Prof. Chilton Receives 2007 Claneil Foundation Award

			Asst. Professor Mariana Chilton, PhD, MPH, of the Drexel University School of Public Health, has received a 2007 Claneil Foundation Award for her work as Principal Investigator for The Philadelphia GROW Project. The Award was established “to recognize individuals whose previous success addressing the most important and challenging issues facing our country today suggests their extraordinary potential to effect meaningful change into the future.” The Award is presented as a grant in the amount of $100,000. Prof. Chilton was cited in particular for the GROW Project's attention to core priorities of the Foundation: hunger and nutrition, and access to health care.

The Philadelphia GROW Project was inaugurated in 2004 with an original grant from the Claneil Foundation. Its mission is to partner with families to improve the growth and nutrition of their children, prevent hunger and food insecurity, and promote the health of Philadelphians. The Project consists of three interrelated endeavors:

1) The GROW Clinic: a clinic at St. Christopher's Hospital for children with failure to thrive.

2) Policy Relevant Research: Children's Sentinel Nutrition Assessment Program (C-SNAP)—Philadelphia, a multi-site research endeavor that carries out evidence-based policy relevant research to track the well-being of children in relation to pubic assistance programs.

3) Local and National Advocacy: The Philadelphia GROW Project works in tandem with the C-SNAP team regarding national advocacy. In Southeastern Pennsylvania, it works with families to provide individualized advocacy, while at the same time translating findings from The GROW Clinic and C-SNAP Philadelphia into local reports for legislators and anti-hunger advocates.

Dr. Chilton’s previous accomplishments in 2007 include:

• addressing the Annual Legislative Conference of the Black Caucus Foundation in September on the link between hunger and poverty;
• addressing the US Senate Agriculture Committee (in relation to reauthorization of the Farm Bill) in April on the topic of ensuring children’s health by strengthening the Food Stamp program, and providing testimony to the US House of Representatives Agriculture Committee in March.
• citation by the Philadelphia Business Journal as one of the Philadelphia region’s top "40 Under 40" professionals;
• leading a team of officials from the Drexel School of Public Health and the GROW Project to the Pennsylvania stage capitol of Harrisburg in January, to provide advice to Governor Ed Rendell’s Inter-Agency Council on Food and Nutrition on the most important actions the state should take to improve access to food and develop a four year plan to end hunger in Pennsylvania.