GRASSROOTS HEALTH
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Mission Statement
Grassroots Health advances health equity in cities by using sports to reimagine health education in middle schools and mobilizing NCAA athletes as health educators and role models for youth.
About This Cause
Grassroots Health was founded in 2009 by college athletes who were committed to improving school health education for middle school students. Grassroots Health is a youth-led adolescent health and youth development organization that trains NCAA student-athletes to deliver comprehensive school-based health education programs, parent-child health communication workshops, and direct linkages to health services for low-income and/or at-risk youth and families. Grassroots Health's model empowers college athletes to co-facilitate mental, sexual, and nutritional health education programs in PE classrooms. More than 1,500 Grassroots Health health educators have reached more than 7,000 students to date, and Grassroots Health aims to scale to reach 10,000 in 10 cities annually by the end of the decade. Grassroots Health's vision is to advance health equity in America by changing the culture of health in our country's schools. Grassroots Health uses an innovative model to address a range of systemic barriers that have traditionally inhibited health education, linkage-to-care, and wellness promotion in schools. In America today, there is a lack of health promotion, education, and physical activity in schools. As schools continue to cut time, resources, and programming to prioritize academics over health and physical education, there are multiple public health crises that are facing today’s youth: *1/2 of chronic mental health conditions begin by the age of 14. Students with mental, emotional, or behavioral concerns are 3x more likely to repeat a grade. *1 in 5 children is considered obese due to poor nutrition and inadequate physical activity, which can result in chronic disease and also impair students’ mental health and academic outcomes. *1 in 4 teens contracts a sexually transmitted disease (STD) every year. Approximately 21% of all new HIV diagnoses are among young people. Our country desperately needs to rethink our approach to disease prevention, healthy equity, and wellbeing, and our youth deserve an education that includes an intentional, holistic, and proactive approach to health. Research shows that when we promote health and physical movement in school, students are not only healthier, but they are also better academic performers. Schools offer a tremendous opportunity to impact young peoples’ health literacy, health-related attitudes and behaviors, and access to healthcare. They also have the potential to bring students, teachers, and families together to discuss sensitive health topics. Despite schools’ potential as key environments for health promotion, health promotion activities in schools are often under-resourced,under-staffed, and under-scheduled. Student-to-teacher ratios are often too high to spark critical, intimate dialogues about health; schools struggle to budget for P.E. and health education and often choose physical activity over health education, and many school systems lack updated curricula to effectively teach. Grassroots Health combines P.E. and health education by using sport-based games to teach health messages and spark critical dialogue around health. Grassroots Health also uses trained volunteers to reduce student-to-teacher ratios and thereby enable small-group conversations around sensitive health topics. Finally, Grassroots Health creates and constantly updates curricula through community input, evidence-based literature reviews, and innovative curriculum development work led by its team of athletes.