Boys & Girls Clubs in Florida Awarded Two New Grants by Amerigroup Foundation

TAMPA, Fla., Nov. 12, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) today announced two new grants awarded by the Amerigroup Foundation to local Boys & Girls Clubs in Florida to improve the health and wellbeing of children in the state. Boys & Girls Clubs provide kids and teens with critical after-school programming that creates a positive environment and supports healthy, active lifestyles. An example of this programing is the Boys & Girls Clubs Triple Play program, which focuses on being healthy through the mind, body and soul.

The Amerigroup Foundation will issue grants to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Miami-Dade and Boys & Girls Clubs of Tampa Bay. Each Club will receive a $5,000 Focus Grant to provide programming that teaches the importance of healthy eating habits and being physically active. Each Club will also use the grant to implement opportunities for their members to increase their fruit/vegetable consumption and physical activity.

"Amerigroup is focused on helping Florida children to enrich their lives by teaching them the importance of eating healthy and staying physically fit," said Lourdes Rivas, Florida Medicaid plan president of Amerigroup Florida and Simply Healthcare Plan. "Our support of the Triple Play program and collaboration with Boys & Girls Clubs in Florida help us instill life-long, healthy habits in our children that will serve as a firm foundation for healthier future outcomes."

Triple Play is Boys & Girls Clubs of America's proven health and wellness program, and a game plan for the mind, body and soul. Supported by founding sponsor The Coca-Cola Company and co-sponsor, Amerigroup Foundation, the program's three components encourage Club members to choose healthy food options (mind), become more physically active (body) and increase their ability to engage in healthy relationships (soul). Since the program's inception in 2005, Triple Play has made over 10 million connections with kids and teens.

"Even after a decade, Triple Play continues to be one of the most utilized programs at Boys & Girls Clubs around the country and it is critical that we continue to elevate this program to help Club members choose a healthy pathway into adulthood," said Jennifer Bateman, national vice president for programs, training and youth development with BGCA. "We are incredibly grateful for the support and partnership of Amerigroup Foundation, because without their support we would not be able to impact so many kids and teens each year. As we exceed our 10 millionth connection with the program, we hope to continue to provide new and much needed healthy lifestyles programming to kids who need it most, and create a positive foundation for them to grow and thrive."

Amerigroup Foundation is committed to improving health and strengthening Florida communities. Through its Healthy Generations grant program, Amerigroup Foundation works to identify the issues most in need of attention and then directs its financial support and volunteer efforts toward improving health in those areas. Promoting youth health and active lifestyles is an ongoing focus of the foundation.

The Triple Play grants announced today are part of a five-year, $10 million commitment from Amerigroup Foundation's parent company foundation to Boys & Girls Clubs of America to promote healthy lifestyles. Last year, Amerigroup Foundation provided three Triple Play grants to Clubs across Florida.

About Triple Play
Triple Play: A healthy lifestyles Game Plan for the Mind, Body and Soul, was launched in 2005 by Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) in collaboration with the Department of Health and Human Services and with support from The Coca-Cola Company. The goal of Triple Play is to encourage kids to eat healthier, become more physically active and increase their ability to engage in healthy relationships. A two-year study of more than 2,000 children ages 9-14 showed that Triple Play succeeded in getting them to exercise more, eat healthier foods and feel better about themselves. The study found that Triple Play kids increased to 90 percent of the federally recommended amount of daily exercise, which is 60 minutes a day for children, while their peers outside the program decreased to 78 percent. Triple Play includes five program components, each of which serves between 20,000 and 500,000 youth annually. Since its inception in 2005, Triple Play has made more than 10 million connections with kids across the country. In 2011, the Anthem Foundation joined BGCA and Coca-Cola as a Triple Play sponsor. Learn more about the program at www.bgca.org/tripleplay.

About Boys & Girls Clubs of America
For more than 100 years, Boys & Girls Clubs of America (GreatFutures.org) has enabled young people most in need to achieve great futures as productive, caring, responsible citizens. Today, more than 4,100 Clubs serve nearly 4 million young people annually through Club membership and community outreach. Clubs are located in cities, towns, public housing and on Native lands throughout the country, and serve military families in BGCA-affiliated Youth Centers on U.S. military installations worldwide. They provide a safe place, caring adult mentors, fun, friendship, and high-impact youth development programs on a daily basis during critical non-school hours. Priority programs emphasize academic success, good character and citizenship, and healthy lifestyles. In a Harris Survey of alumni, 54 percent said the Club saved their lives. National headquarters are located in Atlanta. Learn more at http://www.bgca.org/facebook and http://bgca.org/twitter.

About Amerigroup Foundation
The Amerigroup Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Amerigroup. Together, with local, regional and national organizations, the Amerigroup Foundation works to enhance the health and well-being of individuals and families in communities that Amerigroup and its affiliated health plans serve. Amerigroup Foundation funding is focused on strategic initiatives working to address and provide innovative solutions to health care challenges, as well as promoting the Healthy Generations Program, a multi-generational initiative with five areas of focus: Healthy Heart, Cancer Prevention, Healthy Maternal Practices, Type 2 Diabetes Prevention, and Healthy Active Lifestyle. These disease states and medical conditions include: prenatal care in the first trimester, low birth weight babies, cardiac morbidity rates, long term activities that decrease obesity and increase physical activity, diabetes prevalence in adult populations, adult pneumococcal and influenza vaccinations and smoking cessation. The Foundation also coordinates the company's year-round Associate Giving program which provides a 50 percent match of associates' campaign pledges, as well as its Volunteer Time Off and Dollars for Doers community service programs. To learn more about the Amerigroup Foundation, please visit www.anthem.foundation.

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SOURCE Boys & Girls Clubs of America

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http://www.bgca.org