Eugene Washington with junior athletes.
Executive Vice Chancellor Eugene Washington greeted a group of 11 junior athletes and their coaches at UCSF Mission Bay on Aug. 12 in a goodwill visit focused on health and wellness.
The group represents Bay Area children who are part of Youth Movement, a program that promotes health through physical activity. Youth Movement targets African American children in an effort to curb the disproportionate death and disease that their community faces. The program is especially vital to help reverse the trend toward obesity among children in the United States.
"This problem has only recently received the attention of policy-makers, however, people in poor communities have been sounding a warning about the eroding health of our children for years," says Mark Alexander, a coach for Youth Movement. "The Bay Area is a hostile environment for young people, particularly for African American children. Many factors -such as poor access to nutritious food and recreational facilities and the lack of structured physical activity -conspire against our children's health. If we don't do a better job for young people now, the ethnic health disparities we are experiencing today will pale in comparison to those that threaten our children's future."
The visit was a reunion of sorts for Washington and Alexander, who worked for Washington in the Medical Effectiveness Research Center (MERC) for Diverse Populations. The center focuses on research aimed at improving the health of minority and underserved populations. Alexander joined the MERC faculty as its first fellow in 1993 and worked as a research associate until 2004. He is now a research scientist at Kaiser Permanente's Division of Research in Oakland.
Today, most of Alexander's public service is conducted through an organization called 100 Black Men. This group and other community organizations developed Youth Movement in 2002 to address the childhood obesity epidemic.
During their UCSF visit, the children introduced themselves to Washington and made a brief presentation about their recent success in track and field competitions at the Junior Olympics in New Orleans. One girl won a medal for finishing in seventh place in the long jump competition.
Washington then led the group around UCSF Mission Bay, where construction of the campus community center and housing complex nears completion. UCSF Mission Bay is a 43-acre campus devoted to health sciences teaching and research.
Source: Lisa Cisneros
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