Three local health projects have benefited from almost £100,000 of funding from the Local Area Agreement (LAA) Delivery Fund.

The Healthy Weight, Active Lives partnership has been awarded just over £44,000 to help tackle childhood obesity. The partnership aims to offer programmes to increase physical activity and improve food choices and healthy eating. Among the programmes offered will be 'MEND' (Mind, Execrice, Nutrition, Do it!) an education programme to help 84 children aged 7-13 and their families to manage their weight better and lead healthier lives.

Food awareness workshops will also be run by City of York Council's food and safety team for 2,000 children, young people and their families to raise awareness of the nutritional composition of foods and make more informed choices about the food that they buy and eat. The York City Knights Foundation 'Get Active' programme will also be running an educational assembly for Year Six children in all local primary schools to highlight the importance of a healthy lifestyle. Each class will also be able to take part in a series of exercise sessions to promote the benefits of regular exercise.

Altogether Better - York is a well-being programme that operates in the four most deprived areas in the city (Westfield, Clifton, Guildhall and Tang Hall).  The aim is to deliver supported and accessible community health education to 190 educators working for Healthy School, School Nurse and School Sport Partnerships.  These educators will then work with over 950 people from target groups including families with children, lone parents, teenage parents, care leavers, and homeless young people.

Fitness Engage has been awarded £25,000 to help it provide fitness sessions to encourage young people and their parents/carers to take part in joint activity sessions.

Participants in the specially structured non-contact boxing fitness sessions will be guided through a series of boxing fitness activities by qualified boxing coaches. Participants can be referred to the scheme by organisations such as Network 2, community policing units, Youth Offending Teams, or pupil support units. Other service users come of their own accord from a range of social and financial backgrounds, including the travelling and Polish communities.  Sessions are provided free of charge where the young people taking part have been referred to the scheme. 

The city-wide Just 30 Physical Activity campaign has been awarded £25,000 to encourage greater participation in sport and physical activity.

Physical activity levels in York dropped from 24.9% in 2006 to 19.3% in 2008, based on an an adult undertaking some sort of physical activity three times a week for 30 minutes.  Statistics also show that 45.8% of the city's adult population do no physical activity at all. This city-wide, high impact publicity campaign aims to halt this trend by increasing awareness of and access to information about physical acivities and to increase participation, particularly in areas of the city with low participation rates and among groups including older people and residents with a disability.

The LAA Delivery Fund is money that the council received in the form of a performance award from the government for meeting targets set out in the Local Public Service Agreement.

Local statutory organizations, community and voluntary groups and charities were invited to bid for part of these funds for projects which supported the aims and objectives of the city's Local Area Agreement.

Following an in depth assessment process, 16 groups and organizations have been allocated funds totalling £611,697.  Nigel Burchell, Head of Strategic Partnerships at City of York Council said "We are thrilled that this funding will be used to drive forward delivery of our LAA outcomes through a whole host of new and innovative projects.  We're confident that the schemes selected will make a positive difference against our most difficult challenges".