Penny Road Elementary PE Staff Wins System-Wide Award
Calling the establishment of a wellness center at the elementary level "truly visionary," the Wake County Public School System honored the Physical Education staff at Cary's Penny Road Elementary with the Artie K. Kamiya Horizon Award for 2008. The award, the highest honor the school system gives to its physical educators, went to Colleen Kanters, Caroline Flory and Christine Hughes. Penny Road's Health and Wellness Room was funded in part by a John Rex Endowment Wake to Wellness grant through the Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention at UNC.

Academy Runs Summer Leadership Program in Eastern Wake
Twelve high-school-age students in eastern Wake County learned leadership and team-building skills through a 10-week Youth Leaders in Action Academy summer program. With funding from the John Rex Endowment, Wake County 4-H Youth Development established the academy to develop leadership, entrepreneurship, civic mindedness and healthy lifestyles among at-risk youth. The summer program--held mostly at the Riley Hill Family Life Center--gave the students opportunities to build self-discipline and responsibility, learn about health issues and conflict resolution techniques and take part in ropes courses and other activities. 

Fuquay-Varina GIS Mappers Attend International Conference
Two participants in another Youth Leaders in Action Academy program--the Community-based Mapping Assets Project (CMAP)--presented their work to hundreds of participants at the Environmental Systems Research Institute International User Conference in San Diego, Calif. in August. Fuquay-Varina High School seniors Anthony Prince and Geovanny Solera demonstrated the mastery of GIS (geographic information systems) mapping that they acquired through CMAP, which is run by Wake County 4-H Youth Development with funding from the John Rex Endowment.

New Projects

The Endowment recently awarded support to projects from five local agencies:

• The Carolina Breastfeeding Institute at UNC-Chapel Hill will receive $315,783 over three years to increase breastfeeding duration and exclusivity by capitalizing on licensed child care centers as facilitators. This project is part of the John Rex Endowment's Healthy Weight Initiative. 
• Inter-Faith Food Shuttle will receive $388,020 over three years for its Hands-On Health Project, a comprehensive and collaborative neighborhood-based environmental and educational program to change eating, exercising and nutrition-lifestyle choices of children in four low-income communities. This project is part of the John Rex Endowment's Healthy Weight Initiative. 
• Wake Health Services, Inc. will receive $122,444 over three years to increase access to basic primary care services for child survivors of domestic violence and to serve as a permanent medical home for parents and children. 
• Wake Teen Medical Services will receive $72,576 over two years to continue to provide needed medications and diagnostic lab testing to uninsured teens in order to decrease health disparities in high-risk youth.
• YWCA of the Greater Triangle, Inc., in collaboration with Wake County Human Services, WakeMed Birth & Parent Education, SAFEchild, Shaw University Early Childhood Education, Development and Research Center, and the Wake County Public School System will receive $376,714 over three years for the Teen Parent Connection program. The program will provide comprehensive community-based support services for pregnant and parenting teens.