Ishøj Municipality has formally accepted a 55 million kroner donation to improve health and wellbeing among local children and young people, DR reported. The donation comes from Center for Sundt Liv og Trivsel, a collaboration between the Ministry of Health and Novo Nordisk Fonden.
The donation is the result of two years of work mapping the local community's challenges, needs and resources, and the work will soon be turned into concrete efforts, says Tine Curtis, project chief at Center for Sundt Liv og Trivsel. "We have three missions, which are about promoting active communities, healthy food and food communities, as well as belonging and agency," she says.
Mayor Merete Amdisen (A) says Ishøj has a huge development potential in public health. "It is no secret that we have a huge development potential in Ishøj when we look at public health, and it is simply a huge gift to have the opportunity to raise our efforts with help from outside, both financially and with knowledge and resources," she says.
Naja Dieu, coordinator for the youth school Ishøj Ungdom, says more and more children and young people in Ishøj do not experience belonging, neither in school, leisure or in society. "Here the money can help create meaningful communities, so children and young people get a stronger sense of belonging and more agency," she says. A concrete initiative could be to create more leisure jobs for young people, or to make a "learning environment" by the water where young people can hang out.
"The foundation grant gives us the opportunity to work long-term with the well-being of young people," says Naja Dieu. The city council was in full agreement to receive the donation.