WATSONVILLE — The Pajaro Valley Community Health Trust has announced the recipients of $185,000 in grants to organizations that address health issues in the Pajaro Valley.
The grants, ranging from $5,000 to $15,000, went to 15 organizations that fall within the Health Trust’s four strategic program areas: diabetes and its contributing risk factors, access to care, oral health and health professions.
The Health Trust also provided $10,000 this year in scholarships to students from the Pajaro Valley pursuing careers in the health professions. Scholarships were given to students from Aptos High School, Pajaro Valley High School, Watsonville High School, Watsonville/Aptos/Santa Cruz Adult Education and Cabrillo College.
•••
Awardees
Community Agroecology Network (CAN) – $15,000
Under CAN, community members, young people and Mesa Verde Gardens gardeners and youth analyze and discuss research results of problems related to food and health and make recommendations they can implement to promote healthy lifestyles.
Digital NEST – $12,744
Will support hiring a nutrition consultant and an intern to expand the NEST’s current food program called wellNEST.
Ecology Action – $10,000
Funding will help support efforts to reach a total of 38 classrooms at six schools – about 1,140 students – in Pajaro Valley Unified School District. Work will include pedestrian safety education for second-graders and bicycle safety education for fifth-graders.
Extended Learning/
Fitness 4 Life – $15,000
Will incorporate community service and garden-based nutrition education. Through the program, high school students help teach K-5 students, with a focus on healthy food, exposing students to a wide variety of whole foods and basic cooking skills.
Food, What?! – $15,000
Provides youth empowerment and food justice education that uses food and farming as a vehicle for growing healthy teens. Activities involve Watsonville youth and their families, and include empowerment and leadership development centered around the food system; distribution of healthy, organic fruits and vegetables in weekly summer produce boxes; and stipends for youth to take on leadership roles as junior staff and community educators.
Green Ways to School – $12,000
Will offer a free educational and recreational program that provides bikes to middle school students and instructs them in the basics of bike repair, cycling safety and nutrition education. At the end of each program session, participants leave with their own bicycle, helmet, lock, bike lights and portable tool kit.
Natividad Medical Foundation – $7,500
Grant funds will be used for the 5 Steps to Prevent Diabetes Program, a diabetes prevention program for populations with varying levels of English proficiency and health literacy. The program emphasizes increased consumption of fruits and vegetables and daily physical activity, among other things.
Second Harvest Food Bank – $12,000
Helps fund Passion For Produce, which encourages good nutrition and physical activity. Passion for Produce classes feature farmer’s market style distributions of produce and lesson topics that include reading nutrition labels, Rethink Your Drink, and the 52-10 Healthy Living Campaign.
United Way of Santa Cruz County – $15,000
Jóvenes SANOS will continue to have a presence at the Watsonville Farmers Market, offering healthy hydration education and discussing the negative effects of sugar-sweetened beverage consumption.
Watsonville Family YMCA – $15,000
In 2017, the Watsonville Y will launch Youth Fit for Life (YF4L) for children ages 5-12. Designed for after-school sites, YF4L is a program aimed at reducing obesity and preventing diabetes. It consists of cardiovascular exercise three times a week through non-competitive activities and cooperative games.
Dientes Community
Dental Care – $12,000
Funding will support an oral health educator who will teach proactive oral hygiene by educating “influencers” such as primary health providers, pediatricians and other health professionals – on the relationship between oral health habits and health outcomes.
Salud Para La Gente – $11,000
This project will subsidize the costs of providing dental care to uninsured low-income residents served by Salud Para La Gente’s dental team.
Family Service Agency of the Central Coast – $12,000
Supports the Open Arms/Brazos Abiertos initiative, which provides free or low-cost mental health services to Pajaro Valley residents through services for Latina cancer patients, child sexual abuse survivors, seniors, and low-income Latinos and their families. Funds will support 135 individuals to access care/services.
Hospice of Santa Cruz County – $5,756
The Children’s Grief Support program provides young people aged 6-17 with bilingual individual and group grief support, counseling and grief education, as well as a bereavement focused camp.
Watsonville High School Health Academy – $5,000
Supports students from Watsonville High School Health Academy to participate in semi-annual mentor-student dinners to expose students to professionals working in health careers of interest. Seniors also have an opportunity to conduct job shadowing at Watsonville Community Hospital each spring.
•••
For information, visit www.pvhealthtrust.org.
