Florida Partnership Promotes Access to Healthy Food
The Florida Partnership for Healthy People, Healthy Places (The Partnership), a collaborative of six Florida-based health funders, has celebrated the completion of its first year of shared-grant making and is continuing efforts to promote access to healthy food through an equitable food system.
Philanthropic members of The Partnership include the Winter Park Health Foundation (WPHF), the Florida Blue Foundation, the Health Foundation of South Florida, the Jessie Ball duPont Fund, the Quantum Foundation, and the Allegany Franciscan Ministries. In addition, there are public sector members and there is a category for special members.
The Partnership jointly funded five projects, including:
- A $25,000 grant to The Food Trust, a national, not-for-profit group that helps states develop a comprehensive approach to improved food access and provides technical assistance to organizations moving into healthy food financing. It has made great strides in reaching out to engage the food and financing industries, including the Florida Retail Federation, FDIC and Federal Reserve Bank.
- A $15,000 grant to The Florida Community Loan Fund to conduct market analysis and program development work associated with the planned launch of a healthy food access financing program in Florida;
- A $5,000 grant for Mark Winne to provide Food Policy Council Capacity Building to help Florida groups and individuals learn to engage in local and state food policy activities;
- A $20,000 grant to Nemours in support of its early care and education programs promoting healthy habits and policies, and
- A $5,000 grant to Good Food Central Florida to support training and technical assistance for the organization.
The Partnership began working together when it was awarded match funding by the National Convergence Partnership (NCP) in 2011. The NCP is a collaborative of national funders focused on policy and environmental change resulting in healthy people living in healthy places.
