Peacock Foundation, Inc., recently awarded a one-year grant of $26,000 to Miami-Dade Area Health Education Center (AHEC) to support its PHASES Program (Preventive Health And Safety Education for Students) which is offered completely free of charge to all public and private schools in Miami-Dade County (Grades 2 through 12). Currently reaching up to 24,000 students a year, the goal of the Programs seven science-based and interactive lessons is to educate our youth on how good nutrition, increased physical activity, and good lifestyle choices (avoiding smoking and substance abuse), help decrease the occurrence of preventable diseases and health problems such as obesity, diabetes, and skin and breast cancer. The presentations are valued by teachers for their interactive and imaginative method of providing the information, with hands-on activities, music, story telling, and a variety of lifelike or imaginative educational props. Dr. Rudolph F. Crew, Superintendent of the Miami-Dade County Public School System (MDCPS), supports and endorses the PHASES Program. In fact, Miami-Dade AHEC is one of only a few organizations allowed entry into the public schools.
This grant from Peacock Foundation, Inc., will be used to hire a presenter to increase the PHASES Programs capacity by offering the “Food for Thought” Lesson (Nutrition, Obesity, & Eating Disorders, and Bone Health Education) to middle school students (currently it is offered to high school students only) and to hire an expert for curriculum development and evaluation.
