Before picture of Willoughby Senior Center outdoor garden bed

The Healthy Communities Initiative 2015 Grantee Winners for Fort Greene/Clinton Hill have been announced!  Special thanks to our resident-led grant committee Sarah Cornish, Ron Covington, Amber Daniels & Peter Engel, who conducted site visits and intensive outreach in the community to spread the word about this opportunity to groups eligible for funding.

To be eligible for funding, proposals from Fort Greene/Clinton Hill neighborhood groups had to include ideas that focused on Healthy Eating, Open Space, Active Living and/or Fitness. This year six projects were funded. Take a look at this year’s Grantees below:

1. Child Development Support Corporation (CDSC):  The “Healthy Childcare Healthy Children Project” aims to help Child Care providers in Ingersoll & Whitman Houses to embrace healthy eating and active living in their child care programs. Their project will benefit ten (10) Family Child Care providers who will help expose 60-80 children to a healthy food culture in their program and a portable community chef demonstration kit.
2. The Neighborhood Work Play Kids Theater: The “Nutrition & Fitness Project” was inspired by First Lady Michelle Obama’s Youth program,  “America’s youth are active and fit”. This project operates at the Clinton Hill Brooklyn Public Library, where youth will be educated about how to eat healthier and participate in fitness education.
3. Fort Greene SNAP: “Be Heart Healthy” will conduct community fitness walks and healthy cooking demonstration events for parents & grandparents living in Fort Greene Clinton Hill.
4. Keep Your Pearls Girls: Their project goal is to educate girls about healthy eating and living. The young girls involved in this program live in Farragut and utilize the garden beds in the Vinegar Hill Community Garden on the same block as P.S 307.
5. Youth Beyond Basketball: The “Main Event Program” mentors boys from the age of 11- 25 years old living in Farragut Houses. Project goal is to continue to compete in basketball tournaments, contributing to healthy eating and fitness education for the youth in the community.
6. Willoughby Neighborhood Senior Center: The goal of the “Senior Herbal Spice Garden & Kitchen” project is to engage several local seniors in low stress physical activity.  This activity will bring together seniors and the younger community in Fort Greene and will contribute to educating each other by sharing garden skills and ideas. The hope is that the herbs & spices can be used in their meal plan, and that participants will enjoy growing and eating fresh herbs as a community activity.