Hartford Radio Advertisers Support City-Wide Initiative

HARTFORD, CONN., – Dec. 9, 2015 /3BL Media/ – Hartford Radio Advertisers, Price Chopper Supermarkets, Balise Motor Sales, Apple Auto Wholesalers and AAA Insurance have teamed up with the National Recreation and Park Association to support the Little City Sprouts program, which works to bring gardening and healthy nutritional practices to Hartford preschool children. Funding for this program was generated through participation in CBS EcoMedia’s WellnessAd program.

According to a 2012 survey conducted by the University of Connecticut’s Center for Public Health and Health Policy, 23% of children in Hartford ages 2 to 5 are overweight or obese, twice as high as the CDC guidelines for age and gender-specific BMI. Data also showed that low-income families and minorities had even higher rates of obesity in comparison to non-Hispanic white children.

Based on this research, Little City Sprouts aims to improve nutrition in Hartford by engaging youth enrolled in center-based pre-school programs to cultivate a lifelong love for healthier eating habits. The pilot program, created in partnership between the Department of Families, Children, Youth and Recreation, the Hartford Food System and the National Recreation and Park Association, brings gardening and healthy nutritional practices to preschoolers through cooking, field trips to orchards and farms, and farmer’s market activities.

Support for the Little City Sprouts program has allowed for the installation of 22 raised vegetable gardens at 12 early learning centers, including:

• Pride and Joy Learning Academy (1 bed)  
• Hartford Neighborhood Center (3 beds)
• St. Cyril's and Methodius Catholic Charities Daycare (1 bed)
• The Village for Families and Children Daycare (2 beds)
• Pequeñín Children's Multicultural Readiness Academy (2 beds)
• Hyland Park ELC (3 beds)
• Crayons & Numbers (3 beds)
• Asylum Hill Early Learning Center (2 beds)
• The Women’s League (3 beds)
• The Salvation Army (2 beds)
• Trinity College Community Child Center (1 bed)
• Capitol Child Development Center (3 beds)

To celebrate the project, CBS Radio Advertisers were invited to the Asylum Hill Early Learning Center, where they had the opportunity to take part in a gardening activity and witness the children’s cooking skills as they prepared healthy snacks. Attendees included Nancy Mulroy, Grants Specialist at City of Hartford; Keisha Hardin, Site Administrator at Asylum Hill Early Learning Center; Tim Fraiser, Zone Director from Price Chopper Supermarkets; Dale A. MacDonald, Media Director at Balise Motor Sales; and representatives from the Hartford Food System; and local CBS radio stations WTIC-AM, WTIC-FM, WRCH and WZMX.

“As a business dedicated to helping people feed and care for themselves and their families, Price Chopper is proud to support the Little City Sprouts program, which teaches children the value of healthy eating,” said Mona Golub, Vice President of Public Relations and Consumer Services at Price Chopper Supermarkets.

“Balise is proud to sponsor the Little Sprouts initiative with EcoMedia,” said Dale A. MacDonald, Media Director at Balise Motor Sales. “Helping children and their families is the main thrust of philanthropic giving at Balise.”

 “Urban agriculture has been growing in Hartford, giving more and more residents access to healthy, affordable foods,” said Hartford Mayor Pedro E. Segarra. “I’m grateful to the National Recreation and Park Association, all the partners and the sponsors for extending this opportunity to our children, helping them take nutrition into their own hands at an early age.”

“Community gardens, like the ones installed as part of the Little City Sprouts program, not only help increase access to fresh fruits and vegetables, they also allow children to become an essential part of the planting, care and harvesting of food,” said Barbara Tulipane, National Recreation and Park Association President and CEO. “When children are involved in the process, they not only benefit from eating healthy food when they are young, they also develop knowledge that will help them in the future as adults.”

About Price Chopper

About The Golub Corporation: Based in Schenectady, NY, the Golub Corporation owns and operates 135 Price Chopper and Market 32 grocery stores in New York, Vermont, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The American owned, family-managed company prides itself on longstanding traditions of innovative food merchandising, leadership in community service, and cooperative employee relations. Golub’s 22,000 teammates collectively own more than 47% of the company’s privately held stock, making it one of the nation’s largest privately held corporations that is predominantly employee-owned. For additional information, visit http://www.pricechopper.com.

About Balise Motor Sales

Balise Motor Sales and affiliated companies operate new vehicle dealerships representing Buick, Chevrolet (2), Ford (2), GMC, Honda (3), Hyundai (3), Lexus, Mazda, Nissan (3), Scion (2), Subaru; Toyota (2) and Volkswagen; Ready Credit Used Cars (2); Balise Collision Repair Centers (3) and Balise Car Washes (2).

Balise Motor Sales is one of the largest retailers of new and used automobiles in New England. Headquartered in West Springfield, Massachusetts, the organization employs over 1,300 associates at facilities in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

About City of Hartford Early Learning Centers

The Department of Families, Children, Youth and Recreation operate three Early Learning Centers strategically located throughout the City, serving toddlers and preschool age children and their families.  All of the Centers are accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children and licensed by the State Office of Early Childhood to ensure compliance with the highest level of standards in the early childhood field.  The Centers provide high quality early learning experiences embedded in play-based activities in accordance with CT Early Learning and Development Standards, facilitated by knowledgeable educators trained in effective instructional practices in order to promote school readiness skills and lifelong successes. Teaching strategies capture the individual needs, interests and cultural experiences of each child and his/her family.  The Centers are open year-round (52 weeks) from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday and provide healthy and nutritious daily breakfasts, hot lunches and afternoon snacks that meet Federal Child and Adult Care Food Program requirements.

About the National Recreation and Park Association

The National Recreation and Park Association is a national not-for-profit organization dedicated to advancing park, recreation and conservation efforts that enhance quality of life for all people. Through its network of 50,000 recreation and park professionals and citizens, NRPA encourages the promotion of healthy and active lifestyles, conservation initiatives and equitable access to parks and public space. For more information, visit www.nrpa.org. For digital access to NRPA’s flagship publication, Parks & Recreation, visit www.parksandrecreation.org

About CBS EcoMedia Inc.

EcoMedia was founded in 2002 by social entrepreneur Paul Polizzotto. The company's mission is to harness the power of the advertising dollar to make tangible, quality of life improvements in communities nationwide. In 2010, after successfully partnering on a wide range of environmental projects, EcoMedia was acquired by CBS Corporation, exponentially scaling its reach across television, radio, interactive, and publishing media.

Through EcoMedia's patent-pending EcoAd, as well as EducationAd, WellnessAd, Viewers to Volunteers and Volunteering with the Stars advertising programs, national brands and local businesses provide millions of dollars in financial support to some of the nation's most effective nonprofit organizations, funding critical veterans’, education, health and wellness, and environmental projects nationwide.

EcoMedia's innovative and proprietary business model has fundamentally altered the advertising and nonprofit landscapes, elevating the ordinary, traditional commercial – and media, in general – into a catalyst for tangible, quantifiable social change.

EcoMedia has earned numerous awards and recognitions for its work, including the U.S. Conference of Mayors Award for Excellence in Public Private Partnerships (2009), Edison Awards for Social Innovation and Social Impact (2012, 2013), and the Starlight Children's Foundation's “General H. Norman Schwarzkopf Leadership Award,” which honors individual and organizational leaders who are doing extraordinary work to advance the common good and strengthen their communities. 

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By participating in EcoMedia's EcoAd, WellnessAd, EducationAd, and Viewers to Volunteers advertising programs, EcoMedia's advertisers agree to provide funding for projects we believe will have a beneficial effect upon the environment, health and/or education within local communities. EcoMedia's advertising programs are not certification programs nor are the EcoAd, WellnessAd or EducationAd logos seals of approval. EcoMedia does not in any way certify, endorse or make any representations about EcoMedia program advertisers, their products or services.

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Press Contact:

Theresa Schieber

Theresa.schieber@ecomediacbs.com

212-975-3471