photo by: Kevin Anderson/Journal-World File Photo

The Lawrence-Douglas County health department's home at the Community Health Facility, 200 Maine St., is pictured in this file photo from July 2010.

Baldwin City Junior High has received nearly $30,000 in grant funding to purchase bicycles, gear and curriculum materials to teach youths how to safely ride a bike, thanks to a partnership between Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health and LiveWell Douglas County.

According to a release from the health department, the $29,155 grant is through Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas. LiveWell, a volunteer-led coalition focused on community health and wellness, partners with community organizations like the health department to disburse grant dollars from a Pathways to a Healthy Kansas award.

The biking curriculum, “Be Active Safe Routes,” was developed by local educators and volunteers and supported by the health department through the Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s Chronic Disease Risk Reduction Grant. Elsewhere in Douglas County, the curriculum is currently used at Lawrence elementary and middle schools.

“We are thrilled to receive this grant and are so grateful to Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health and LiveWell for their assistance,” Baldwin City Junior High Principal Derek Bland said in the release. “With the funds from this grant, our school will be able to start a biking program in our P.E. classes. We hope that this will lead to a lifetime passion for biking, which is healthy for both the body and the mind.”