Awards Totaling More than $400,000 to Spread the National Diabetes Prevention Program
February 11, 2014 (New York) – With support from the New York Health Foundation (NYHealth), 25 organizations across New York State are ramping up their efforts to prevent diabetes. Grant awards totaling more than $400,000 will help community-based organizations—from local health departments and health systems to community health centers and YMCAs—implement and expand the National Diabetes Prevention Program (NDPP). This 16-week program, which focuses on lifestyle changes to improve healthy eating and physical activity, uses a well-tested model that could help the 4.5 million New Yorkers with prediabetes reduce their risk of developing the disease by 50%.
“New York State is facing a serious and costly health crisis, with nearly 25% of the population already living with diabetes,” said James R. Knickman, President and CEO of NYHealth. “We need to focus energy and resources on preventing the onset of diabetes and a whole host of other health problems related to obesity. The NDPP model is the most well-tested diabetes prevention program out there, and pushing it out to more New Yorkers in some of the hardest-hit communities across the State will be an important component of curbing the diabetes epidemic.”
With this more than $400,000 investment, the Foundation will reach communities with high rates of diabetes and prediabetes, and make the NDPP available to New Yorkers in places where they live, work, and worship. The grantees selected have the potential for large-scale statewide or regionwide impact on spreading and sustaining the NDPP, which has been lauded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as an effective, evidence-based public health program.
The NDPP is a community-based program conducted by trained lifestyle coaches to teach people with prediabetes how to modify their eating and physical activity habits, and to sustain those changes over time. Each one-hour class includes lessons on diet, exercise, staying motivated, overcoming stress, and other behavioral changes, all in a supportive group setting. The goal is to help people reduce their weight through a healthy low-calorie, low-fat diet and by engaging in at least 150 minutes per week of physical activity. This evidence-based lifestyle intervention has been shown to help participants lose 5–7% of their body weight and reduce their risk of developing Type 2 diabetes by 50%.
Grant awards to organizations from the Bronx to Buffalo will support a range of activities to help organizations implement and grow the NDPP, including the expansion of existing programs; communication, outreach, and education activities to obtain a steady flow of participants; and development of business plans to ensure the sustainability of the program.
Projects were selected through a competitive request for proposals. A full list of grantees can be found here.
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The New York Health Foundation (NYHealth) is a private, statewide foundation dedicated to improving the health of all New Yorkers, especially the most vulnerable. Today, NYHealth concentrates its work in three strategic priority areas: expanding health care coverage, improving diabetes prevention, and advancing primary care. The Foundation is committed to making grants, informing health care policy and practice, spreading effective programs to improve the health system, serving as a neutral convener of health leaders across the State, and providing technical assistance to its grantees and partners.
