School Among Meatless Monday Campaign Scholar Program Winners

The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is one of eight schools to be awarded $5,000 grants from The Meatless Monday Campaign, Inc. The grants will go to graduate students to help them pursue local health and nutrition communications programs in their respective school communities, and increase public participation in the Meatless Monday campaign.

Meatless Monday is a national public health campaign, working in association with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, to help Americans prevent heart disease, stroke and cancer – the three leading causes of death in America.

“We were impressed by the creativity, broad thinking and intellectual curiosity of these applicants, all of whom are eager to explore health and nutritional practices at the grassroots level,” explains Sid Lerner, chair of The Meatless Monday Campaign.  “Bringing their inspired ideas to life will help increase awareness of better health and nutritional practices and mobilize community support for the campaign.” 

Other grant recipients include students from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Boston University’s School of Public Health, the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, Loma Linda University School of Public Health, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, the University of South Carolina Norman J. Arnold School of Public Health, and the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health.

“The projects proposed by grant winners span a broad range of topics,” notes Robert Lawrence, MD, associate dean and director of the Center for a Livable Future at the School of Public Health. “They include reducing saturated fat among students, studying diets in low-income areas, improving educational outreach in rural communities and promoting healthier eating in restaurants.”

Applicants were asked to submit written proposals for desired projects to increase public participation in the Meatless Monday campaign. The competition was open to graduate students from accredited U.S. public health schools.

The students will work with Meatless Monday to create messages and strategies, develop materials and implement targeted campaigns in local communities. The students will meet in Baltimore with representatives from Meatless Monday and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health on June 17th to discuss the projects, share ideas, and begin to allocate program resources.

Advocating moderation, Meatless Monday’s goal is to reduce American consumption of saturated fat by 15 percent by 2010.  The Meatless Monday Campaign follows the dietary guidelines of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the American Heart Association. Twenty-eight deans from accredited U.S. public health schools, including Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, have endorsed The Meatless Monday Campaign.

The Meatless Monday Campaign uses promotional efforts, retail display, coupons, recipes and promotions, as well as national and local media, to reach broad segments of the U.S. population. 

Contact for the Meatless Monday Campaign, Inc.: Rick Leonard at 203-227-7060 or rick@dxmanners.com.