During an unseasonably warm day, over 80 community members and City of Hope team members, attended the 2018 Healthy Living Conference and Awards Luncheon. The event was hosted by the Department of Community Benefit and emceed by Christian Port from Planned Parenthood of Pasadena and the San Gabriel Valley and Tashera Taylor from Foothill Unity Center. Both Port and Taylor are the co-chairs for the Community Benefit Advisory Council (CBAC). All CBAC members, who conducted site visits to the 2017 grantees, stood and provided riveting testimony to the good work that the grantees were accomplishing over the year. Afterward, each of the nine grantees provided a 15 minute overview of their work. Additionally, each grantee provided a more intimate presentation of their work and engaged with event goers through an impressive poster session. Click here for a virtual tour of their posters.
After an incredible luncheon showcasing cancer fighting superfoods, Nancy Clifton-Hawkins, manager of Community Benefit, introduced the Fiscal Year 2018 Kindness Grant winners to date: Click here. The event climaxed with the awarding of the 2018 Healthy Living Grant winners. According to This issue shares the news of our latest Healthy Living grant cohort and our efforts at reducing food insecurity in the local area. EDITOR’S NOTE Port and Taylor, each of the projects was chosen for their potential impact on health, and the organizers of each were appreciative for the chance to grow. All have agreed to our CBAC and Clifton-Hawkins joining them for a site visit and to complete an evaluation of their programs so that we can help share their story of successes and lessons learned.
In total, $50,000 was given out to these very important groups. Programs that were not selected as grantees are not forgotten. We have invited them to participate in our future programs/activities in program planning, evaluation and grant writing that will serve to increase their capacity to compete for grants in the future. Below is a listing of the 2018 Healthy Living grantees.
| Program | Description |
|---|---|
| Tzu Chi Medical Foundation | Tzu Chi Cancer Awareness Program. This program provides cancer education, outreach and screenings in the Chinese Community within the San Gabriel Valley. |
| American Heart Association | Asian American, Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander Health Initiative (AANHPI). Utilizing a cross-sector approach to address the health disparities in AANHPI communities, the initiative’s common agenda is threefold: 1) develop strong relationships between AANHPI communities and recognize, prioritize and address health disparities, 2) consolidate and coordinate mutually reinforcing activities of organizations to eliminate duplication and maximize shared resources, and 3) analyze and tailor currently-used evidence-based strategies that will work for AANHPI communities served.
The initiative will lead to understanding the most effective processes and pathways for engaging AANHPI in policy change that result in successful compliance and eventual community norm change so it can create a comprehensive culture of health. |
| Charles R. Drew University | Move Your Feet Then Eat. The Move Your Feet Then Eat project involves the collaboration of volunteer health professionals to promote healthier lifestyles through multicultural dance and food preparation classes. Students of the proposed project will have an opportunity to learn dance styles and healthy food choices from different cultures. Move Your Feet Then Eat will encourage K-12 students of Service Planning Area 6 to express themselves, promote teamwork and increase confidence while fighting obesity and the development of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. |
| Common Threads – LA office | Common Threads Garden Bites: Experiential Garden and Nutrition Education for Children.The Garden Bites program provides children with the skills and knowledge to choose and prepare healthy, fresh food on their own and with their families. The evaluation will help to determine the impact the program has on childhood obesity and related co-morbidities, in addition to knowledge and behavior change. The program will implement and evaluate three sessions of our Garden Bites program (15 lessons each) with 75 children. |
| City of Montclair | Montclair Medical Clinic: Improving the Social Determinants of Health. This program addresses social determinants of health through the implementation of a promotora model. The promotoras will conduct follows-up calls or visits with patients after their initial visit to confirm they received the care needed or, if needed and possible, assist with any challenges/barriers. Individuals are linked to promotora via Montclair Medical Clinic and/or Montclair Senior Center. |
| Mychal’s Learning Place | Afterschool Program. The Afterschool Program was created to help young people with developmental disabilities build strong, meaningful lives on many levels. It takes place immediately following regular school hours and is designed to help kids build life skills — the capabilities that will allow them to take responsibility for their own lives, to make good decisions and to learn how to solve problems. Included in that curriculum are health-related activities that address immediate physical and mental health needs and provide a base for a long-term approach to a healthy life. |
| Santa Anita Family YMCA | YMCA “Get Summer, Get Fit” Initiative. “Get Summer, Get Fit” is an LA-Y initiative, offering teens ages 12-17 free YMCA memberships June 1 through July 31. In addition to swimming, basketball, cardio equipment, weight training, etc., Get Summer features special workshops (e.g., healthy cooking clinics, positive body image, etc.) thanks to additional partnerships. It also offers special fitness classes designed exclusively for teens and dedicated “Teens Only” gym and pool times. |
| Inland Valley Council of Churches – Inland Valley Hope Partners |
Healthy Living. The Healthy Living program fits well within this Inland Valley group’s three prong strategy to move families and individuals toward self-sufficiency. Homeless families and individuals, as well as low income families and individuals, have access to the council’s food security program, where they are also made aware of its housing programs and healthy living program. It offers recipes for fresh produce to clients of the food security program, as well as to residents of its family shelter and shoppers at the farmers market. It creates opportunities for clients to learn the benefits of different types of produce and fruit. |
| Catalyst San Gabriel Valley | Healthiest Loser. This campus-wide initiative will focus on a discreet and holistic approach to a healthy and flourishing teen lifestyle, as opposed to just about losing weight. It will use a three-month window as the active phase for students involved. This group also wants to see this project as a kick starter to lifelong health changes, not just a short-term activity.
This group wants to recruit outside community resources who can be healthy lifestyle coaches in nutrition/healthy cooking, physical training and mindfulness/mental health for its sample students. It also wants to recruit existing groups on campus or in the school district who can help with various goals such as mental health department, medical academy, garden club and culinary department. |
San Gabriel Valley Economic Partnership Awarded 2018 Community Building Grant
Over the years, we often encounter interesting challenges. Within the submissions for the Healthy Living Grants, we found requests for funds for really worthy ideas that just did not fit the criteria for our grantees. But these requests filled a need and we still wanted to do something for them. So we created a new category of grant that went live in 2017. The idea is to provide a space, through our Community Benefit program, to acknowledge that not everyone can do a yearlong project, but recognizing that they have an important purpose for the community. This year, our Community Building grant recipient is:
| San Gabriel Valley Economic Partnership | Healthy San Gabriel Valley. The primary health strategy that this project will tackle is to promote changes in government policies and built environments that help people lead healthier lives. Although the partnership understands that it is critical to address key health related issues such as obesity, diabetes, mental health and access to care, this project emphasizes the need to address systems change through collaboration and capacity building of local cities to address policies, access to care and the built environment. |