About Project Diabetes
The Tennessee Department of Health has several strategies in place to address the burden of preventable chronic disease on its citizens. Project Diabetes is one of these strategies whose purpose is to fund primary prevention projects that aim to prevent disease from ever occurring. Such prevention is implemented through the utilization of policy, systems, and environmental changes (PSE) within the communities of Tennessee. PSE approaches seek to go beyond interventions focused on individual behavior or one-time events to influence the systems that create the structures in which we work, live, and play. By changing policies, systems, and/or the environment, communities can tackle health issues such as obesity, diabetes, cancer, and other chronic diseases. Being healthy is not just about individual choices. Approaches to PSE change help highlight how communities function, including how resources are allocated and how services are delivered, and the influence of those systems and structures on community health before the onset of illness.
The State funds projects that utilize one or more of the performance goal strategies listed below to achieve the overarching goals of the Project Diabetes Initiative. The State awarded competitive grants in two categories:
“Category A” grants - Applicants may apply for a grant of up to three (3) years with funds not to exceed $150,000 per year, for a maximum total of $450,000.
“Category B” grants – Applicants may apply for a grant for smaller, community-based projects of up to two years with funds not to exceed $15,000 per year, for a maximum total of $30,000.
Funding priorities for the grant cycle for 2022-2025 focus on two goals:
- Creating equitable food and beverage environments that ensure that healthy food and beverage options are the routine, easy choice.
- Making physical activity an integral and routine part of life for all Tennesseans.
After selecting goal(s), grantees address a strategy or strategies that they will take to achieve the selected goal.
Strategy 1.1: Start or expand farm-to-institution programs in schools, hospitals, workplaces, childcare centers, and other institutions.
Strategy 1.2: Start or expand community-supported agriculture (CSA) where partnerships are established between farmers and consumers in which consumers purchase a share of a farm’s products in advance.
Strategy 1.3: Include fruit and vegetables in emergency food programs.
Strategy 1.4: Provide competitive pricing for healthy foods in school and municipal concessions.
Strategy 1.5: Enable farmers markets to accept EBT, the electronic payment system of debit cards used to issue and redeem Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.
Strategy 1.6: Food hubs - Support businesses or organizations that aggregate, distribute, and market local and regional food products.
Strategy 1.7: Gleaning initiatives - Gather food left in fields after a primary harvest, food in fields where harvesting is not profitable, or excess produce from orchards, packing houses, urban agriculture sites, etc.
Strategy 1.8: Fruit and vegetable incentive programs - Offer participants with low incomes matching funds to purchase healthy foods, especially fresh fruits and vegetables; often called bonus dollars, market bucks, Double Up Food Bucks, or nutrition incentives.
Strategy 1.9: Food literacy skill development- School vegetable gardens and cooking classes in designated areas where students can garden with guidance, along with nutrition and food preparation lessons and opportunities for taste tasting and hands-on learning.
Strategy 1.10: Healthy food initiatives in food pantries, such as Supporting Wellness at Pantries (SWAP).
Strategy 1.11: Water availability and promotion interventions - Make water readily available in various settings via regular placement of drinking fountains, water coolers, bottled water in vending machines, etc.
Strategy 1.12: College-based obesity prevention educational interventions - Support multi-component educational interventions for college students that address nutrition, physical activity, and healthy weight management.
Strategy 1.13: Breastfeeding promotion programs - Provide education, information, counseling, and support for breastfeeding to women throughout pre-and post-natal care.
Strategy 1.14: Workplace supports for breastfeeding - Support breastfeeding via private, well-equipped lactation spaces in workplaces, along with breastfeeding breaks, flexible schedules, professional lactation support, etc.
Strategy 2.1: Active recess - Establish a break from the school day, typically before lunch, that involves planned, inclusive, actively supervised games or activities; also called a semi-structured, or structured recess.
Strategy 2.2: College-based obesity prevention educational interventions - Support multi-component educational interventions for college students that address nutrition, physical activity, and healthy weight management.
Strategy 2.3: Activity program for older adults - Offer group educational, social, creative, musical, or physical activities that promote social interactions, regular attendance, and community involvement among older adults.
Strategy 2.4: Community fitness programs - Offer exercise classes (e.g., aerobic dance, yoga, Tai Chi, cycling, etc.) and fitness program support in community, senior, fitness, and community wellness centers.
Strategy 2.5: Bicycle path, lanes & tracks - Accommodate or provide dedicated space for bicyclists via bicycle paths, lanes, cycle tracks, or protected bike lanes, etc.
Strategy 2.6: Places for physical activity - Modify local environments to support physical activity, increase access to new or existing facilities for physical activity.
Strategy 2.7: Greenspace and parks - Increase recreational green space through new parks or open spaces, renovation or enhancement of under-used recreation areas, rehabilitation of vacant lots, brownfields, etc.
Strategy 2.8: Worksite obesity prevention interventions - interventions are evidence-based multi-component efforts that combine education, environmental change, physical activity opportunities, and incentives for healthy behavior.