Five Cities Across the U.S. Named Winners in the Degree® Deodorant "Made To Move" Grant Program

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J., Sept. 18, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Degree Deodorant announced the five winners in the brand's first "Made To Move" grant program, a national competition that will dedicate $500,000 dollars in funding for city projects that encourage healthy, active lifestyles. Brought together by Degree and Blue Zones, global experts in community health and well-being transformation, the program supports Degree's larger mission of bringing movement opportunities, events and resources to the masses.

Standing out among projects from 47 applicants representing 28 states across the U.S.,² winning projects – from Hartford, Connecticut; Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Jersey City, New Jersey; Chattanooga, Tennessee and Richardson, Texas – showcase passion and commitment to increasing opportunities for activity in their communities. These five winning cities are pushing to improve their communities' health and wellbeing with proposed improvements to create more movement-friendly environments for all ages, incomes and abilities.

Projects address today's increased need for simple, safe opportunities for natural movement, including trails, streets crossings, safe bikeways and enhanced public spaces. For example, Jersey City is aiming to eliminate traffic-related deaths and serious injuries on city streets by 2026 with its Vision Zero initiative. Through the "Made To Move" grant program, Jersey City will receive funding from Degree and technical assistance from Blue Zones' environment experts to advance this mission. The funds will help create long-lasting infrastructure solutions and provide additional support for relevant policies, for Jersey City as well as the other four winning cities. Planning and community events will roll out in fall 2019, with on the ground projects extending into 2020.

"Each of these cities answered the call to encourage more movement and physical health in their communities in an inspiring, impactful way," said Dawn Hedgepeth, vice president of Unilever Deodorants. "From improving trails to bike lanes, these winning communities are committed to creating environments that provide opportunities for a more active lifestyle."

Degree partnered with Blue Zones earlier this year to launch the "Made To Move" grant program to utilize the organization's fifteen years of global expertise and research in life longevity and wellness, emphasizing their findings on increased natural movement.  As the global leader in deodorant³ with antiperspirants activated directly by movement to keep users fresher longer, Degree believes this partnership will inspire and influence communities beyond the five winning cities to work towards increased health and well-being.

Degree "Made To Move" Grant Winners:

1. Hartford, Connecticut
   Sandy Fry, Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator, City of Hartford
   This project will create the state's first ever bike boulevards to provide safe, low-speed facilities comfortable for riders of all ages and abilities. The boulevards will also provide traffic calming benefits and will offer other Connecticut communities a model for transforming their own city plans.
2. Fort Lauderdale, Florida
   Josette Severyn, Vision Zero Coordinator, Transportation and Mobility Department, City of Fort Lauderdale
   This grant will enhance accessibility and connections to the Flagler Greenway in a designated Transportation Equity Zone with bike and micro-mobility parking, adding safer recreation-based and utilitarian-based transportation opportunities. These changes will transform the infrastructure into a comfortable and inviting experience for all ages, abilities, and modes of transportation.
3. Jersey City, New Jersey
   Barkha Patel, Senior Transportation Planner, Jersey City
   Through the construction of a pavement-to-park project aligned with the City's ongoing Vision Zero initiative to eliminate traffic-related death and serious injuries, the grant will support city-wide outreach highlighting the importance of active transportation, as well as create long-lasting city solutions for commuters.
4. Chattanooga, Tennessee
   Lindsey Willke, Chattanooga Design Studio
   In the past five years, Chattanooga completed a three-mile extension of a river walk and completed two-way street conversions connecting key urban neighborhoods to the river, helping calm traffic and provide a safer pedestrian experience. This grant will address much-needed street modifications focusing on the safe experience of people using and moving through these spaces identified by Chattanooga Design Studio's recent "Public Realm Action Plan."
5. Richardson, Texas
   Daniel Herrig, Transportation Engineer, City of Richardson
   The Greenville Avenue road diet will remove driving lanes and add bicycle lanes and a pedestrian crossing to better integrate the light-rail station with the planned Innovation District. This project will help calm traffic and benefit active transportation in the community.

To learn more about Degree's mission of movement and the winning cities, visit degreedeodorant.com/us/en/purpose.html or bluezones.com/made-to-move/. Follow Degree's journey as we highlight the progress of these projects on social media at @Degree.

Contact:
Meg Carroll at Weber Shandwick
212.445.8101
[email protected]

About Blue Zones, LLC
Blue Zones employs evidence-based ways to help people live longer, better. The company's work is rooted in explorations done by Dan Buettner, a National Geographic Fellow and New York Times best-selling author who identified five cultures of the world—or blue zones regions —with the highest concentration of people living to 100 years or older.

The original research and findings were released in the bestselling books The Blue Zones Solution, The Blue Zones of Happiness, The Blue Zones, and Thrive. Using original Blue Zones research, Blue Zones Project® works with cities to make healthy choices easier through permanent changes to a city's environment, policy, and social networks.

Participating communities have experienced double-digit drops in obesity and tobacco use and have saved millions of dollars in healthcare costs. Currently, 48 communities in eleven states have joined Blue Zones Project, impacting more than 3.3 million Americans nationwide. For more information, visit BlueZones.com.

About Unilever United States
Unilever is one of the world's leading suppliers of Beauty & Personal Care, Home Care, and Foods & Refreshment products with sales in over 190 countries and reaching 2.5 billion consumers a day. In the United States and Canada, the portfolio includes brand icons such as: Axe, Ben & Jerry's, Breyers, Degree, Dollar Shave Club, Dove, Hellmann's, Klondike, Knorr, Lever 2000, Lipton, Love Beauty and Planet, Magnum, Nexxus, Noxzema, Pond's, Popsicle, Pure Leaf, Q-tips, Seventh Generation, Simple, Sir Kensington's, St. Ives, Suave, Talenti Gelato & Sorbetto, TAZO, TIGI, TRESemmé and Vaseline. All of the preceding brand names are trademarks or registered trademarks of the Unilever Group of Companies.

Unilever's Sustainable Living Plan (USLP) underpins the company's strategy and commits to:

• Helping more than a billion people take action to improve their health and well-being by 2020.
• Halving the environmental impact of our products by 2030.
• Enhancing the livelihoods of millions of people by 2020.

The USLP creates value by driving growth and trust, eliminating costs and reducing risks. In 2018, the company's Sustainable Living Brands grew 69% faster than the rest of the business, compared to 46% in 2017.

Since 2010 we have been taking action through the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan to help more than a billion people improve their health and well-being, halve our environmental footprint and enhance the livelihoods of millions of people as we grow our business. We have already made significant progress and continue to expand our ambition – most recently committing to ensure 100% of our plastic packaging is fully reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025. While there is still more to do, we are proud to have been recognized in 2018 as sector leader in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and as the top ranked company in the GlobeScan/SustainAbility Global Corporate Sustainability Leaders survey, for the eighth-consecutive year. 

For more information on Unilever U.S. and its brands visit: www.unileverusa.com

For more information on the USLP: www.unilever.com/sustainable-living/  

¹ Source: Based on Nielsen unit sales information for the total markets (latest 12 months). 
² Source: Winning cities were selected by Blue Zones and Degree based on which cities best met the selection criteria included within the program application.
³ Source: Based on Nielsen unit sales information for the total markets (latest 12 months). 

SOURCE Degree