Inadequate physical activity is a behavioral pattern established during youth. Many schools are forced to cut back or eliminate resources for physical education, contributing to an increased number of overweight, physically inactive students. Our goal is to help schools and educators prepare students for a lifetime of healthy activity.
Shocked by the dismal statistics on youth fitness and childhood obesity, Cindy and Bill Simon set out to address the lack of fitness resources available to students in their community. In 1998 the Simons took action by donating a state-of-the-art fitness center to their local Los Angeles high school. The popularity of their first fitness center lead them to establish the Sound Body Sound Mind Foundation as a permanent resource for physical education instructors and schools throughout the country.
In 2009, Sound Body Sound Mind expanded the program to four schools in Denver, Colorado. Lead by Denver Public Schools, the program has grown to eight schools.
In 2011, Sound Body Sound Mind expanded again, this time to Dallas, Texas, to train educators from all 211 schools in the Dallas Independent School District on the Sound Body Sound Mind Curriculum.
That same year Sound Body Sound Mind partnered with their 100th school, installing a fitness center in William and Carol Ouchi High School. This milestone enabled the Foundation to consistently impact over 100,000 students per year.
In early 2012, Sound Body Sound Mind added two new grants to the program, giving partner schools more support for extracurricular fitness activities and fitness center maintenance.
In 2015, the Sound Body Sound Mind Foundation committed a $3,000,000 pledge to establish a partnership with the UCLA Health System. Now known as UCLA Health Sound Body Sound Mind, the joint organization replicates the original program model of the Sound Body Sound Mind Foundation while taking advantage of UCLA Health's prestigious network of experts and individuals working in the Los Angeles community.
