Maryvale Middle School

In a state as large as New York, a steady stream of smart, innovative work is coming from NYHealth grantees and non-grantees alike that is relevant to NYHealth’s priority areas of Building Healthy Communities and Empowering Health Care Consumers and its focus area on Veterans’ Health. These organizations should be elevating their work and informing key stakeholders at regional, statewide, and national conferences, meetings, and other convenings. Yet, because of a lack of resources, they are often unable to do so. To address this issue, NYHealth is awarding grants through its Sponsoring Conference Participation in Support of Healthy Communities, Consumer Empowerment, and Veterans’ Health Request for Proposals (RFP). Through this RFP, NYHealth is sponsoring low-resource organizations to attend and present at local, State, and national conferences related to these areas. In 2019, NYHealth awarded Maryvale Middle School a grant to participate in this initiative as part of its efforts to build healthier communities.

Under this grant, Maryvale Middle School sent two staff members to attend the annual SHAPE America National Convention and Expo. Physical educators are struggling to motivate their students to move during classes and take advantage of after-school physical activities that are available on a daily basis. The SHAPE America conference convenes educators from across the nation to share best practices in implementing mental and physical wellness programs. By attending this conference, Maryvale staff members met other professionals in the physical education field, attended activity-based presentations, and learned about strategies presented during poster sessions. Maryvale staff members will later apply these strategies when improving and expanding their own options for after-school physical education programs.

View a complete list of conference participating grantees.