Project Title
Building Healthy Communities Conference Scholarship
Grant Amount
$2,500
Priority Area
Other
Date Awarded
September 29, 2017
Region
Capital Region
Status
Closed
Website
In a state as large as New York, a steady stream of smart, innovative work is coming from NYHealth grantees and non-grantees alike that is relevant to NYHealth’s priority areas of Building Healthy Communities and Empowering Health Care Consumers and its focus area on Veterans’ Health.
These organizations should be elevating their work and informing key stakeholders at regional, statewide, and national conferences, meetings, and other convenings. Yet, because of a lack of resources, they are often unable to do so. To address this issue, NYHealth awarded grants through its Sponsoring Conference Participation in Support of Healthy Communities, Consumer Empowerment, and Veterans’ Health Request for Proposals (RFP). Through this RFP, NYHealth sponsored low-resource organizations to attend and present at local, State, and national conferences related to these areas. In 2017, NYHealth awarded Soul Fire Farm a grant to participate in this initiative as part of its efforts to support healthy communities.
With NYHealth funding, two staff members from Soul Fire Farm attended the 2017 Black Farmers & Urban Gardeners National Conference. Soul Fire Farm’s co-director participated in a panel about national- and state-level policy needs to ensure food justice for African-Americans and other minority groups. Attending this conference also helped staff update Soul Fire Farm’s curriculum and policy documents for the 2018 programming season, and offered them an opportunity to network and build partnerships with other organizations involved in grassroots health organizing.