KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- One metro neighborhood is getting help to fight obesity in elementary schools.

More than half of the elementary school children in the Rosedale area are overweight or obese, a rate ten times greater than the the federal government's Healthy People 2010 objective.

The Rosedale Ministerial Alliance Healthy Kids Initiative was awarded a two-year grant of $225,000 from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to increase access to healthy foods and to help get kids moving.

"This is a problem for us, and down the road it would be a bigger problem for the health of those children and health care of our area," said Jane Heide, with the Rosedale Ministerial Alliance.

"We want to try to get our groceries and try to get our mini-marts to have healthier food. Encourage community gardens. Get the churches to maybe have cooking classes, to teach people how to cook with the fresh fruits and vegetables. Increase sidewalks. Improve the infrastructure. Bike trails, hike trails, those kind of things. And look to get maybe a Boys and Girls Club or a Y here, because we have no rec center," said Wendy Wilson, with the Rosedale Development Association.

Rosedale will contract with the University of Kansas Medical Center to provide data and research analysis.