Harlem RBI And UnitedHealthcare Help East Harlem And South Bronx Youth Lead Healthier Lives

EAST HARLEM, N.Y., August 14, 2015 /3BL Media/ – Through a unique partnership with CBS EcoMedia’s WellnessAd program, UnitedHealthcare is funding sports and academic nonprofit Harlem RBI’s REAL Kids summer program, which provides youth with comprehensive cognitive, enrichment, health and wellness, and sports activities designed to build literacy, social and emotional skills as well as to improve young people’s health and fitness. To celebrate the partnership, UnitedHealthcare officials will participate today in Harlem RBI’s annual Championship Day street festival.

The street festival, where volunteers from UnitedHealthcare will staff carnival booths and monitor activities, will include face painting, a dunk tank, food trucks, carnival games and more.  Michael McGuire, CEO of UnitedHealthcare of New York, will throw out the first pitch for the Jackie Robinson 5^th Grade Championship baseball game.

“UnitedHealthcare is partnering with Harlem RBI and its REAL Kids program to inspire children to participate in healthy activities and make good food choices – two habits that can last a lifetime,” said McGuire.

The REAL Kids program provides age-appropriate nutrition and fitness education to children in East Harlem and the South Bronx. In both East Harlem and the South Bronx, where more than a third of elementary school children are overweight or obese, activity and nutrition specialists will partner to implement nutrition education curriculums.

Harlem RBI’s youth fitness programming will also benefit from UnitedHealthcare’s backing, which will provide field supervisors and new baseball and softball uniforms for more than 1,300 youth participants.

“We are so thankful to have UnitedHealthcare support REAL Kids, which is our biggest program. Its support will enable us to better serve our kids with high-quality health and wellness education,” said Rich Berlin, Executive Director of Harlem RBI. “Our relationships with CBS EcoMedia and UnitedHealthcare allow us to have a greater impact on the communities we serve in both East Harlem and the South Bronx, and we are looking forward to growing these partnerships in the years to come.”

“We are grateful to UnitedHealthcare’s commitment to health and well-being, and for all the positive contributions it makes in our communities,” said Paul Polizzotto, President and Founder of CBS EcoMedia. “Thanks to this generous support of the REAL Kids program, more than a thousand young people in East Harlem and the South Bronx will have the opportunity to participate in nutrition education and fitness programming.”

This project is the latest in UnitedHealthcare’s “Do Good. Live Well.” employee volunteer initiative, whose mission is to inspire service and encourage volunteerism. For more information about the benefits of volunteering and to find local opportunities to get involved, visit www.DoGoodLiveWell.org. Follow @DoGoodLiveWell on Twitter or “like” Do Good. Live Well. on Facebook. 

About UnitedHealthcare

UnitedHealthcare is dedicated to helping people nationwide live healthier lives by simplifying the health care experience, meeting consumer health and wellness needs, and sustaining trusted relationships with care providers. The company offers the full spectrum of health benefit programs for individuals, employers, military service members, retirees and their families, and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, and contracts directly with more than 850,000 physicians and care professionals, and 6,000 hospitals and other care facilities nationwide. UnitedHealthcare is one of the businesses of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), a diversified Fortune 50 health and well-being company. For more information, visit UnitedHealthcare at www.uhc.com or follow @myUHC on Twitter.

About Harlem RBI

Harlem RBI, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, began in 1991 when a group of volunteers transformed an abandoned, garbage-strewn lot into two baseball diamonds for the youth of East Harlem. Since then, Harlem RBI has grown to serve more than 1,700 boys and girls, ages 5-22, with year-round academic, sports and enrichment programs in East Harlem and the South Bronx. Harlem RBI’s comprehensive approach to youth development replaces the barriers inner-city youth typically face with concrete opportunities to build the skills and confidence needed to graduate high school, matriculate to college and break the cycle of poverty. Since 2005, 96% of Harlem RBI seniors have graduated high school, 93% of seniors have been accepted into college and 99% of participants have avoided teen parenthood.

In 2008, after 17 years of working in East Harlem and producing exceptional results, Harlem RBI opened DREAM Charter School. DREAM’s mission is to prepare students for high-performing high schools, colleges and beyond through a rigorous academic program that develops critical thinkers who demonstrate a love of learning, strong character, and a commitment to wellness and active citizenship. DREAM inspires all students to recognize their potential and realize their dreams. Today the school serves 500 students in grades Pre-K-8.

For more information, visit www.harlemrbi.org or follow @harlemrbi on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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 EducationAd, WellnessAd, EcoAd, and Viewers to Volunteers 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, 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.

Please visit ecomediacbs.com, like us at Facebook, or follow us on Twitter. 

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.

Press Contact:

Theresa Schieber

Theresa.schieber@ecomediacbs.com

212-975-3471