Iowa Receives $50,000 Grant to Expand Inclusive Recreation
Partnership Creates Exciting Opportunity for Girls with Disabilities
UCEDD staff member Anne Crotty recently wrote a collaborative grant proposal, which was submitted to the National Center on Health, Physical Activity, and Disability (NCHPAD) by the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH). NCHPAD awarded a $50,000 grant to Iowa and five other states to expand inclusive recreation programs in the state.
IDPH and our UCEDD will partner with Easterseals Iowa and the Family YMCA of Black Hawk County to pilot test NCHPAD’s Inclusive Community Implementation Process by implementing an evidence-based and inclusive Girls on the Run curriculum. The Family YMCA of Black Hawk County currently operates a non-inclusive Girls on the Run Program in six schools, but will expand to offer the inclusive program at a total of 12 elementary schools by September 2020.
The partners will collaborate with the Black Hawk County Wellness and Disease Prevention Committee to implement the program. Key elements of the work plan include:
- Recruit people with disabilities and disability organizations to serve on the committee
- Provide disability inclusion training for all committee members
Conduct community health inclusion index assessments in 12 areas within - Waterloo and Cedar Falls and address barriers to inclusion
- Targeted efforts to encourage girls with disabilities to consider participating in Girls on the Run
- Develop inclusion plans for girls as needed and purchase adaptive equipment
Anne Crotty will lead the work on this grant program, which has already begun. Learn more about Girls on the Run Eastern Iowa here.
