Onondaga County gets $1.6 million state grant for healthy schools
Onondaga County’s Health Department won $1.6 million to back school and neighborhood health work, with state funds aimed at high-need communities and student obesity prevention.
Onondaga County’s Health Department received a $1.6 million state grant to support healthy schools and public health work across the county, adding fresh money to efforts that can show up in classrooms, cafeterias and neighborhood recreation spaces.
The grant is tied to New York’s Creating Healthy Schools and Communities program, which the state says runs from 2021 to 2026. State health and agriculture officials describe CHSC as a way to reduce obesity and chronic disease risk by making healthy behavior easier, and they say grantees work in high-need communities while building implementation plans for local catchment areas that can include cities, towns, reservations and neighborhoods.
In Onondaga County, the health department’s Healthy Living program describes CHSC as a coordinated, multi-sector initiative aimed at increasing demand for, and access to, healthy, affordable foods and opportunities for daily physical activity. That framing points to work that can affect what students eat at school, how families reach healthier food options and where physical activity fits into daily routines.
Syracuse schools have already been part of that effort. On Oct. 1, 2015, state and county officials toured HW Smith Elementary School in Syracuse as part of CHSC to discuss ways to lower student obesity rates. The school visit remains one of the clearest local examples of how the initiative has been used in Onondaga County to connect public health goals with day-to-day school life.
The new award also follows another recent state-backed school health investment in the county. On May 13, 2025, Onondaga County announced that the health department had received grant funding through New York’s Regional School Food Infrastructure Grant Program, underscoring a broader push to strengthen school nutrition and health-related infrastructure in the area.
Together, the grants keep Onondaga County in line for continued state support on school health, with Syracuse classrooms and nearby neighborhoods likely to feel the earliest effects where the county has already built CHSC work around food access and student wellness.
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