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Connecticut College Children's Program receives $68,572 for new healthy choices program

The Connecticut College Children's Program has won a $68,572 competitive Client Grant from The Connecticut Health and Educational Facilities Authority (CHEFA) to develop, implement and assess a new program to promote healthy choices among families in its innovative preschool program. The Children's Program, which serves about 90 young children from southeastern Connecticut, will launch the program, called "Healthy Choices," immediately. The program will be structured to promote better lifestyle options through education.

Healthy Choices will be designed by the Children's Program staff to increase parental understanding of child development and teach the value of good nutrition, exercise and sleep habits. It will also explore how positive parental interactions are vital to a child's mental and physical growth and well-being.

The Children's Program provides a model early childhood curriculum for children of diverse backgrounds and abilities. The child-centered, play-based study and developmental setting is central to the College's academic curriculum, providing hands-on experience for students as well as opportunities for student and faculty research.

Through the grant, Connecticut College students will have the opportunity for hands-on research as they work to assess and monitor the impact of Healthy Choices, and the Children's Program staff will work with families to support behaviors that will serve as the building blocks for the development of lifelong healthy habits.

"Parents want to make the best choices for their children. What better contribution can we make than to inform and support their efforts?" said Kathryn O'Connor, director of the Children's Program.

The Children's Program is accredited through the National Association for the Education of Young Children and the Connecticut State Department of Education Approved Private Special Education Programs.

CHEFA is a quasi-governmental agency created to help Connecticut-based non-profit organizations raise the funds needed to meet their goals of improving the health and education of the citizens of this state. CHEFA's Client Grant program is funded by CHEFA's operating surplus and does not rely upon state appropriations.

For more information about CHEFA, visit www.chefa.com.

About Connecticut College

Situated on the coast of southern New England, Connecticut College is a highly selective private liberal arts college with 1900 students from all across the country and throughout the world. On the college's 750-acre arboretum campus overlooking Long Island Sound, students and faculty create a vibrant social, cultural and intellectual community enriched by diverse perspectives. The college, founded in 1911, is known for its unique combination of interdisciplinary studies, international programs, funded internships, student-faculty research and service learning.

For more information, visit www.conncoll.edu.

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December 21, 2011