The Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts ... Achieving Today. Sustaining for the Future.
Applying for a Grant
Grants Made
Synergy Initiative
Central Massachusetts Family Caregiving Center
Central Massachusetts Oral Health Initiative (CMOHI)
Child Abuse Prevention and Protection Collaborative (CAPPC)
Choices: A Program for Youth at Risk in Webster/Dudley
Home Again
Hunger-Free & Healthy
Oral Health Initiative of North Central Massachusetts (OHINCM)
The Winchendon Project
Together For Kids (TFK)
Women's HIV/Domestic Violence Initiative
Activation Fund
Project Videos
Grants by Year
Grants by Recipient
Hunger-Free & Healthy
Hunger-Free & Healthy$1,188,084
 
Hunger-Free & Healthy - Implementation, Year 2 (2010)$354,375
Hunger-Free & Healthy - Implementation, Year 1 (2009)$385,762
Hunger-Free & Healthy - Pilot Grant (2008)$332,265
Hunger-Free & Healthy - Planning Grant (2007)$115,682


 
Year:2010Amount:$354,375
Title:Hunger-Free & Healthy - Implementation, Year 2
Recipient:Worcester County Food Bank
For the second year of implementation, Hunger-Free & Healthy (HFH) will focus on continued efforts to increase SNAP (food stamp) enrollment through the efforts of an outreach worker who visits various food pantries and other social service locations throughout the city. HFH will also continue to work with the Worcester Public Schools to improve the nutritional quality of the meals offered in the schools; with Operation Frontline to offer cooking/nutrition classes and with the Regional Environmental Council to operate the Farmers' Market that they started in Main South, the Worcester Educational Garden and to expand some of the existing school/community gardens. HFH will work with the Great Brook Valley Health Center, the Worcester Housing Authority and the owner of two neighborhood corner stores to improve awareness of and access to more nutritional foods in the neighborhood. This may offer a model that could be replicated in other locations. HFH advocacy efforts will continue to focus on the creation of a statewide Food Policy Council, improvements in the food stamp program and the improved nutritional quality of school meals.

Project Co-Directors: Ms. Jean McMurray
Mr. Dennis Irish
Fiscal Agent: Worcester County Food Bank
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Year:2009Amount:$385,762
Title:Hunger-Free & Healthy - Implementation, Year 1
Recipient:Worcester County Food Bank
The Worcester Food Advisory Council will focus their implementation efforts on increasing public and government support for programs to reduce hunger and increase access to more nutritious foods. Specific strategies include: working to increase access to food stamps by training outreach workers at local hospitals; health centers and the Worcester Housing Authority; advocacy for improvements to the food stamp program; increasing participation in the free breakfast program in the Worcester Public Schools; improving the nutritious quality of the meals served in the WPS; working with local corner stores to improve the availabilty of affordable produce and healthy foods; offering cooking/nutrition classes; expanding the farmers' market in Main South and offering gardening education classes. New partners in this project include the Mass. Law Reform Institute, the Massachusetts Public Health Association, Share Our Strength--Operation Frontline, and the Urban Farmers Agriculture Academy.

Project Co-Directors: Ms. Jean McMurray
Mr. Dennis Irish
Fiscal Agent: Worcester County Food Bank
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Year:2008Amount:$332,265
Title:Hunger-Free & Healthy - Pilot Grant
Recipient:Worcester County Food Bank
The Worcester Advisory Food Policy Council (WAFPC) will pilot a project in two defined neighborhoods to help decrease hunger and food insecurity.  This project will target two groups.  It will include up to 50 participants in one group who will be eligible for:  enrollment in two (of seven) skill-building classes (GED, ESOL, Success Skills, Personal Economics, Money Smart, Eating Right, From Seed to Table); Food Stamp Program application assistance; health care plan enrollment assistance; health/hunger screenings; receiving fresh organic produce for 20 weeks in the summer/fall; and case management.  The second group of participants (250-500) will be eligible for enrollment in one of the skill building classes (space permitting); Food Stamp Program application assistance; health care plan enrollment assistance; and health/hunger screenings.

Project Directors:  Mr. Dennis Irish
Ms. Jean McMurray
Fiscal Agent: Worcester County Food Bank
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Year:2007Amount:$115,682
Title:Hunger-Free & Healthy - Planning Grant
Recipient:Worcester County Food Bank
The Worcester Food Advisory Council is beginning a project to reduce hunger in Worcester County.  The objectives for this planning grant are to identify and engage their community partners; to create a plan for a pilot project, including measurable objectives and outcomes; to identify other resources that may be needed to address this issue; and ultimately to create the systemic changes necessary to sustain a hunger-free community.  The Council is proposing to begin by targeting households in the lowest income neighborhoods in Worcester.  They will first identify children who are malnourished, or overweight and reach out to the households they live in by engaging the broad network of health care and social service organizations that serve these children.

Project Directors:  Mr. Dennis Irish
Ms. Jean McMurray  
Fiscal Agent: Worcester County Food Bank
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446 Main Street • 20th Floor • Worcester, MA 01608 • Tel: (508) 438-0009 • Fax: (508) 438-0020 • E-mail: info@hfcm.org