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We are excited to announce that School and Community Wellness Coordinator, Kate Huber has been selected as a Buffalo Business First Wellness Champion! She was honored in a ceremony at RiverWorks in Buffalo on August 24, 2023. 

Kate is the School and Community Wellness Coordinator for the Creating Healthy Schools and Communities Grant at Erie 1 BOCES. The grant is centered on reducing the risk of obesity and chronic disease by increasing demand for and access to healthy food and physical activity in schools, community spaces, daycares and worksites.

Kate is passionate about health equity. Her work promotes the belief that your zip code, your income, your mobility status or your race should not determine your health outcomes. In this work, she helps schools create meaningful sustainable change through the implementation of policy, systems, and environmental improvements. Examples include improving recess, making physical activities accessible to all regardless of ability and reducing in school rewards and celebrations that center on food, so students with allergies or religious observances feel included, too. 

Kate is laser focused in improving wellness systems. She will quip that it is easy to pass out apples to students. It is harder to create policies and a school culture that ensures apples are always a choice. Her work is grounded in improving the environment where people have the education, skills, and infrastructure to make healthy choices. It is about shifting the mindset, not offering easy one-day solutions.

We are so grateful to Kate and her work in our region with the Creating Healthy Schools and Communities grant. Congratulations!