UL Lafayette’s Cecil J. Picard Center for Child Development and Lifelong learning has received the final $400,000 of a $1 million donation from the Special Children’s Foundation for research into child obesity. The center, named for the former state superintendent of education, will help the center implement individualized physical fitness reports in pilot schools through the state in an effort to reduce obesity among Louisiana’s school children.
The research and pilot program are linked to a senate bill that targets 12 pilot parishes statewide. The donation has helped the Picard Center bring in more than $34 million to UL Lafayette over the last four years. The center is currently anticipating a move into a new $7.2 million facility at UL Lafayette’s Research Park.