CONGRATULATIONS TO THE NEW GRANT RECIPIENTS! Berkeley City Council approved 2-year (FY20 and FY21) grants to the following 5 NEW community agencies. Read Resolution No. 68,915 N.S. for more details. Listed below are the new agencies funded:
Bay Area Community resources
$135,880 across two years.
Resolution #68,910-N.S.
Bay Area Community Resources’ Healthy Options at Point of Sale (HOPS) project is designed to build knowledge and power within communities to decrease sugary product placement and marketing at checkout and to build a food landscape that improves access to healthy foods for all families across the Bay Area. HOPS will engage transitional-aged youth in Berkeley in a community action research and advocacy project to reduce the marketing and placement of sugar-sweetened beverages and foods at checkout. Strategies include:
Recruit and provide ongoing training to Berkeley Advocacy Team (BAT) members to: a) increase knowledge of healthy eating, food justice, and the role of the retail food environment in contributing to diet-related diseases; and, b) develop research, facilitation, and speaking skills.
Conduct assessments key informant interviews to understand concerns and support around healthy retail policy, and b) showcase a PhotoVoice project, using pictures to capture the impact of sugary drinks and junk food in their neighborhoods.
Analyze assessments from community members and identify potential strategies and policy objectives.
Disseminate data and conduct outreach to over 300 community members.
Build advocacy support from elected representatives, Berkeley businesses, organizations, and residents for the implementation of healthy checkout.
Berkeley Youth Alternatives will implement the Urban Agriculture and Team Nutrition program in FY 2020 and FY 2021 through activities that include the following: a) recruit, hire, and train 4 garden and nutrition intern youth educators to promote healthy alternatives to SSBs and conduct interactive workshops to at least 1000 children and youth; b) engage Youth Educators to re-launch the BYA “no-cost” Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) Program monthly boxes of fresh fruits and vegetables; and c) engage in a campaign to convert unused land into a community garden. The Youth Educators will encourage youth above the age of 12 to download BYA’s Healthy App to receive notifications about healthy eating, exercise, events, and ideas that can employ to change things in their community
Community Health Education Institute’s (CHEI) Artists Against Soda project will be operated out of Berkeley City College (BCC), that has a student body is 15% African-American and 25% Latino. BCC is in downtown Berkeley, which also includes Berkeley High School (BHS). BHS's student body is similar to BCC's - 15% African-American and 23% Latino. Nearly 40% of BCC and BHS students are from priority populations - populations that are disproportionately targeted by beverage industry marketing - and these students have easy access to SSBs. CHEI expects the funded activities to reach between 800-900 African-American and/or Latino youth aged 12-21.
The goal of the Veggie Rx for Healthy Food and Beverages project is to increase capacity, knowledge, and skills of volunteers and staff members of two LifeLong Medical Care (LLMC) clinics in Berkeley in offering patients a comprehensive behavior change education program to improve diets and reduce sugary beverage consumption through standardized and ongoing nutrition education. To this end, Fresh Approach will implement a train-the-trainer program with LLMC’s AmeriCorps members, other volunteers, and staff members to incorporate a robust education program on nutrition and healthy beverages as a part of core curriculum offered in LLMC group health classes. Fresh Approach will also provide technical assistance to enhance their evaluation tools and behavior assessment regarding healthy food and beverages consumption.
Spiral Gardens’ mission is to improve community health and sustainability by providing access to nutritious and affordable produce, promoting a strong local food system, and encouraging productive use of urban soil. Spiral Gardens’ programs focus on two blocks of public land, a former railroad in southwest Berkeley, where they run a nonprofit nursery of food and useful plants, a community farm, and an outdoor classroom with free educational workshops. Spiral Gardens also has a long history of contributing to food policy work in Berkeley, Oakland, and Alameda County. Spiral Garden will expand community farm engagement and production and nursery food plant production; improve outdoor classroom with more seating, shelter and improved cooking facilities for cooking demos for increased number of workshops; offer outside teachers stipends for their time; hire a nursery growth manager to expand nursery healthy food production and income; and install a water hydration station. The City of Berkeley funding will increase the number of our free educational workshops and field trips and tours and support personnel.
