Mini grants support grassroots innovation in Palm Beach County, helping to address critical challenges and opportunities at the local level. They help launch small businesses, support professional growth, and fund solutions to some of our toughest problems — from promoting intergenerational wealth and health, to addressing trauma, family caregiving, and root causes of violence.
This page brings together key information about our mini grant initiatives, highlighting unique projects supported through Healthier Neighbors mini grants and BeWellPBC mini grants. Together, these stories show how small investments can spark big impact and inspire healthier futures for Palm Beach County.
Explore the stories below and see how our community members turned ideas into action.
In addition to reading the narratives below, visuals showing how community members interpreted their narratives are presented in the Data Visuals page.
Local leaders and community members involved in mini-grant projects were given the following prompt:
Share a story about a mini grant experience.
Your story can be something, anything that happened related to a mini-grant. It doesn’t have to prove anything—we are not looking to grade anyone. It can be something rare and meaningful or something that happens every day. The more stories, the more people who tell stories, the better we can represent who you are and what you do.
We hope your stories can help us understand more about mini-grants, how they help, what the challenges are while getting to know the people behind them and connected to them.
The Stories
On November 10, SPARC was able to complete its first online training with over 60 Early Head Start center owners and staff under the Early Learning Coalition. The training was a professional edition of an earlier training presented to families last year at BRIDGES Riviera Beach (also thanks to the HN Mini-Grant). With this year’s grant, I was able to upgrade the training, the Zoom platform membership, and utilize new technology (a tablet) to offer a more stable and engaging online training experience. The participants loved the training! As the presenter, any anxiety I had was whisked away as I engaged with such an amazing group of professionals dedicated to the the children and families they serve and help. When I finished the workshop and signed off, I wiped away happy tears. This, I knew, was at the heart of what SPARC Guidance can and will do for the community. My goal with this business is to continue to offer the 4 A’s (Awareness, Acceptance, Affirmation, and Advocacy) for families affected by autism/developmental delays, and the professionals who work for and alongside them.
Our community garden is flourishing. One of our regular volunteers who is partly responsible is Frank, who volunteered for about 2 months every Saturday. He also made himself available for other handyman jobs around our church to keep busy. He saved up the money he earned as he was trying to get housing. Recently, we found out he was able to find permanent housing and get off the streets. He still does not have personal transportation and his new home is not on a bus line where he can continue to work in the garden. His energy, hard work, and enthusiasm will be missed. This is truly a “Praise Report”. We are proud of him for working toward his goal of ending his homelessness and finding a home.