department of Health will support schools as they tackle important health and wellness actions.”

The New Jersey Department of Health is funding the grants through its Maternal and Child Health Services Title V Block Grant. NJDOH has three regional partners that will provide assistance and support to help schools successfully carry out the funded project. AtlantiCare (south), EmPoWER Somerset (central) and The Center for Prevention and Counseling (north).

Proposals were reviewed by an independent Blue Ribbon Selection Committee. The Sustainable Jersey for Schools grants are intended to help school districts and schools make progress toward a sustainable future in general, and specifically toward Sustainable Jersey for Schools certification. Since 2015, $706,000 in grants has been provided to New Jersey districts and schools.

30 School Recipients of Sustainable Jersey for Schools Project Grants Up to $4,000 (sorted by county)

County	Recipient	District	Project
Atlantic	Egg Harbor Township High School	Egg Harbor Township	Hydrating Responsibly: Will install several hydration stations around the gymnasium and cafeteria and promote their use. Students will sign a pledge to reduce use of single-use water bottles and be given reusable bottles.
Atlantic	Fernwood Middle School	Egg Harbor Township	COPE TEEN - Enhancing Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors: Will implement COPE TEEN, an evidence based skill-building program that includes reducing negative thoughts, increasing healthy behaviors, and improving communications and problem-solving skills.
Atlantic	Northfield Community Middle School	Northfield City	Active Learning on Idea Street: Will add “Spine” stations, for building strength and flexibility, to Idea Street - hallways arranged for interactive and active learning with high-top tables and chairs, stationary bikes, a terrapin terrarium, dry erase boards, a Lego wall, and hokki stools.
Burlington	F.W. Holbein Middle School	Mount Holly Township	Healthy Gardening: Will start a vegetable garden for grades 6, 7, and 8. Green team students will work with middle school special needs students to build and maintain a sustainable garden with rain barrels for irrigation and compost from school waste.
Camden	Brimm Medical Arts High School	Camden City	COPE TEEN - Enhancing Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors: Will implement COPE TEEN, an evidence based skill-building program that includes reducing negative thoughts, increasing healthy behaviors, and improving communications and problem-solving skills.
Cape May	Ocean City Intermediate School	Ocean City	Ensuring Access to Healthy Drinking Water: Will purchase and install three water bottle filling stations with built-in water filtration to replace old, existing fountains in locations easily accessible to students, staff and visitors.
Cumberland	Anthony Rossi Intermediate School	Vineland	School Climate Transformation Project: Will improve how students treat each other and respect differences; will promote positive interactions among staff members; increase student involvement in school climate decisions; improve the transition to middle school for incoming students and their families.
Cumberland	Veterans Memorial Intermediate School	Vineland	Empowered Planting: Students will establish and maintain a school garden and create and share healthy recipes with garden produce. They will hold a harvest festival to celebrate their learning. A mini-documentary will be shown to the school about the process.
Essex	Grover Cleveland Middle School	Caldwell-West Caldwell	Cycle to Fitness: Will create a comprehensive indoor cycling program for students and staff allowing them to experience the benefits of cycling without the safety concerns.
Essex	Louise A. Spencer School	Newark	Rain Water collection and Garden Expansion: Will add a rain collection system and worm composting to the gardens which offer produce to the community and gardening opportunities for students. Will expand with soil, planting pots, and hardware.
Gloucester	Bunker Hill Middle School	Washington Township	Best ‘Buds’ Friendship Garden: Will create an outdoor learning environment to enhance educational development and socio-emotional interaction of students with special needs.
Hudson	Bayonne High School	Bayonne	Healthy Water with Less Waste: Will install filtered water bottle filling stations in high-need areas, such as cafeterias and gymnasiums, addressing the concern of water quality while reducing by at least 50% the amount of plastic waste generated.
Hudson	Dr. Lena Edwards Academic Charter District	Dr. Lena Edwards Academic Charter	Octavia's Garden & Green House: Will purchase a greenhouse for the edible school garden. The green house will provide shelter to plants and herbs during winter months.
Hudson	Dr. Michael Conti No. 5 Elementary School	Jersey City	Aquaponic and Hydroponic School Gardening: Will engage teams of middle grade students in developing a hydroponic and aquaponic school garden to grow edible crops for school while exploring themes of nutrition, biological relationships in nature, urban gardening solutions, and remediating toxic environmental pollution.
Hudson	Renaissance Institute	Jersey City	Healthy Mindfulness: Students will participate in daily meditation and yoga exercises. An unused classroom will be transformed into a meditation studio for individual and small group exercises, emphasizing de-escalation of conflict and physical and mental centering.
Hudson	Union City High School	Union City	Project Pursuit: Will engage students to take ownership of their health through community service projects, cardio-and circuit-training, kickboxing, weight lifting, hiking trips, and 5 K runs. Returning participants will serve as mentors and peer “Health Coaches."
Hunterdon	Readington Middle School	Readington Township	Soft Workout Room: Will provide a secondary workout space for small-group fitness instruction.
Mercer	Joyce Kilmer Middle School	Trenton	Campaign Connect Program: Through the consultation of the Center for Supportive Schools, will establish a stakeholder green team of staff, students, families, and community members to work on improving our school's climate and culture.
Mercer	Luis Munoz Rivera Community School	Trenton	Action Plan for Positive School Climate & Culture: Will advance work with Campaign Connect to analyze data, determine school priorities, explore the root causes of school issues, and develop and implement an action plan to address these areas of need.
Middlesex	Carteret High School	Carteret	Pathways Promotes Healthy Habits: Will provide healthy food options for activities during and after the school day; will coordinate education through SADD club for the entire student population, will attempt to influence policy related to fundraisers, food sales and will bring in nutrition workshops throughout the school year.
Middlesex	Colonia High School	Woodbridge Township	Growing Our Community: Will grow more produce to support local soup kitchen and food bank; incorporate produce into the cafeteria and promote nutrition education; enhance in-class learning through cultivation of plants.
Middlesex	Edgar Middle School	Metuchen	Walk and Bike to School: Will focus on to motivating students to walk and bike to school on a regular basis.
Middlesex	Highland Park Middle School	Highland Park	Downward Dog, Healthy Water, and Juggling Life: Will install a water bottle refilling station, purchase stainless steel water bottles, provide district-wide yoga for staff, and create a juggling club for students in the middle school, high school, and community. Will establish incentives for staff for wellness.
Monmouth	Hazlet Middle School	Hazlet Township	Mindfulness Garden: Will create a mindfulness garden that includes a sustainable vegetable garden, a flower garden, and a mindfulness corner to support the education of the whole child. Will create student garden and yoga clubs and train teachers to effectively integrate mindfulness practices.
Morris	Mount Arlington Public Elementary School	Mount Arlington	POWER UP Program: Bicycle generating systems and a school greenhouse will be used to track energy input and output and to produce seedlings for the new community garden. Student and staff participants will keep fitness journals and greenhouse/community garden production records so that calories burned and voltage produced by the bicycle generator may be compared to calories produced by the garden.
Ocean	Brick Township Memorial High School	Brick Township	BE FIT!: Will improve Personal Fitness and Active Fitness electives for students with new equipment variety and technology, and offer Before School Workouts for faculty and staff. Team is made up of students, faculty, and staff looking to improve the district and community.
Passaic	Anthony Wayne Middle School	Wayne Township	Clean Water Initiative: Will purchase two water fountain bottle filler stations, reusable bottles for sale to students, and replacement filters for future maintenance. Students will access free and filtered water to refill their own water bottles, reducing the school’s dependency on plastic water bottles.
Salem	Arthur P. Schalick High School	Pittsgrove Township	Lifetime Fitness: Goal is to increase student's level of physical fitness and interest in fitness by creating a universally useful weight room. Will purchase equipment conducive to use by all students and provide education about fitness and equipment.
Sussex	Montague Elementary School	Montague Township	NetWorks: Will offer a variety of net-related sports to students as an after school intramural program, during the instructional day as part of the physical educational program, and as part of a community program.
Union	Orange Avenue Elementary School	Cranford	Expanding Active After-School Programs: Will continue the after-school program targeted to middle-school students that includes a ten-week winter Yoga Club, a ten-week late winter Volleyball Club and a six-week spring Golf Club.