American Heart Association Awards Wellness Grants to 69 Schools to Combat Childhood Health Crisis

The American Heart Association has awarded wellness grants to 69 schools across the country to support healthier learning environments amid growing health concerns affecting American youth. Only 1 in 4 children in the U.S. gets the recommended amount of daily physical activity, and about 1 in 3 is overweight or obese according to research published in https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIR.0000000000001303. These statistics highlight the urgent need for intervention in childhood health and wellness.

Through its Kids Heart Challenge™ and American Heart Challenge™ initiatives, the Association provides annual financial grants that enable schools to address their specific health and wellness needs. The grants support various improvements including the purchase of physical education equipment, playground upgrades, installation of water filling stations, and counseling services. These resources create opportunities for more students and staff to be active, eat smart, manage stress, and live longer, healthier lives.

Lee Shapiro, J.D., volunteer chair of the board of the American Heart Association, emphasized the importance of tailored solutions, stating that every school has unique needs. The grants provide resources that support students, staff, and their communities based on these specific requirements—whether through enhancing nutrition, increasing physical activity, or improving mental well-being. All schools participating in the Kids Heart Challenge or American Heart Challenge are eligible to apply for these grants, which are awarded multiple times each school year.

The current grant recipients span 37 states, demonstrating the nationwide reach of this initiative. The Kids Heart Challenge and American Heart Challenge programs collectively reach more than 10 million students in approximately 20,000 American schools annually. Participants and their families learn crucial health skills including how to eat smart, manage stress, avoid tobacco and vaping, recognize the warning signs of heart attack and stroke, and perform Hands-Only CPR—a lifesaving skill that children as young as nine can learn and use during cardiac emergencies.

Schools interested in participating can sign up for the 2025–26 school year at https://heart.org/jointhechallenge. The program represents a significant step toward addressing the childhood health crisis documented in studies such as the research available at https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2836060, which examines trends in US children's mortality, chronic conditions, obesity, functional status, and symptoms.