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Healthy Kids, Healthy Families®

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    SPEAKER 1: I build everything, like houses, motorcycles, cars. I like building. 

    SPEAKER 2: We were playing The Biggest Tower. 

    SPEAKER 3: I'm constantly thinking through skills that kids need. So they need to be hard working, they need to be emotionally intelligent, they need to be respectful, they need to be curious, they need to be able to use their imagination, they need to be able to solve problems. And so, this is really giving kids the opportunity to use their brain in different ways while working collaboratively with their classmates. 

     

    SPEAKER 4: At Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, we have a program called Healthy Kids Healthy Families. We make investments into our communities so that our kids have a place to play that is safe. Because we've done about $2 million in investments every year in our communities for things like this. We can teach these kids values early that carries them through life. So this is a long-term play in the health of our communities. 

    [MUSIC PLAYING] 

     

Healthy Kids, Healthy Families (HKHF) began in 2011 as a three-year initiative by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas (BCBSTX), designed to improve the health and wellness of at least 1 million children through community investments. We extended the program, making HKHF part of our ongoing commitment to the health and well-being of the children and families across Texas. To date, we've helped nearly 3 million children.

The HKHF initiative invests in and partners with nonprofit organizations that offer sustainable, measurable programs. The programs must address health and wellness in these three areas:

Disease Prevention and Management

In 2020, the dual challenges of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic and the social justice unrest in the U.S. reinforced our focus on health equity and committed to our core purpose: To do everything in our power to stand with our members in sickness and in health.

Although access to medical care is an important piece of the puzzle, we know it’s not the only factor that determines someone’s health. Overall, a community’s health outcomes are molded by other dynamics as well, including:

  • Housing
  • Nutrition (healthy food and exercise)
  • Education and jobs
  • Mental health
  • Safe environment

Learn more about the next funding cycle at Apply for Funding/Blue Bear Requests.

Nutrition

BCBSTX is teaming up with Feeding America® to combat food insecurity through a focused, whole-person approach. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, there are more than 4.2 million food insecure people in Texas, and 1 in 7 households struggles to put food on the table.

Our collaboration with Feeding America builds on BCBSTX’s longstanding efforts to help members and communities be at their best. We’ve supported local food banks and organizations for nearly 10 years. In 2017 alone, our community partners distributed more than 1.3 million pounds of food, benefitting more than 660,000 Texans.

To reach our goal of eliminating food insecurity and removing barriers to adequate nutrition, we are partnering with 16 food banks:

  • Brazos Valley Food Bank
  • Central Texas Food Bank
  • Coastal Bend Food Bank
  • Concho Valley Regional Food Bank of Texas, Inc.
  • East Texas Food Bank
  • El Pasoans Fighting Hunger
  • Food Bank of The Rio Grande Valley, Inc.
  • Food Bank of West Central Texas
  • Galveston County Food Bank
  • Houston Food Bank
  • North Texas Food Bank
  • San Antonio Food Bank
  • Southeast Texas Food Bank
  • Tarrant Area Food Bank
  • West Texas Food Bank
  • Wichita Falls Area Food Bank

Physical activity and Supporting Safe Enviroments

BCBSTX and KaBOOM! believe all kids deserve childhoods filled with active play. KaBOOM! is the national non-profit dedicated to giving all kids the childhoods they deserve through safe places to play. Since 2011, BCBSTX has worked with KaBOOM! to rally more than 7,200 volunteers to help create 38 new play spaces, which give more than 152,000 kids a place to swing, slide, leap and play. Together we lead the all-volunteer planning, design and hands-on construction of new community playgrounds, designed by kids and built with local families.

We’re working to get kids physically active with Imagination Playground, a ground-breaking pop-up playground design with uniquely shaped foam blocks and loose parts that help kids play creatively. With the addition of shade structures to 34 Texas playgrounds, we’re helping kids and families have more sun-safe access to great places to play.