The Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust has awarded University of Iowa College of Public Health researchers a three-year, $750,000 grant to expand a study of health and fitness among youths in Muscatine.

The new grant will establish Choosing Healthy Actions in Muscatine Public Schools (CHAMPS), a collaboration between the university, the Muscatine Community School District and the local community to implement a health curriculum focused on educating students about physical activity, proper food intake and lowering their cardiovascular risk.

The CHAMPS program continues a relationship between the University of Iowa and Muscatine that began in 1970 with the Muscatine Heart Study, the world’s longest-running study of cardiovascular risk factors in children.