South Grade Elementary is a Title I school, where 99% of our students are economically disadvantaged and 97% of our population are minority students, most of which are recent immigrants to the US. We recently became an AVID school, which focuses on college and career readiness from a young age. South Grade Elementary School was the recipient of a mini-grant from Healthier Lake Worth; the grant was in support our 4th and 5th grade Avid students obtaining a shirt that promote college readiness. On February 25th we had a grand revealing of the shirt, that was designed in-house. It was …

My experience of this mini-grant was one where the kids that attended the Theater Appreciation/Monologue Acting Workshop were free to express themselves in their own, unique way. They expressed what they wanted to get out of the workshop, what they came to work on, and what their biggest “take-aways” at the end of the 2-hour workshop. I experienced them experiencing connection with everyone there, a safe and sacred space, creating value through creative self-expression, exploring their passions, and building their experience/expertise and knowledge around that workshop’s topics. We could’ve stayed longer than the 2 hour-window we had set and scheduled …

With the grant, I was able to receive all required licenses with the city and county to operate. I was also able to secure a domain name for my website and have a logo created for my business that is eye catching. I have the required software needed to create Proposals, Presentations and Documents to present my information in a professional matter.

As a veteran teacher working with students that have emotional and behavioral challenges, I always wanted to create a program that could impact students by developing healthy habits with skills that can be used throughout their lives to manage stress and maintain healthy bodies. When Covid shut everyone down in the spring, I knew that this needed to happen more than ever – my students were isolated and not engaging as they did in the classroom. I read Activate by Katherine Mills Hernandez this summer and was pleasantly surprised to find that much research has been done showing the positive …

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 …

Hello my name is Verna Neely, I’m the founder of the Ladybugs of The Palm Beaches and the creator of the Ladybugs Art Box. I was given my first art kit when I was a little girl. It helped me to easy my mind during my many medical issues. I am a self taught artist . I have a degree in arts. When I find myself depressed, stressed or just angry. I pick up my art supplies. Art helps me to calm down . When I’m done I have some of the most beautiful pieces. Working with healthier Neighbors and …

For the Women Helping Women mini-grant, we’ve been very receptive in regards to client mental health needs during this difficult time as it relates to world affairs. Previously, we were offering virtual-only Zumba classes every Monday evening as a COVID-19 safety measure. Now that restrictions have been relaxed, we have recently been able to offer in-person Zumba classes at the park next to our site to great success. Originally, our numbers for virtual Zumba were small but steady. However, since we’ve started offering in-person classes, those numbers have been growing! Our participating clients love in-person Zumba classes and have commented …

Glowrious Bath & Body is healing our community one bath at a time. Using A Natural Approach To Wellness, Glowrious Bath & Body provides individuals with an opportunity to use quality natural ingredients for skin care and self-care. The vision is to not only be a product based business, but additionally an informational and education platform in helping others find natural and therapeutic remedies to meet their needs. With that said, COVID was a game changer. I was and still am presented with the question of “How am I going to have meaning exchanges with my consumers?” And with …

Providing fitness services to Seniors is vital. The human body “needs to keep moving to keep moving.” Healthy Seniors are an inspiration and helping Black Seniors increase their health and physicality is an act of Sankofa, or “going back to correct what has not been done”, for those of us who help make this happen. Creating Silver Fox Elite Fitness is the most important work I have done in my many, many years as a working adult. Silver Fox is committed to making the Golden Years the best years and will continue to tear down the challenges of Ageism and …

Since receiving the mini grant, I have been looking for other ways to encourage ladies to work on their well-being outside of just working out. So I have started to incorporate Fit Mom Tips of the Week, as well as healthy meal options, and then just advice on how to care for yourself as a woman with self-esteem, with confidence, being able to accept where you are now and how you can make yourself better, not just for you, but for your family as a whole, and just helping women to work on themselves as a whole package.

We have completed three courses so far for our future leaders primarily for high schoolers in PBC. So far the theme has been on leadership development in which the courses focused on discovering your purpose, goal setting through vision boards, and tonight on public speaking. Every class has a keynote speaker who is a subject matter expert and each one so far as imparted seeds of knowledge, discovery and engagement. In many of the surveys so far, the youth have expressed that they never really thought about their purpose or that they didn’t know that every person on this planet …

At last my mini grant has traction!Self Compassion Matters has LIFT OFF!Dovecot Farm has two retreats scheduled for next week….St Mary’s Medical Team on Wednesday 24th March.A group of therapists and Mental health practitioners in the recovery world on Saturday 27th March…One fascinating trend is emerging in the DISC evaluation response…

I received a Ladybugs Art Box. I was very excited. I love to draw and paint. With this box I would like to make all kinds of crafts. I don’t think I want to become a professional artist. But I would use it to become better at painting and drawing, then I can use it as a hobby and maybe even make money from it. I’m glad I received an art box and I’m looking forward to joining the Ladybugs of the Palm Beaches Mentoring group. Thank you Ms. Verna and Mrs. Tamar.

The Healthier Jupiter Mini-Grant served as a catalyst for our organization to bring the benefits of boxing – exercise, discipline, and fun – to young students throughout the Jupiter area. The boxing program brought together students from all walks of life. The best part was seeing students laugh and learn lessons that they will be able to take with them for the rest of their lives. I believe I speak for other volunteers and coaches when I say it is incredibly rewarding to see a student experience a light bulb moment when they see how they can apply lessons learned …

This month ended our mini grant experience. I am so grateful and thankful to have been chosen as a grant recipient. This was my first time writing and applying for a grant so I am extremely happy that I was able to have this experience. I originally went into this with thinking that I was going to have a partner to help with implementing/executing the project but my partner ended up leaving the agency so I was the main one in charge throughout the majority of the grant. It was very stressful and tiring at times to try to coordinate …

Oh my ! The grant process was a frantic one in Q4 2020. I reached out to a number of contacts and felt that some traction was being made…Then nothing. Year-end kicked in. So did the challenges of Covid. I felt everything grinding to a halt. The initial meetings and potential connections’ interest appeared to disappear. Things seemed to fizzle out…The beginning of 2021 was also terribly slow. It seems that Self Compassion Matters was not a priority, decision makers had not responded. I have to admit that frustration began to creep in. I am aware that Q1 is the …

One of the workshops that was held called “Eye 2 Eye,” gave participants a chance to reflect on how they perceived themselves in relation to the world around them. The task was to paint an eye, and within that eye, depict the inner “you”. It was an eye opener (pun intended) to see people from differing backgrounds come together and share their amazing artwork as they described themselves and reasoning for why they painted what they painted. Speaking personally, it was a fun and relaxing way to end the day while supporting the growth of others.

This the assistance of this Mini Grant, I was able to schedule and fund my first Boot Camp. Due the the COvid-19, I am unable to complete a physical face to face camp, so I am hosting my first of many via Zoom Meeting online. The Boot Camp will take place on November 7th at 12 noon. I have about 15 mothers signed up so far from the West Palm Beach, Riviera Beach areas. They all received a limited edition resistance band in the mail (purchase with some of the mini grant funds) to utilize during the Boot Camp. I …

I am so grateful to have received my first ever grant from Healthier Neighbors in such a time of need. Also, I am grateful that my introduction to applying for a grant was smooth. As a recipient of the grant it has truly allowed me to make the necessary enhancements to my business for growth. During a pandemic so many people had to pivot personally and professionally, and my grant experience allowed me to do both. Not only was I applying for funds, I had to help others understand the importance of what GLOWrious Bath & Body was on a …

Family Caregiver One (FC1): “Amazing, thank you so much”. This is one of the initial response Each Starfish Matters (ESM), received from FC1 after she received a care package. As we listened, we heard that FC1 is caring for her mother. Her mother is 84 years old and is experiencing the beginning stages of Alzheimer’s. FC1 does not have any siblings and she has a fulltime job. Luckily for FC1 her work schedule is flexible. However, the demands of her job required that some of her meetings were late evening. She told us that her lifestyle now resolves around her …

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 …

So far the Celebrating Diversity project has been able to conduct the first two workshops of the year long project. As one of the facilitators it has been amazing to see the artwork that that the have created by the youth during the workshops. So far we have been able to discuss topics related to using art to express you inner self and how art can be used as social commentary. During the last project a majority of participants reported that they learned something new about themselves, learned something about expressing themselves through art, and feel that they can express …

Family Promise of South Palm Beach County through the BeWell DoWell mini-grant began our series of speakers for “Sharing Survival Stories Saturday” on November 7, 2020. The purpose of the series of eight speakers over the next twelve months is for formerly homeless mothers to share their story of how they overcame extreme adversity and challenges and draw from their strength to become successful women, business leaders and mothers.Our first speaker was Shandra Stringer, who left the care of her grandmother at 16 years old, to escape a harsh life and to focus finishing high school. …

I enjoyed the interview process of the mini grant and the application it was easy to apply and the interview team was so kind amd welcoming

Silver Fox Elite Fitness is committed to carving Black and Caribbean Seniors a culturally relevant space in the fitness industry. The voices of Seniors is key to this goal. On February 13th Silver Fox hosted the inaugural Virtual Black Senior Fitness Fair providing a platform for Senior voices on issues of health and wellness. The event featured Ernestine Shepard, the legendary 84 year old body builder and fitness professional. Black Senior Fitness Fair segments can be viewed on the Silver Fox Elite Fitness Facebook Channel https://bit.ly/silverfoxelitefitness

Women Helping WomenA Story of SuccessLake Worth West Resident Planning Group, Inc. has been able to provide educational workshops to the community for many years. We have been blessed to have great community partners who facilitate capacity building workshops about a variety of topics to educate the Lake Worth West families and raise awareness regarding physical and mental health, nutrition, safety, and child development, among others.In 2016, the Lake Worth West staff realized the need to offer a safe space for the Lake Worth West women to share with other women their own experiences, challenges, and successes as mothers and …

While coordinating the Outreach breakfast program, I asked for volunteers to work in our community garden on Saturdays from 7-9am. On the next Saturday 3 people showed up, 2 of whom were homeless. We worked together putting bricks around new garden beds, watering the entre garden, and planting vegetable plants and harvesting produce to be given out on the next day at breakfast. They enjoyed it so much they asked to come back the following Saturday. They continue to come and have spread the word in the community. We are up to 7 volunteers on a regular basis. We give …

Dovecot Farm hosted Barn to Bedside retreat for a leadership team from St Mary’s Hospital Medical Center on Wednesday 24th March.We incorporated a blend of equine interactions, DISC self awareness, sound healing and drumming as well as HeartMath breathing techniques and nature therapy.It was a full day retreat with much needed healing for our healers.Many significant highlights from the team retreat. I think what was significant was using the DISC framework to bring up the burnout issue amongst our frontliners. There was transparency and openness in our discussion about ‘self-compassion’ matters. The S score difference on the natural and adapted …

Behave Healthy Riviera Beach will focus on teaching school aged children the benefits of healthy eating and making healthy decisions. This program is an community initiative created by Smoothie Me Please, a local smoothie bar in Riviera Beach. Students will be able to virtually attend live workshops and cooking classes. The classes will explore how to wash and prep/cut fruits and vegetables. The students will be empowered to make their own smoothie meal prep kits for themselves and the family.

I experience It’s Start With Me Program for 16 weeks and would I learn about the program where ever you are in life you can choose to change your mindset simply by allow yourself to open up to opportunity and improved who you are as person as well and connecting as well network with like mind people this can be challenging and rewarding at the same time when you put your mind to what you are trying to reach for you will be surprise the outcome.

So far, we have hosted three meetings with key stakeholders in the hospital / medical fields. There is interest in the Self Compassion mini grant. With Covid numbers, the one day retreats will be pushed to Q one 2021. The story is unfolding.

One client, Mr. L, is a former boxer who truly understood the importance of fitness. I could see a difference just in the few sessions we had.

Began building Silver Fox Elite Fitness from the ground up by shopping for a few essentials. Also, did some online shopping, or at least research, for mobile fitness equipment. It all felt awesome.

With the assistance f this mini- grant, I am able to purchase marketing and advertising materials for my business to present it to companies. I have a registered logo created, business cards, Flyers and a website create. I am in the talks with a company to create Shirts and Wrap my Work Trailer that carries my materials with the Company name. By the end of the year, I will have professional photos taken with the Crew and Independent Contractors that I will work with. This grant has made it possible for me to put my best foot forward when presenting …

This 12 week mini grant opened my mind and heart to all 7 impact areas which in turn has truly assisted me in being a better me all around. I’m looking forward to part 2!

Our grant award has helped dozens of low-income migrant women discover health and wellness programs that enrich their lives and alleviate stress. We are pleased to say that many of these mothers participate in our yoga, Zumba, and nutrition workshops with their spouses and children, and it has been amazing to see their growth so far.

With the help of this grant, I was able to receive all proper licenses, secure logos and marketing materials as well as purchase Home Workout Kits for my inventory. This grant allowed me to see my vision through and show that I am serious about my business and all of my marketing materials are made of quality and show professionalism.

Hello, my name is Tamar Watson and I am the co-creator of the ladybugs art box. It has been a pleasure creating these art boxes for individuals throughout the community. I’ve enjoyed seeing the people’s faces light up, when they received an art box. With this pandemic going on so many people are lacking things for everyday use. Our art boxes it gives them time clear up some space in their heads, they can just sit for hour coloring, painting or even journaling. I am glad we were able to make these ladybugs art boxes for the children and adults. …

My process is going better now that we have launched the art call. Since February, we have had over 12 organizations sign up to be involved, and over 25 artists have submitted to the art call.

I’m so excited to announce that Cooking With Ms. Shavon is no longer just an idea, it is a business!!!!! I’m currently working obtaining my business licensing and remarketing due to Covid19. Thank you, HN for believing in me and my business!

Sister to Sister Palm Beach State College – In March we had two events. One was Nutrition. My name is Sherry Fletcher and I am the coordinator of the program but I am also a registered dietitian and we reviewed some information about the credentials of a dietitian/nutritionist and some basic nutrition information with Mentors and Mentees. It was interesting because one of the Mentors is our Director of our RN to BSN program. It was nice to see that she was backing up the information I was trying to get across to the audience and her knowledge about nutrition. …

One of the most effective Silver Fox outreach efforts is the Tiki Market Mini Sessions. This allows direct interaction with Seniors in the target zipcodes. I gathered more that 30 prospects over 2 days and converted 11 into clients and great prospects. Silver Fox provided more than 20 hours of complementary training to Seniors.

The event that we hosted went well. We had great feedback on the topic about educated the community on sexual crime against children.

There have been three workshops that have occurred since the first sensemaker update I believe. There wasn’t the turnout of youth that I was hoping for and it has been very hard to get to youth to come to the events. At the beginning of the grant I had another co-worker helping with the grant. They are no longer with the company so that has been an added difficulty as they are not longer they to help with coordinating the events. The poetry event was awesome. It was amazing to work on the community poems. I loved how they all …

Thanks to the help of Community Partners of Southern Florida, I’m able to construct both indoor and outdoor virtual fitness studios so I can continue to serve seniors in spite of the dangers of the COVID pandemic.

I am ready to begin scheduling Seniors for free personal fitness sessions. Introductory sessions will begin in 1 week! So many things have come to life in such as short time. Silver Fox Elite Fitness is a fully registered LLC. With the help of a finanical planner and business mentor, Silver Fox has great business plan with both short and long term goals. With the help of a Dope Trifecta Media a website and social media platforms are in the final phases and here is a great new logo. Silver Fox is also insured and poised …

Torrie Anderson-Stinson, I think the Ladybugs Art Boxes were a good idea. My children and I received our art kits and they were nicely done. For my family it was hour of fun. It was a stress reliever for me. Especially when I need a break from the kids. I was able to focus. It allowed me to be creative and motivated to create more things. I also received a nice adult coloring book. It allowed me to be at peace. This box was very useful. I’d recommend everyone get them a ladybugs art box. Thanks Ladybugs

Community Partners of South Florida invited me to participate in an interview about the Digital Gap Initiative. It was awesome. What a perfect way to end this mini grant cycle. I’ve made great partnerships and I’m ready to go. What a wonderful opportunity for my business start-up. Thank you so very much Healthier Palm Beach and Community Partners of South Florida.

With the funds that I was able to receive from the mini grant, I purchased some resistance bands to use with my online Zoom class because of the whole pandemic restrictions at the time. The bands that I had left over, I was actually able to use those and give them to the ladies that were present in a fitness class that I was able to co-teach at a dance studio that’s located in Riviera Beach. I started attending there a couple of months ago, just to network with other women, to put myself more out there, let people know …

Individuals aging out of the foster care system got to engage in art and music therapy activities. It was amazing to bring these young people together in a creative way to learn coping skills and express and process their experience.