Responsive Grants Program Success Stories
Rural Innovations in Social Economics — RISE Inc.
RISE Inc. is Building Sustainable Food Choices in Rural Children with its $38,076 Sierra Health Foundation Responsive Grant awarded in 2008. Run through its After School Program and Summer Day Camp, RISE Inc. has introduced youth to food and nutrition from the fields to the fork. Youth involved in the project have visited farms and farmers in our region, planted and harvested from their own garden, planned and prepared healthy meals, taught their peers about healthy eating, and sampled many new foods. RISE Inc. has purchased fresh local produce for snacks and meals, while creating lasting relationships with local farmers. With this new knowledge and experience, students have become food ambassadors to peers and at home.
Sutter County Public Health Department
With a $33,550 Sierra Health Foundation Responsive Grant awarded in 2008, Sutter County Public Health Department began Living Strong, an innovative nutrition and physical activity project for people in substance abuse treatment programs. Peer educators Jennifer Myers, Heather Elliott and Stephanie Amos have spearheaded this innovative hands-on project. Interactive educational sessions on label reading, portion control, sugary drinks and the magic of fruits and vegetables have been presented to 122 clients. Clients are given exercise bands and instructions on how to increase physical activity in daily life. To make healthy foods more accessible, 20' x 4' container gardens have been built at three treatment sites. Under the leadership of the peer educators, clients and staff have been actively involved in planting and caring for the gardens, which contain foods like tomatoes, melons, cucumbers and basil.
Photo: Heather, Jennifer and Stephanie are pictured with a basket full of freshly harvested produce.
La Raza Galería Posada
La Raza Galería Posada is a multi-disciplinary cultural center and public space serving the Sacramento community by offering Latino/Chicano and Native arts programming, art education workshops and a community gathering place. In 2008, Sierra Health Foundation awarded a $40,000 Responsive Grant to the nonprofit organization for a preventive health project called A View From the Ground: Documenting our Community. This youth-powered documentary photography project engaged 20 Sacramento-area high school students in three months of investigating the challenges and virtues in their lives and exploring the meaning of "healthy lifestyles" through still images. La Raza Galería Posada hosted a reception for the students' exhibit on June 12, 2009. The project and students were featured on this KCRA TV segment.
Photo: wish by Timmothy McClellan
Colusa Regional Medical Center
With support from a $40,000 Responsive Grants Program award in 2008, the Colusa Regional Medical Center initiated a student volunteer corps called B.E.S.T. (Blood Energy Sweat Talent) to address two priorities in its volunteer health promotion activities: working with local schools and community organizations to promote good health and reduce childhood obesity, and exploring potential health careers in learning activities with local health care providers. Partnering with local high school after-school programs, Colusa Regional Medical Center developed a 20-hour Health Internship Course. The 24 students who completed the B.E.S.T. program will be assigned to participating health care providers for summer work experience. Read the BEST newsletter.
Photo: The first high school students receive their certificates of completion for the Health Internship Course.
Aspiranet
A $35,487 Responsive Grant to Aspiranet in 2008 resulted in the creation of Informémonos (Let's Get Informed), a Spanish program at the Turlock Family Resource Center offering free prenatal education and support for pregnant women. Aspiranet, in partnership with the Stanislaus County Health Services Agency and the Stanislaus County Children and Families Commission, found a significant need for prenatal services in Turlock's Latina population. The primary use of this grant was to hire a trained health care liaison to provide information to connect women with care, classes and insurance programs. Read a news article about the program from Vida En El Valle.