WASHINGTON – Rep. Lois Capps (D-Santa Barbara) announced on Tuesday that Ventura Unified School District has been awarded a three year, nearly $983,000 grant from the Department of Education’s Carol M. White Physical Education Program. The federal funding will allow Ventura Unified School District to implement Project HEAL – Healthy Eating, Active Living – that will expand and improve current physical education, nutrition and health curriculum and services for students. Implementing Project HEAL will help students make progress toward meeting California State standards for physical education.
“As a former school nurse, I am pleased to know these funds will provide much needed resources for our local schools to ensure we’re providing quality physical education programs for all students,” Capps stated in a media release. “Childhood obesity continues to be a serious problem in our country and we need to support programs such as Project HEAL so that our children can lead healthy and happy lives.”
“The Carol White Physical Education Grant aligns with the Ventura Unified School District vision to provide safe, healthy and high performing schools to our students. This funding source will further promote the skills, knowledge and resources to assist our students to make healthy choices in eating habits and physical activity,” said Dr. Trudy T. Arriaga, Superintendent of the Ventura Unified School District.