When sufficient funding is available, the Northcoast Nutrition & Fitness Collaborative, in conjunction with the Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services-Public Health Branch, seeks applications from organizations interested in increasing fruit and vegetable consumption, physical activity, and access to healthy food among Food Stamp eligible populations (at or below 185% of the FPL) in Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino, Lake, Napa, and Sonoma Counties. The Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services serves as the fiscal agent and provides mini-grants in the range of $500 to $5,000 to successful applicants.

Projects must provide education to improve nutrition, fitness and/or access to healthy food for Food Stamp eligible North Coast residents. All projects must include a direct nutrition education component. Agencies who do not receive Network for a Healthy California funds will receive priority.

Applications can be downloaded from the website here or can be obtained by contacting Kelley Kyle at kkyle@co.humboldt.ca.us or (707) 441-5080. Applications should be submitted by e-mail.

Check out project summaries of past mini-grant awardees:

• January 2008
• January 2007
• June 2006
• September 2005

In the winter of 2008, the Northcoast Nutrition and Fitness Collaborative awarded mini-grants to four organizations within our region. Below is a summary of the awardees and their funded projects.

Arcata House has been providing services to homeless families and individuals in Humboldt County for over 15 years. Arcata House offers shelter to clients while they save money for permanent housing and work on the challenges that led to their being homeless.

With this project, Arcata House staff will incorporate nutrition education into its existing life skills education program. This will include how to shop and get the best value for food stamps and WIC coupons, how to incorporate fresh (and perhaps unfamiliar) produce into meals, how to cook basic nutritional foods (with tasting demonstrations), alternatives to fast foods, introduction to basic kitchen equipment and other topics related to encouraging families to eat healthier foods and teach their children good eating habits. Approximately 75 families will be reached.

Formed in 1993, Family Action is a collaborative of child-serving organizations working to improve the lives of children and their families. Family Action works to build communities that support healthy children.

This project will reach approximately 30 Latina girls ages 13 to 16 living in Southwest Santa Rosa. Four different groups of girls will participate in a series of four cooking classes. Existing recipes and materials that are culturally appropriate, low-cost and easy to prepare will be used. The classes will increase the girls’ knowledge of how important healthy eating is, and give them skills to properly prepare meals. Because many of them are responsible for preparing family meals while their parents work, the increase in their knowledge and skills will positively impact the health of their families.

The Community Assistance Network (CAN) provides a diverse array of human services programs in Del Norte County, including food banking, clothes banking, job training, temporary emergency housing, child abuse prevention programs, nutrition education and referral.

To increase the availability and consumption of fresh produce by the low-income population of Del Norte County, CAN will hold a kick-off event at the community garden site. Monthly nutrition training sessions at the food pantry will follow during the spring and summer planting/harvesting seasons. Demonstrations and instruction regarding both gardening skills and the nutritional and health benefits associated with gardening will be included. Approximately 600 individuals are estimated to attend the kick-off event, with approximately 60 attending the follow-up sessions.

MCSD’s Recreation Program provides nutrition education, garden education, and physical activity opportunities for community members of all ages. They have been collaborating with the California Department of Health Services, Cancer Prevention & Nutrition Section for the past eight years.

MCSD will facilitate a series of twelve culturally appropriate nutrition education and one-time only physical activity opportunities to promote the consumption of fruits and vegetables and physical activity to low income residents. The classes will cover a variety of ways to prepare and cook fruits and vegetables, in conjunction with existing local school garden efforts and the Center’s on-site garden.

In the winter of 2007, the Northcoast Nutrition and Fitness Collaborative awarded mini-grants to three organizations within our region. Below is a summary of the awardees and their funded projects.

The HSSCP is a collaboration of 16 Family Resource Center (FRC) programs spread throughout Humboldt County, directly serving over 3,000 children and their families. Food For People, the local food bank, has conducted nutrition outreach programs for many years and is a partner and fiscal sponsor for this project.

The goal of this project is to improve the awareness and adoption of healthy eating and physical activity levels by families served at Family Resource Centers. Thirteen FRC sites will choose a nutrition education activity and integrate it into activities and events tailored to the specific needs of that site. Activities will include: presentations and demonstrations at family nights, community dinners, and nutrition fairs, workshops, and after-school and summer snack and nutrition activity modules. This project will foster an ongoing relationship between Food for People and HSSCP in order to integrate FRCs into the foodbank’s ongoing outreach and education efforts.

HCAR has been serving people with developmental disabilities for over 50 years. Their community based day programs offer adults with developmental disabilities choices that include paid and/or volunteer work, life skills, social activities, and adult education.

HCAR Food and Nutrition Program will reach approximately 150 adults. The primary objective is to promote better food choices for snacks and meals, increased consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables and increased exercise. The activities offered will be tailored to address age, learning style, needs, and interests of each individual. Some of the activities will include shopping and cooking demonstrations, hands-on practice selecting foods and preparing them, use of adaptive cooking equipment for people with limited muscle control, guest speakers, and field trips.

First 5 Mendocino is part of a statewide effort to promote the healthy development of children prenatal to five years of age. They play a key leadership role in community initiatives as well as distributing funds to local organizations.

"Shop So You Don’t Drop" is a combination nutrition education program and physical activity support group that runs for four consecutive weeks and will involve 30 families. The program will run three sessions, each tailored for a different ethnicity - Native Americans, Spanish speaking Hispanics, and English speaking non-Native American. Topics covered in the program include making healthy food choices, physical activity and access to safe play areas, budgeting with food stamps/WIC vouchers, and preparation of simple, healthy foods.

In the spring of 2006, the Northcoast Nutrition and Fitness Collaborative awarded mini-grants to five organizations within our region. Below is a summary of the awardees and their funded projects.

MCSD’s Recreation Program provides nutrition education, garden education, and physical activity opportunities for community members of all ages. They have been collaborating with the California Department of Health Services, Cancer Prevention & Nutrition Section for the past seven years.

This mini-grant will provide funding for a series of twelve cooking activities coupled with a one time physical activity opportunity targeting low-income food stamp eligible community members. The nutrition education provided will include a variety of preparation and cooking methods focusing on the use of fruits, vegetables, and grains. The importance of consuming more vegetables and including thirty minutes of activity each day will be stressed.

The HSSCP is a collaboration of 16 Family Resource Center (FRC) programs spread throughout Humboldt County, directly serving over 3,000 children and their families. Food For People, the local food bank, is a partner and fiscal sponsor for this project.

The goal of this project is to improve the awareness and adoption of healthy eating and physical activity levels by families served at Family Resource Centers. Thirteen FRC sites will choose a nutrition education activity and integrate it into activities and events tailored to the specific needs of that site. Activities will include: presentations and demonstrations at family nights and nutrition fairs, workshops, and after-school and summer snack and nutrition activity modules. This project will foster an ongoing relationship between Food For People and HSSCP in order to integrate FRCs into the foodbank’s ongoing outreach and education efforts.

The Boys and Girls Club of the Redwoods serve youth ages 6-12 in Eureka, Klamath and Crescent City offering social, emotional, recreational, educational and leadership opportunities. All of the sites have staff experienced in nutrition education. Two of the sites have full kitchens. There are onsite gardens at two sites. The third site can access a community garden during the summer months.

This mini-grant will focus on improving nutrition through education of FSNE eligible club members and their families about healthy food choices and the benefits of physical activity. Education will include the importance of fruit and vegetable consumption, how to shop and prepare them and how to incorporate them into traditional native foods. Activities will include family fieldtrips to supermarkets to identify healthy foods, food tastings, teaching kids cooking techniques, and identifying healthy, quick meal and snack alternatives.

The Multiple Assistance Center is a transitional living program for individuals and families. Life skills classes are provided as a way to encourage and support residents as they move toward self-sufficiency.

Mission Nutrition will educate MAC residents about the importance of good nutrition incorporating food demonstrations from the Five a Day program and the Lightening Meals video series. The children’s program will also include nutrition education with special weekly activities. Five a Day curriculum materials will be displayed and used in the classroom on a daily basis.

For the past year, the Round Valley Unified School District has provided 350 grammar school students and 130 high school students with the Garden Enhanced Nutrition Education class. This weekly class included the establishment of a garden plot and weekly nutrition education sessions. Program development has been supported by the generosity of the students, families, staff, local farmers, and other community members who have contributed time, supplies, services, and equipment.

Funding from this mini-grant will be used for a summer session of nutrition education and hands-on garden activities. Education on the health benefits of eating fresh produce and being more physically active, garden-based nutrition education, and incorporation of food and nutrition information into classroom lessons will be offered to FSNE eligible students, parents and school staff.

The Northcoast Nutrition and Fitness Collaborative recently awarded mini-grants to four organizations within our region. Below is a summary of the awardees and their funded projects.

KEET-TV has provided the North Coast community with television programming and community outreach for over 35 years and has recently worked with Humboldt County Public Health to produce educational videos featuring healthy cooking segments targeted to the low-income population.

This mini-grant will provide funding for the Healthy Snack portion of the HomeWork Hotline series. The Healthy Snack segment will be a two to four minute video that will demonstrate healthy recipes using fruits and vegetables and preparation tips, as well as fun physical activity suggestions that will appeal to the target audience of 8-18 year olds. Teens from qualifying schools (>50% free and reduced price school meals) will be identified to participate in each segment. KEET and the teens will work with a Public Health Nutritionist on recipe development and exercise selections. The segments will be compiled onto a DVD that will be used in qualifying schools and associated Family Resource Centers in the north coast region.

Lake County Office of Education has administered Healthy Start for over 10 years and is currently working in 16 school sites assisting low-income families in accessing community resources.

This grant will allow Healthy Start to partner with Konocti Unified School District to provide nutrition education workshops, fruit and vegetable food demonstrations and taste tests to qualifying schools (>50% free and reduced price school meals). Nutrition messages will include the importance of increasing consumption of fruits and vegetables, how to manage a food budget to include more produce, and food preparation and safety. These nutrition lessons will be conducted with both students and parents at several qualifying elementary and middle schools.

The Family Resource Centers of Southern Humboldt Unified School District (SHUSD) have a long history of providing nutrition education for low-income children and families. SHUSD has a Nutrition Committee which supports this work and Family Support Workers are capable of carrying out ongoing work in the area of nutrition education.

This mini-grant will enable SHUSD to implement a nutrition education program that will begin with assessments regarding the accessibility of fresh produce in each school and specific gaps in nutrition education knowledge that need to be addressed. Next, using the results of the assessment to guide program development, staff will be trained in providing nutrition education. These trained Family Support Workers will then conduct nutrition education lessons accompanied by food tastings and recipe demonstrations to low-income children at four elementary schools. Lessons will take place at schools with >50% FRPM in the classrooms, at lunchtime and after- school programs. Nutrition education will also be included in parent workshops for these same schools.

The Ukiah Community Center and Food Bank has provided services to Mendocino County for 34 years. They provide direct food distribution from their Ukiah location as well as serving eight satellite locations in other Mendocino County locations. They are a Second Harvest affiliate. Currently 8-10 pantries within Mendocino County are being organized and set up by the Ukiah Community Center and Food Bank.

The mini-grant awarded to them will provide funding to train staff members in nutrition education. Staff will then provide nutrition education to clients as well as add a nutrition education component to the Life Skills programs.