SINAI Urban Health Institute

Research / Evaluation

Project:Jewish Day School Wellness Initiative

Introduction:

Based on findings from the Jewish Community Health Survey, SUHI and other community-based partners began working on the most important objective of the overall project – addressing priority health problems with targeted interventions. One topic - elevated rates of childhood obesity - was chosen as a top concern because it affects the majority of children in the community and because it foreshadows serious health consequences for the future. To address this issue, a school-based wellness initiative was developed specifically for day schools. The initiative is a joint effort between the Associated Talmud Torahs school system, the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, and SUHI. It has been generously funded by the Michael Reese Health Trust and the Polk Bros. Foundation.

Project plan:

The Jewish Day School Wellness Initiative was first implemented as a pilot project in two schools in the target community, Joan Dachs Bais Yaakov and Yeshivas Tiferes Tzvi. After the successful two-year pilot project, the initiative was expanded to include three more day schools – Akiba Schechter, Arie Crown, and Hillel Torah during the 2008-09 school year. Following this, all other interested ATT schools were invited and 4 new schools were added. For the first time, high schools were invited to participate and both Lubavitch Girls High School and Hanna Sacks Girls High School chose to be a part of the project.

The initiative focuses on the following six areas: family involvement, school environment, health education, physical education, staff wellness, and mental health. Participating schools are required to form a school wellness council, write a school wellness policy, and implement changes or activities in each of the target areas. In addition, a planning process was implemented to examine all health-related services in the day schools, including mental health, nursing, special education, and wellness. We expect that the participating schools will continue to make healthy changes for their students and we hope that this project serves as a model for Jewish schools across the country.

Project updates:

Health education materials collected, adapted, or developed for the project are available through the Associated Talmud Torah's website: http://www.att.org/pages/jewish_day_school_wellness_initiative/209.php.

A summary of the project model was recently published to help day schools in Chicago and elsewhere implement wellness programs. This guidebook can be downloaded here.

This project will continue until June 30, 2010. The final report on this intervention is anticipated to be available soon afterwards and will be posted on this website.

Publications:

Benjamins, MR and Whitman S. A Culturally Appropriate School Wellness Initiative: Results of a 2-Year Pilot Intervention in 2 Jewish Schools Journal of School Health 2010;80(8):378-386.
Benjamins, Maureen R., Dana M. Rhodes, Joel M. Carp, and Steven Whitman. Conducting and Responding to a Jewish Community Health Survey: Rationale, Results, and Advice. Journal of Jewish Communal Service. 2007; 82:83-95.
Benjamins MR, Rhodes DM, Carp JM, Whitman S. A Local Community Health Survey: Findings from a Population-Based Survey of the Largest Jewish Community of Chicago. Journal of Community Health 2006; 31(6):479-95.
Benjamins M, Rhodes DM, Carp JM, Whitman S. Report of the Findings of the Jewish Community Health Survey: Final Report. Chicago, Illinois: Sinai Urban Health Institute, 2006.

Resources:

Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago www.juf.org
Associated Talmud Torahs www.att.org
Michael Reese Health Trust www.healthtrust.net

Contact information:

For more information regarding this project, please contact the project director, Maureen Benjamins, at suhi@sinai.org

Personnel:

Maureen Benjamins, PhD Senior Epidemiologist
Ashley Biscoe, MPH Epidemiologist