The Healthy Eating Active Living Collaborative of the Gold Country Region funds mini-grants for short-term projects which address childhood obesity, food security, physical activity, or increased fruit and vegetable consumption for low-income populations in the following California counties: Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, El Dorado, Mono, Placer, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Solano, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tuolumne, Yolo, and Yuba counties.

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2011-2012 Grant Recipients:

The following innovative and educational programs funded by the 2011-2012 HEAL Mini-Grants are underway:

Project Name: Harvest of the Month for Parents and Children
Grant Awarded to: Robert Semple Child Care Development and State Preschool Program (Solano County)
Goal: To provide nutrition education promoting fruits, vegetables and PA to approximately 60 low-income families at 3 preschools.  Classes include how to prep healthy meals, taste testing and healthy beverage options taught during 6 sessions of 6 weekly classes over a 9 month period.

Project Name: ReThink Your Drink
Grant Awarded to: Child Start Inc. (Solano County)
Goal:  Provide nutrition education training to approx 10 Head Start and Early Head Start teachers to enable them to provide nutrition education, food demonstrations, and taste testings to parents and children.  Topics will include: healthy meals, snacks, and beverages as per the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.  The teachers will then engage 120 parents and 700 children at 5 Head Start and 3 Early Head Start locations during 25 meetings over a 9 month period.  (Supplantation will be avoided by ensuring Network funding augments existing Head Start and Early Head Start nutrition education efforts and requirements).

Project Name: Solano County Family Child Care Provider Nutrition Education Symposium
Grant Awarded to: Solano County Licensed Family Child Care Association (Solano County)
Goal: To train approx 120 Child Care Providers on how to provide nutrition education to low-income, SNAP-Ed families.  Topics will include: preparing healthy meals, selection and preparation of fruits and vegetables, inclusive of taste-testing, food demonstrations and making healthy beverage choices.  Funding will provide for 3 train-the-trainer seminars using Network nutrition education materials.  The association will conduct a follow-up survey to determine activities implemented.

Project Name: Health Moms, Healthy Kids
Grant Awarded to: Planned Parenthood Shasta Pacific (Solano County)
Goal: To improve the health of teen Cal-Works Program clients and their children by increasing the teen clients’ awareness of the importance of nutrition and PA in their lives through 3 sessions of 8 weekly classes over a 6 month period.  Activities will include cooking demonstrations and taste testing of fruits and vegetables.

Project Name: Willow Clinic Nutrition Education Program
Grant Awarded to: Willow Clinic (Sacramento County)
Goal: Educate approx 370 homeless families on how to prepare nutritious foods with limited resources, provide brief Food Stamp Outreach and Restaurant Meals Program promotion, and promote ideas on how to eat nutritiously on a limited budget to include making healthy food and beverage choices during 3 series of 3 weekly 1 hour lessons over a 4-month period.

Project Name: 90-Day Healthy Living Challenge
Grant Awarded to: Dr. Ephraim Williams Family Life Center (Sacramento County)
Goal: Engage approx 400 families on eating healthy and being active through four 2-hour lessons over a four week period in support of a 90-day Healthy Living Challenge.  Nutrition education will focus on the benefits of fruits and vegetables and PA promotion and include food demonstrations and taste testings of healthy meals, snacks and beverages.

Project Name: Youth Chefs
Grant Awarded to: Alchemist Community Development corporation Agency (Sacramento County)
Goal: Train 4 youth chefs on purchasing and preparing fruits and vegetables, choosing healthy drink options, and promoting a healthy community.  These youth instructors will, in turn, engage and education 360 low-income residents through 17 cooking demonstration events over a 12 month period.  Events will take place at a new qualifying healthy food outlet and offer nutrition education and taste testings.  All food handling requirement and related codes will be followed.

Project Name:  Yuba County School Family Nutrition Education
Grant Awarded to: Camptonville Community Partnership (Yuba County)
Goal: Engage and provide nutrition education to low-income students and their families at 27 qualifying schools (approx 12,500 low-income students and their families) during 3 workshops and approx 6 school meetings.  Topics will focus on increased consumption of fruits and vegetables, promoting healthy weight, healthy communities, PA promotion, and healthy beverages.  Students and families will also learn how to advocate on their own behalf for access to healthy foods and PA.
 
Project Name: Families Fit Together
Grant Awarded to: Yuba City Unified School District (Yuba County)
Goal: Trained youth leaders will engage and educate approx. 500 low-income community members on eating healthy, being active, healthy beverage options, and cooking healthy meals through nutrition education offered at a total of 16, 1-hour weekly meetings held at a food pantry and WIC clinic.  Additionally, community members will be educated on how to advocate on their own behalf for access to healthy foods and PA.  WIC-based activities will complement and enhance existing WIC nutrition education activities and not supplant.

Project Name: Eat for a Change
Grant Awarded to: West Sacramento Youth Resource Coalition (Yolo County)
Goal: Trained youth leaders will engage and educate approx. 500 low-income community members on eating healthy, being active, healthy beverage options, and cooking healthy meals through nutrition education offered at a total of 16, 1-hour weekly meetings held at a food pantry and WIC clinic.  Additionally, community members will be educated on how to advocate on their own behalf for access to healthy foods and PA.  WIC-based activities will complement and enhance existing WIC nutrition education activities and not supplant.

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    2010-2011 Grant Recipients:

Project Name: Linda Community Market
Grant Awarded to: GraceSource Inc. (Yuba County)
Goal: The Linda Community Market will provide a source of low cost healthy foods and free nutrition education to families in the community of Linda through a local farmers and community market.

Project Name: Demonstration Kitchen/Nutrition Education
Grant Awarded to: Food Bank of Yolo County (Yolo County)
Goal: Provide a minimum of 10 cooking classes with emphasis on nutrition education to 110 Yolo County residents.

Project Name: Healthy Choices
Grant Awarded to: Luther Burbank High School (Sacramento County)
Goal: Improve the health of the Community by focusing on a targeted group of students with healthy eating.

Project Name: Encouraging Healthy Living Project
Grant Awarded to: NAMI EDC-Western Slope (El Dorado County)
Goal: To provide education, awareness, and exercise opportunities to low income individuals who are interested in eating more fruits or vegetables.

Project Name: Healthy Cooking with Families & Tasting Classes for Preschoolers Nutrition Education Program
Grant Awarded to: Robert Semple Child Care Development and State Preschool Program (Solano County)
Goal: To promote a healthier school environment to improve student and family nutrition

Project Name: Promoting Healthy Eating at Twin Rivers USD
Grant Awarded to: Twin Rivers Unified School District (Sacramento County)
Goal: To promote healthy eating and meal planning practices among TRUSD parents via educational information classes and interactive workshops. Likewise, the project aims to provide information about the value of physical activity.

Project Name: Growing Together: Mentoring Youth to Create Healthy Communities
Grant Awarded to: Alchemist Community Development corporation Agency (Sacramento County)
Goal: Oak Park youth will become leaders in promoting healthy eating and living to others in their community through the help of Family and Community Medicine resident physicians and Alchemist CDC. Sacramento Food Bank clients will learn healthy eating and living habits through being engaged in activities carried out by youth advocates.

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    2009-2010 Grant Recipients:

Project Name: Healthy Lifestyles Parent Workshops
Grant Awarded to:  Sacramento City Unified School District, Sacramento County

Goal: Parent and teacher education through a series of workshops on container gardening, cooking classes and nutrition/physical activity topics

Project Name: North Avenue School and Community Garden Project
Grant Awarded to: North Avenue Elementary School, Twin Rivers USD, Sacramento County

Goal: Community garden nutrition education project for students, parents, staff of North Avenue School and the general community

Project Name: Generation 242 Healthy Living Green Team
Grant Awarded to: City Church, Solano County

Goal: An ESL nutrition program run by a Youth, peer-to-peer mentoring campaign that will include nutrition education as well as social marketing

Project Name: "Learn More, Eat More" Fruits and Vegetables
Grant Awarded to: Child Start, Inc., Napa, CA

Goal: Nutrition education with an emphasis on the importance fruit and vegetable consumption to Head Start Families

Project Name: 2B Successful Youth Promotes Community Health
Grant Awarded to: 2B Successful Youth, Solano County

Goal: Create a neighborhood-wide awareness and best nutritional practice program that encourages behavioral changes; Led by teen youth and their senior mentors

Project Name: Woodland Community Garden and Nutrition Education Program
Grant Awarded to: Tuleyome, Yolo County

Goal: Nutrition education classes to Head Start Families focused on different aspects of gardening and healthy eating in order to promote healthy minds and bodies, and increased connectivity to the wider natural world

Project Name: Public Access to Health
Grant Awarded to: Families In Self Help (FISH) inc., Yolo County

Goal: Provide access to health education practices through exercise & nutrition education tied into gardening  at three convenient sites

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    2008-2009 Grant Recipients:

Project Name:Cooking Ethnic Nutritious Foods and Playing Ethnic Games
Grant Awarded to:Yolo Family Resource Center, Yolo County, CA.

Goal: To promote, engage and educate through culturally appropriate Promatora-style education sessions to low-income Latino women on the need to increase daily consumption of fruits and vegetables and daily physical activity to avoid health risks and obesity, who will in turn conduct a series of classes to local children and families.

Project Name:Stanislaus County Obesity Prevention Education (SCOPE)
Grant Awarded to:Prevention Programs, SCOE, Stanislaus County, CA

Goal: To conduct eight educational sessions on nutrition and fitness information at a local Healthy Start center.The sessions are designed to help the adult participants lead healthier, more fulfilling lives and pass that legacy on to their children.

Project Name:Mini Farmers Market Project
Grant Awarded to:Yolo County Health Department, Yolo County, CA

Goal: To expand current nutrition curriculum by providing on-site mini farmers markets at two locations, providing nutrition education and promoting the purchase and use of low-cost fruits and vegetables sampled.

Project Name:Nutrition's Rainbow
Grant Awarded to:Organic Sacramento, Sacramento, CA

Goal: Using existing nutrition education materials and featuring taste testing to engage and educate low-income children and their parents on the importance of eating a variety of colorful fruits and vegetables, available locations of low-cost local fruits and vegetables, and how eating a healthy diet supports healthy lifestyles.

Project Name:Urban Farm Stand Nutrition Education
Grant Awarded to: Sacramento Mutual Housing Association, Sacramento County, CA

Goal: To provide nutrition education classes that will include the components of a healthy meal, importance of eating fruits and vegetables and taste testing in low-income neighborhoods as part of the organizations larger Urban Farm Stand Program.

Project Name:CHEF (Cultivate, Harvest, Educate, & Feed) Sustainable Nutrition Education
Grant Awarded to:Freedom Farms, Sacramento, CA

Goal: To engage and educate on self-sufficient healthy lifestyle practices through three Community Nutrition Education events, two Train the Trainer workshops for students from FSNE eligible schools to be introduced to the green collar model, 15 in-home garden nutrition education classes, and by promoting ideas on increasing access to healthy foods as a new, sustainable approach to increase nutrition education.

Project Name:Eating Right, Naturally!
Grant Awarded to:O.W. Erlewine Elementary School, Sacramento City USD

Goal: Facilitate nutrition education classes to families in low-income Sacramento Neighborhoods to promote lifelong behavior changes to include increased consumption of fruits and vegetables and how to cook healthy meals.

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        2005-2006 Grant Recipients:

Project Name: School Garden Fruits and Vegetables Program at Alice Birney Elementary School
Grant Awarded to: Alice Birney PTA Sacramento, CA.

Goal: To educate Food Stamp Nutrition Education Eligible (FSNE) elementary students on the need to increase daily consumption of fruits and vegetables and how to increase consumption by providing garden based nutrition education utilizing an on-site garden and demonstrating creative ways to cook and prepare fruits and vegetables.

Project Name: Youth Task Force for Healthy Eating
Grant Awarded to: California Center for Civic Partnerships Sacramento, CA

Goal: Teen youth from qualifying High Schools will receive nutrition education promoting fruit and vegetable intake and physical activity promotion, as well as encourage them to pursue positive nutrition systems and environmental change.

Project Name: Nutrition Education and Physical Activity Promotion at Food Closet Garden
Grant Awarded to: Sierra Arden Neighborhood Food Closet Sacramento, CA

Goal: Facilitate nutrition Education and physical activity promotion classes to Food Stamp Nutrition Education (FSNE) eligible families to promote life-long behavior changes to include increased consumption of fruits and vegetables and increase physical activity. Activities include on-site garden based nutrition education.

Project Name: Farmers Market Nutrition Education
Grant Awarded to: Sacramento County Farm Bureau Sacramento, CA

Goal: Conduct two nutrition education events that will provide nutrition education to Food Stamp Nutrition Education Eligible (FSNE) elementary students, by introducing a wide variety of produce, taste testing fresh fruits and vegetables, and educating on the importance of eating a wide variety of fruits and vegetables every day.

Project Name: Peer to Peer Cooking and Nutrition Education
Grant Awarded to: Grant High School's Environmental Organization (GEO) program- Grant Unified School District - Sacramento, CA

Goal: Provide specialized peer to peer training in nutrition education to Food stamp Nutrition Eligible (FSNE) 10th-13th grade students, to include the importance of eating fruits and vegetables. Following the completion of this training, these high school students will provide nutrition education to 4-6th grade students in qualifying schools.

Project Name: Baby Buddies Healthy Lifestyles
Grant Awarded to: Harmony Health Family Resource Center Marysville, CA

Goal: to educate Food Stamp Nutrition Education Eligible, Spanish speaking teen moms about the benefits of eating fresh fruits and vegetables, how to cook healthy meals, and strategies for improving availability of produce in their local stores.

Project Name: Take Care of Your Health: A Community Based Program to Reduce the Risk of Obesity
Grant Awarded to: the Regents of the University of California, Cooperative Extension- Sacramento Branch Sacramento, CA

Goal: Facilitate nutrition education classes to families in Low-income Sacramento Neighborhoods to promote lifelong behavior changes to include increased consumption of fruits and vegetables and how to cook healthy meals.

Project Name: We are Family- Family Nutrition Workshops and Interventions
Grant Awarded to: Woodland Joint Unified School District- First 5 School Readiness Program

Goal: Facilitate nutrition education classes to Food Stamp Nutrition Eligible Families with

children at the after-school program and at parent events in order to promote life-long behavior changes to include increased consumption of fruits and vegetables and how to cook healthy meals.

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Successful Outcomes of 2004-2005 Mini-Grant Funded Projects!

The six projects funded through the HEAL Mini-Grants awarded earlier during the previous grant year had a variety of valuable experiences and successful outcomes. These projects were all unique and served our target populations well. A few of the highlights of these projects were:

Soil Born Farm Urban Agricultural Project used their grant award to focus on connecting food, health and the environment by creating garden-based core curriculum and associated activities focused on healthy eating and physical activity for students at Jonas Salk Middle School. Soil Born conducted their work through piloting experimental field trips to Soil Born Farm, creating a hands-on living laboratory and nutrition education site. The outcome of this innovative program has additionally substantiated being awarded additional program funding for these activities through Kaiser Permanente that will begin in November of 2005.

The Sierra Arden Neighborhood Food Closet focused on educating and actively involving as many Food Closet members as possible in an edible landscaping ("Garden of Eatin") nutrition education project as well as established means to improve food insecurity. The primary objectives of the project were to use community experts to help integrate nutrition education into an edible landscaping project with the involvement of the people who use the services at the Sierra Arden Neighborhood Food Closet. The "Garden of Eatin" is currently thriving, including an herb garden and citrus trees, and the winter garden plantings are nearly complete.

Will Rogers Middle School used their grant award to educate students on how to make healthy decisions when eating meals and snacks. The objectives of this project were to teach the New Food Guide Pyramid, teach students the importance of physical activity, empower students to make healthy choices, increase their knowledge of food preparation, and increase awareness of disease prevention and physical impact of a healthy lifestyle. The students learned how to make healthy snacks and worked with food services to create healthier school lunches and snacks. The results from the culminating activities showed that the students' knowledge of all objectives was remarkably greater.

Robla Unified School District's grant award helped them to standardize recipes in all schools, complete nutritional analysis of 42 meals, and provide staff development on nutrition to their food service staff. They contracted with a Dietitian to provide specific NutraKids implementation training, worked with food services staff to standardize recipes, and provided staff development on nutritional standards to their food service staff. Additionally, they are continuing to create daily menus based upon the food ingredients and recipes as they are analyzed.

Community Partnerships for Families focused their grant project on increasing awareness of the importance of maintaining wellness by promoting healthy eating habits and regular physical exercise through a social marketing campaign and community education activities. The target population was families in the San Joaquin County Housing Authority Projects. Over 400 families were served with social marketing messages through information at local community/ housing project events and flyer distribution. The most important change that happened from this effort was the attitude and commitment of residents in the housing project to making changes to improve their wellness.

Rainbow Vogt & Patrick Proctor used their grant award to pilot a web-directory of farms found near schools from low-income districts in the Gold Country Region. One of the main goals of the project was to pilot a web directory that connects Food Service Directors with local growers who have the ability to sell produce to local schools. The website (http://www.localproducelink.com/) provides an interactive map to access info about local farmers. They plan to continue their current efforts which include enhancing and expanding the database in order to assist in improved environmental changes that include increasing access to healthy fruits and vegetables.

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Let's give all of these projects a round of applause!! If you have any questions pertaining to these projects, please contact Dana Fields Johnson, Coordinator HEAL Collaborative: 916.556.3344