McLean County Health Department (MCHD) will award funding from the We Choose Health Grant to nine agencies and organizations within McLean County.

MCHD accepted community grant applications from Sept. 27 to Oct. 17. Grant applications were reviewed for their alignment with the four components of the We Choose Health initiative, including: Coordinated School Model, Worksite Wellness, Smoke-Free Public Places and Smoke-Free Multi-Unit Housing.

Coordinated School Health (CSH)—initiatives to prioritize health-enhancing behaviors and reduce health-risk behaviors at school and at home. Components of the CSH program include: health education; physical education; health services; nutrition services; counseling, psychological and social services; healthy and safe schools environment; staff health promotion and community involvement.

Grant Recipients
McLean County Unit 5 School District= $20,000
Bloomington School District 87= $18,000
Leroy School District= $12,000

Worksite Wellness— policies that focus on improving work settings to promote healthy living, including focuses of nutrition, physical activity, smoking cessation, and weight and disease management. Examples of worksite wellness initiatives include: healthy vending programs, supportive environments for breastfeeding, joint-use agreements for sharing of public property or facilities, smoke-free workplace policies, and cyclist accommodations.

Grant Recipients
Illinois State University= $3,500
Heartland Community College= $5,000
Flextech Inc.= $5,000
Heritage Enterprise= $5,000
Bloomington-Normal YMCA= $5,000
McLean County Chamber of Commerce= $2,500

Smoke-Free Public Places—protect citizens from tobacco smoke by prohibiting cigarette use in areas that are not yet covered by the Smoke-Free Illinois Act. Policies can be applied to hospital campuses, higher education institutions, campuses of both public and private insurers, state and local parks, housing developments, beaches and other entertainment venues.

Grant Recipients
Illinois State University= $5,000 (central quad only)

Smoke-Free Multi-Unit Housing— voluntary policy implementation to limit the places where residents, employees and visitors can smoke on housing properties.

Grant Recipients
MCHD will continue to educate and seek out partners in the community to implement this initiative.

The MCHD was awarded $200,000 from the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) to administer the We Choose Health Grant for McLean County. As part of this effort, the health department designated $96,000 to award in an effort to establish community coalitions to implement four components of the We Choose Health initiative. The remaining funds will be used to assist multi-unit housing operations implement tobacco or smoke-free policy, a category of the We Choose Health grant for which no agencies applied.