The Salem Health and Wellness Foundation

The Foundation adopted a strategic plan and grantmaking strategy that focuses on children and adolescents. The “Healthy Kids, Bright Futures” initiative will focus on childhood obesity and nutrition, teen pregnancy prevention, and risk behaviors in teens.

Everyday, nonprofits are on the front lines providing critical services including housing, jobs, food, education, and healthcare. They work tirelessly with limited resources and few sources of funding and support in the county. The Foundation has become a primary financial support system, second only to the government. This program is currently on hold.

Supporting small-scale programming and events, which align with the interests of the Foundation. These interests include healthy eating, active living, teen pregnancy prevention, risk behaviors in teens and reducing childhood obesity. Examples of some of the activities we will consider are health fairs, adult/children running programs, health educational events, etc.

The foundation provides mini-grants to schools to promote its School Breakfast program supporting classroom breakfast initiatives in Salem County area schools. Research shows that offering school breakfast improves attendance rates and on-time arrival, test scores and classroom behavior. In addition to improving academic performance, there is evidence that school breakfast programs have the potential to reduce rates of childhood obesity, one of the Foundation’s central goals.