 TSET has announced new application periods for Healthy Incentive Grants, available to schools and communities across the state. Designed to encourage schools and communities to adopt policies that promote healthy living, Healthy Incentive Grants can be used for a variety of projects including capital improvements, equipment, training and curriculum.
Schools will be eligible to apply this September and again in January. Applications for communities will open in November and March. Those interested are encouraged to apply early in their category because grants are awarded on a first come, first served basis and demand often exceeds available funds.
To be eligible, schools and communities must pass approved policies to promote clean air, access to healthy and nutritious foods and physical activity. Documentation of having met each criterion is required.
For more information on the new guidelines, visit TSET Incentive Grants. To learn more about TSET and TSET programs, visit tset.ok.gov/.
 An Oklahoma researcher is looking at the impact new regulations on menthol and flavored tobacco could have on reducing youth tobacco use. Menthol, with its refreshing flavor, hides the chemical taste of cigarettes and makes them easier to start and harder to quit. Dr. Amy Cohn explains why that is and the difficulty in combatting flavors in nicotine products in a new blog featured on Tobacco Stops With Me, a program of TSET that aims to inspire individuals to make positive changes — not only for their own health, but for the health of the entire state as well.
Dr. Cohn, Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at OU and faculty member of TSET Health Promotion Research Center, also examines the potential benefits and unknown consequences of reducing nicotine in cigarettes to non-addictive levels.
Read the interview here.
FROM THE JOURNAL RECORD:
In June, TSET hired Sarah Carson as Public Information Specialist. She will be working on communications projects for the agency.
Prior to joining TSET, Carson spent 10 years in the nonprofit sector. Most recently, Carson managed grants and annual giving at Myriad Gardens Foundation. She also served as the first public policy and outreach director at the Oklahoma Center for Nonprofits (the Center), where she was instrumental in designing and building the advocacy and membership programs.
Carson holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in International Studies with a focus on economics and land rights from the University of Oklahoma and received more than 100 hours of nonprofit training at the Center. She is an avid reader and enjoys gardening, traveling and simply spending time with her young family.
Get to know TSET's staff.
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TSET has partnered with the American Heart Association to provide resources to grantees and partners that highlight the power of local. The American Heart Association (AHA) provided training July 29 on preemption laws and the importance of local support for healthy communities. The AHA discussed the history of preemption in Oklahoma and how it impacts public health.
When regulations are determined at a local level, citizens are more likely to support them. However, Oklahoma is one of only two states that lacks a comprehensive clean air law and prohibits local governments from passing their own regulations. Preemption removes the opportunity for communities to work on a local level and determine their own health priorities and rules.
Learn more about how you can support improved health at the local level. Click here for resources and toolkit.
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Episode 16 of the TSET Better Health Podcast explores the challenges of food insecurity in Oklahoma and unique partnerships that seek to address it. Special guests Marc Jones of Homeland Acquisition Corporation and Richard Comeau of Hunger Free Oklahoma discuss a nutrition incentive program, Double Up Oklahoma. This program matches every SNAP dollar spent up to $20 a day at participating grocery stores that can be used for free fruits and vegetables. Not only does the program provide access to more fruits and vegetables for participants, but also provides the opportunity for them to try a wider variety in their diet.
Guest Jonathon Veal of RestoreOKC also discusses a private-public partnership working to address food inequity in northeast Oklahoma City. When the last full grocery store in the area closed in 2019, RestoreOKC and Homeland joined forces to offer the Market at Eastpoint, a community market. Veal explains, "It incorporates every aspect of food production from farming, harvesting, selling and even cooking. This is a truly holistic approach to healing and community-building."
Learn more here.
Available on TSET's website and everywhere podcasts are listened to: Spotify, TuneIn, Stitcher, PodBean, Google Podcasts and Apple Podcasts.
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