Building Healthy Communities

Project Title

Project EATS Community Leadership Project

Grant Amount

$25,000

Priority Area

Building Healthy Communities

Date Awarded

January 21, 2021

Region

NYC

Status

Closed

Website

www.coragroupinc.com

Through its Building Healthy Communities priority area, NYHealth has supported neighborhood-level approaches to improve access to healthy, affordable food and to activate spaces to encourage more physical activity.

To sustain the progress that has been made in these communities, it is important that neighborhood grantees have the tools and capacity they need to maintain and expand their initiatives and goals. Grantees have expressed a particular need for support in advocating for local policy change and solutions and effectively communicating their wins, goals, needs, and value. Strengthening these efforts will help ensure the long-term sustainability of the achievements and place-based work in each neighborhood. In 2021, NYHealth awarded the Cora Group a grant to help Project EATS build leadership skills and capacity among residents of Brownsville, Brooklyn, through community farming.

Under this grant, the Cora Group partnered with Project EATS to train residents to more fully participate in community farming programs in Brownsville. Project EATS’ urban farms and mobile farm stands helped increase resident access to and affordability and consumption of healthy foods. The Cora Group helped boost resident engagement by building residents’ capacity to be more actively involved in the planning and implementation of Project EATS’ neighborhood-based projects, including leadership and teamwork trainings. Residents built awareness of and skills through community farming, helping to increase community access to fresh, nutritious food and health education. In collaboration with other community partners, Project EATS shared best practices with residents to address unmet needs for healthy food, community cohesion, and economic growth and vitality.