Delaware News


Lt. Governor Bethany Hall-Long Announces the First Round of Award Winners in the Inaugural Lt. Governor’s Challenge 2.0

Lt. Governor Bethany Hall-Long | Office of the Lieutenant Governor | Date Posted: Monday, March 18, 2019



Six Delaware organizations receive recognitions for motivating change and elevating the health and well-being of their communities.

DOVER, Del. (March 18, 2019)— Delaware Lieutenant Governor Bethany Hall-Long just announced the selection of the first six honorees in the newly established Lt. Governor’s Challenge—the next evolution of Delaware’s mission to guide residents on a path to healthier living. The inaugural award honorees were hand-selected by the Lieutenant Governor and the Lt. Governor’s Challenge review committee, which made its selection based on the ways each organization’s initiative advances measurable policy, systems and environmental change strategies focused on improving the health and wellbeing of members of its group and other communities served.

 

“In every way, these six organizations and the initiatives they put in place embody the heart, soul and vision of the Lt. Governor’s Challenge,” said Lieutenant Governor Bethany Hall-Long. “The champions of these initiatives have demonstrated their dedication to developing programs and presenting opportunities to help others lead stronger, healthier lives. Some have done this by breaking down barriers of poverty to advance equality of care, others have provided resources to support smoking cessation or making behavioral changes that promote a lifetime of healthier habits. Equally as important is the fact that these award-winning programs are helping to motivate better health practices that extend beyond the people within the organizations that started them—among their spouses, children and other family members. There is no telling where and how far their influence can reach and the impact it can make on the health of our state.”

 

With the Lt. Governor’s Challenge, Lieutenant Governor Hall-Long is building on Governor Carney’s achievements in inspiring individuals to take the first steps toward leading healthier lifestyles. The Lt. Governor’s Challenge, focusing on the power of community when it comes to encouraging and implementing changes that can improve quality of life for Delawareans, was designed to mobilize everyone on a journey of health and well-being. The program motivates and supports groups and individuals, as well as recognizes communities that take action — together — in order to make the healthy choice and the easy choice for their members.

 

Lieutenant Governor Hall-Long made personal phone calls to inform each of the following organizations that they had been selected to be recognized with the first Lt. Governor’s Challenge awards. These honorees will be also be recognized in May during the Lt. Governor’s 1st annual honoree celebration event.

 

IMPACT Delaware Tobacco Prevention Coalition

  • Area of focus: Chronic Disease Management and Prevention
  • Community category: Community with a Shared Interest
  • Program overview: Since being formed, the coalition has helped raise awareness, educated people on the dangers of tobacco, developed and implemented programs, and measured and analyzed data to evaluate the effectiveness of its efforts. The coalition continues to develop statewide plans with goals and objectives to address tobacco prevention issues including prevent youth initiation, reduce exposure to secondhand smoke, and provide cessation resources.

 

Children in Nature

  • Area of focus: Healthy Living
  • Community category: Community with a Shared Interest
  • Program overview: Program supports children and families in spending more time outdoors by increasing opportunities for children to participate in outdoor experiences, promoting healthy lifestyles, supporting better access to green space, and encouraging environmental literacy.

 

Perdue (FIT by Collaboration) with the University of Delaware Cooperative Extension

  • Area of focus: Healthy Living
  • Community category: Workplace
  • Program overview: With a strong commitment and dedication to teamwork, Perdue Farms has kept its employees’ growth, safety and well-being at the forefront of its business. Partnering with the University of Delaware’s Cooperative Extension Program, Perdue Farms implemented a FIT program—which includes healthy fundraisers to promote activity clubs, worksite farmer’s markets, integration of physical activity clubs, health and productivity meetings, and worksite wellness committees—to help improve employee health within its Delaware locations.

 

Delaware Technical and Community College: Mindfulness Summit

  • Area of focus: Emotional Well-being
  • Community category: School
  • Program overview: The Mindfulness Summit, held in October 2018, offered a community awareness event designed to teach, inform, and inspire those who want to learn more about the practice of mindfulness and how to incorporate it into their personal and professional lives. The summit included breakout sessions on mindfulness and its growing role in healthcare, mental health, athletics, education and the workplace.

 

Blind Vendors Committee: Healthy Vending Initiative

  • Area of focus: Healthy Living
  • Community category: Workplace
  • Program overview: The Delaware Division of the Visually Impaired (DVI) partnered with the Blind Vendors Committee within the Business Enterprise Program (BEP) to ensure healthier vending options are available in state buildings for state employees. DVI implemented a new policy to ensure that all vending machines be equally split, with 50% of the machines being healthier snack alternatives, and to ensure via taste-tests that the healthy options placed in the machines are preferred by employees.

 

Colonial District 1st Elementary Wellness Center – Eisenberg Elementary School

  • Area of focus: Chronic Disease Management
  • Community category: Schools
  • Program overview: The Eisenberg Elementary School in New Castle officially opened its Wellness Center in April 2018 and is fully staffed and equipped for use. It provides Eisenberg students, most of whom are low-income children of color, with access to healthcare and behavioral and social services, right in their school. The center also allows parents to video-call in to appointments, and accepts those with and without insurance.

 

A key dynamic of the Lt. Governor’s Challenge is a peer nomination mechanism that allows community members an opportunity to be drivers of change in their own families, neighborhoods, workplaces, faith organizations/institutions, communities or schools. Nominations for the Spring 2019 Lt. Governor’s Challenge awards are being accepted until March 31 at LtGovernorsChallenge.org.

 

Whether you are nominating yourself or a group you find deserving of recognition, by sharing your nominees’ stories and outcomes, you motivate them to continue and grow their programs,” said Lieutenant Governor Hall-Long. “Every nomination encourages your fellow Delawareans to take a look at how they, too, can take steps toward healthier living! Through peer nominations and celebrations of honorees, we expect the Lt. Governor’s Challenge 2.0 to have a far-reaching, long-lasting ripple effect that we are already seeing take hold.”

 

Additional information on the Lt. Governor’s Challenge—including online nomination forms—is available at LtGovernorsChallenge.org. Updates and information are also available on social media

Facebook (@LtGovernorDE); Twitter (@LTGovHall_Long); Instagram (@LtGovBethany)

 

###
 

image_printPrint


Graphic that represents delaware news on a mobile phone

Keep up to date by receiving a daily digest email, around noon, of current news release posts from state agencies on news.delaware.gov.

Here you can subscribe to future news updates.

Lt. Governor Bethany Hall-Long Announces the First Round of Award Winners in the Inaugural Lt. Governor’s Challenge 2.0

Lt. Governor Bethany Hall-Long | Office of the Lieutenant Governor | Date Posted: Monday, March 18, 2019



Six Delaware organizations receive recognitions for motivating change and elevating the health and well-being of their communities.

DOVER, Del. (March 18, 2019)— Delaware Lieutenant Governor Bethany Hall-Long just announced the selection of the first six honorees in the newly established Lt. Governor’s Challenge—the next evolution of Delaware’s mission to guide residents on a path to healthier living. The inaugural award honorees were hand-selected by the Lieutenant Governor and the Lt. Governor’s Challenge review committee, which made its selection based on the ways each organization’s initiative advances measurable policy, systems and environmental change strategies focused on improving the health and wellbeing of members of its group and other communities served.

 

“In every way, these six organizations and the initiatives they put in place embody the heart, soul and vision of the Lt. Governor’s Challenge,” said Lieutenant Governor Bethany Hall-Long. “The champions of these initiatives have demonstrated their dedication to developing programs and presenting opportunities to help others lead stronger, healthier lives. Some have done this by breaking down barriers of poverty to advance equality of care, others have provided resources to support smoking cessation or making behavioral changes that promote a lifetime of healthier habits. Equally as important is the fact that these award-winning programs are helping to motivate better health practices that extend beyond the people within the organizations that started them—among their spouses, children and other family members. There is no telling where and how far their influence can reach and the impact it can make on the health of our state.”

 

With the Lt. Governor’s Challenge, Lieutenant Governor Hall-Long is building on Governor Carney’s achievements in inspiring individuals to take the first steps toward leading healthier lifestyles. The Lt. Governor’s Challenge, focusing on the power of community when it comes to encouraging and implementing changes that can improve quality of life for Delawareans, was designed to mobilize everyone on a journey of health and well-being. The program motivates and supports groups and individuals, as well as recognizes communities that take action — together — in order to make the healthy choice and the easy choice for their members.

 

Lieutenant Governor Hall-Long made personal phone calls to inform each of the following organizations that they had been selected to be recognized with the first Lt. Governor’s Challenge awards. These honorees will be also be recognized in May during the Lt. Governor’s 1st annual honoree celebration event.

 

IMPACT Delaware Tobacco Prevention Coalition

  • Area of focus: Chronic Disease Management and Prevention
  • Community category: Community with a Shared Interest
  • Program overview: Since being formed, the coalition has helped raise awareness, educated people on the dangers of tobacco, developed and implemented programs, and measured and analyzed data to evaluate the effectiveness of its efforts. The coalition continues to develop statewide plans with goals and objectives to address tobacco prevention issues including prevent youth initiation, reduce exposure to secondhand smoke, and provide cessation resources.

 

Children in Nature

  • Area of focus: Healthy Living
  • Community category: Community with a Shared Interest
  • Program overview: Program supports children and families in spending more time outdoors by increasing opportunities for children to participate in outdoor experiences, promoting healthy lifestyles, supporting better access to green space, and encouraging environmental literacy.

 

Perdue (FIT by Collaboration) with the University of Delaware Cooperative Extension

  • Area of focus: Healthy Living
  • Community category: Workplace
  • Program overview: With a strong commitment and dedication to teamwork, Perdue Farms has kept its employees’ growth, safety and well-being at the forefront of its business. Partnering with the University of Delaware’s Cooperative Extension Program, Perdue Farms implemented a FIT program—which includes healthy fundraisers to promote activity clubs, worksite farmer’s markets, integration of physical activity clubs, health and productivity meetings, and worksite wellness committees—to help improve employee health within its Delaware locations.

 

Delaware Technical and Community College: Mindfulness Summit

  • Area of focus: Emotional Well-being
  • Community category: School
  • Program overview: The Mindfulness Summit, held in October 2018, offered a community awareness event designed to teach, inform, and inspire those who want to learn more about the practice of mindfulness and how to incorporate it into their personal and professional lives. The summit included breakout sessions on mindfulness and its growing role in healthcare, mental health, athletics, education and the workplace.

 

Blind Vendors Committee: Healthy Vending Initiative

  • Area of focus: Healthy Living
  • Community category: Workplace
  • Program overview: The Delaware Division of the Visually Impaired (DVI) partnered with the Blind Vendors Committee within the Business Enterprise Program (BEP) to ensure healthier vending options are available in state buildings for state employees. DVI implemented a new policy to ensure that all vending machines be equally split, with 50% of the machines being healthier snack alternatives, and to ensure via taste-tests that the healthy options placed in the machines are preferred by employees.

 

Colonial District 1st Elementary Wellness Center – Eisenberg Elementary School

  • Area of focus: Chronic Disease Management
  • Community category: Schools
  • Program overview: The Eisenberg Elementary School in New Castle officially opened its Wellness Center in April 2018 and is fully staffed and equipped for use. It provides Eisenberg students, most of whom are low-income children of color, with access to healthcare and behavioral and social services, right in their school. The center also allows parents to video-call in to appointments, and accepts those with and without insurance.

 

A key dynamic of the Lt. Governor’s Challenge is a peer nomination mechanism that allows community members an opportunity to be drivers of change in their own families, neighborhoods, workplaces, faith organizations/institutions, communities or schools. Nominations for the Spring 2019 Lt. Governor’s Challenge awards are being accepted until March 31 at LtGovernorsChallenge.org.

 

Whether you are nominating yourself or a group you find deserving of recognition, by sharing your nominees’ stories and outcomes, you motivate them to continue and grow their programs,” said Lieutenant Governor Hall-Long. “Every nomination encourages your fellow Delawareans to take a look at how they, too, can take steps toward healthier living! Through peer nominations and celebrations of honorees, we expect the Lt. Governor’s Challenge 2.0 to have a far-reaching, long-lasting ripple effect that we are already seeing take hold.”

 

Additional information on the Lt. Governor’s Challenge—including online nomination forms—is available at LtGovernorsChallenge.org. Updates and information are also available on social media

Facebook (@LtGovernorDE); Twitter (@LTGovHall_Long); Instagram (@LtGovBethany)

 

###
 

image_printPrint


Graphic that represents delaware news on a mobile phone

Keep up to date by receiving a daily digest email, around noon, of current news release posts from state agencies on news.delaware.gov.

Here you can subscribe to future news updates.