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Previous Equity Grant Recipients
Tobacco Prevention Grant (November 2024 - June 2025)
The Frederick County Health Department awarded grants to organizations to provide tobacco and vaping education programs to the communities they already serve in Frederick County. Funded programs will focus on tobacco and vaping prevention activities, such as educating youth in the community about the dangers of tobacco use, vaping, and electronic smoking devices (ESDs).
Below is a list of the grant recipients and a brief description of their projects in their own words.
Grant Recipients:
- Flown in Cutz: Every Saturday and Sunday from open to close at Flown in Cutz barbershop and a special trivia night on May 31, 2025, World No tobacco day we will give kids a chance to receive a free or discounted haircut or style. We have seven barbers and three stylist that will help talk to the youth about tobacco awareness. Details will be available on the booking apps and social media accounts for how to participate. Kids will be given options for materials to study from while they wait and will play a game of trivia on tobacco use and vaping when it’s their turn. We will work with the Frederick County Health Department to make pamphlets and cards using trusted resources with information on tobacco, alcohol, and other risky behaviors. The trivia will have multiple questions that will help them understand why its bad, and different ways to make good choices. The priority audience will be ages 9-18, and kids who may not be fortunate to get a cut or style at barbershop. Thinking about younger ages when peer pressure is introduced, we should teach them young how to handle themselves to avoid getting talked into bad decisions.
- The Frederick Center: We will co-facilitate a series of youth peer support sessions focused on Tobacco prevention. Using experience as a peer recovery specialist, we'll have candid conversation with youth in Youth Group Jr. (9-13), Youth Group (14-17), and Young Adult group (18-26) about tobacco usage and prevention. As a trusted LGBTQ+ adult role model, our Outreach Coordinator will be able to connect with youth clients on a personal level and facilitate an open dialogue with participants and empower clients to share their experiences, thoughts, and feelings about tobacco use. The coordinator will provide information about the risks of tobacco use and the importance of holistic wellness and guide clients toward preventative strategies and harm reduction plans. The Outreach Coordinator will be available as a year-round, confidential resource for youth struggling with substance use or looking for additional support resources related to prevention and cessation for themselves or peers. We will use research from the LGBTQI+ Cancer Network, the Frederick Youth Risk Behavioral Survey, and Health Department research to create approachable, educational resources for LGBTQ+ youth about tobacco prevention, including posters for our community center, awareness brochures about the risks and statistics around tobacco use in the community for distribution at outreach events, social media posts and videos for National Tobacco Awareness Campaigns, and resource cards connecting clients to national and local support services and our Outreach Coordinator for LGBTQ+ Substance Use Disorder (SUD) support.
- Women Solve: We will create an anti-smoking and anti-vaping campaign with a focus on middle and high school students in Frederick County. Our activities and strategies will include a poster campaign development featuring our Y.E.T. (Your Every Tomorrow) student ambassadors. These posters will illustrate activities, such as playing lacrosse, that are negatively impacted by smoking and vaping, with messages like "You can't do this if you're smoking cigarettes." and be strategically placed in schools, community centers, and other public spaces. Students and their peers featured on posters will effectively convey the relatable message about the dangers of smoking and vaping. Y.E.T. ambassadors will also represent our campaign at local health fairs and public events to engage directly with peers to distribute educational materials and facilitate the collection of anonymous surveys. These surveys will gather insights into students’ experiences with, and attitudes toward tobacco and vaping products, providing valuable feedback for refining our outreach strategies. We will use social media campaigns and announcements to amplify all of our educational messages. By actively promoting both our new campaign posters and existing PSAs, along with sharing engaging content online, our goals are to increase awareness of the risks associated with smoking and vaping.
Beyond Diet & Exercise Grant (November 2024 - May 2025)
Multiple grants were awarded to organizations to provide healthy weight management programs that (i) focus on health disparities for women, particularly communities experiencing significant disparities; (ii) include interventions that consider more than diet and exercise; and (iii) focus on health determinants beyond the individual level.
Below is a list of the grant recipients and a brief description of their projects in their own words.
Grant Recipients:
- Centro Hispano: We will provide a series of educational wellness sessions specifically addressing their Éxito participants parents, grandparents, caregivers, and extended family members. Our Éxito Program is an after-school STEAM curriculum for K-5th grade through which we also integrate social-emotional learning. In order to truly impact the whole family, we need to reach the students’ caregivers, which is the gap this funding will help fill. These sessions will be held in Spanish. As part of the sessions, we will promote health and wellness activities and practices including promoting healthy mealtime rituals, participating in exercise and outdoor activities, limiting screen time, getting quality sleep, reducing stress, building on strengths, finding joy, and showing gratitude. Also, as part of the sessions we will provide children’s activities so that childcare is not an obstacle for parents to attend.
- Coaching Salud Holistica: Our Health Promoter Program for High School Students and Workshops for Parents aims to train students as health promoters by focusing on holistic weight management, including stress management, nutrition, and physical activity. We will hold six parent workshops in both English and Spanish, covering the same topics that students will be learning. These workshops aim to extend the program's impact by engaging parents in the health promotion efforts, ensuring that they are informed and supportive of the knowledge and skills their children are acquiring. This bilingual approach will make the workshops accessible to a wider audience, fostering a supportive home environment that reinforces the program's goals.
- Farm to School: The focus of our program will be to provide healthy weight management programs that focus on health disparities for women and their children, particularly communities experiencing significant disparities. The overall goal for the activities is to transform the food environment to create a healthy food movement which includes efforts to shift the norm for types of foods offered at in-school and after-school special programs as well as increase community resident access to locally grown, highly nutritious fruits and vegetables. Farm to School Frederick works to shift from basic food security to nutrition security. Nutrition security includes foods with high nutritional value that promote healthy weight management and prevention of diet related chronic disease.
- Girls on the Run: Our program inspires girls to be joyful, healthy, and confident using a fun, experiential curriculum that creatively integrates running and physical activity. GOTR envisions a world where every girl knows and activates her limitless potential and feels free to boldly and confidently pursue her dreams. GOTR offers an evidence-based Social Emotional Learning (SEL) program that is designed to develop and enhance 3rd-8th grade girls’ social, psychological, and physical skills and behaviors to successfully navigate life experiences. GOTR is a nationally recognized physical activity-based positive youth development program with compelling evidence of the program’s impact on health and social-emotional well-being.
- Jackson Chapel: Our H.E.A.L. (Healthy Eating, Activity, and Lifestyle) Program, is a two-month program consisting of an exercise and, workshops presented from a manual provided by the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion entitled, "Eat Healthy - Be Active Community Workshops which is based upon our model and tool - ChoseMyPlate.gov. Our exercise component consists of 40 - 45 minutes of physical activity, choices are walking, beginners golf, pickle ball, and chair exercises/yoga. Our goal for 2025 is to continue this program using the updated 2025 - 2030 Dietary and Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, and the exercise component level of intensity will be increased for participants who chose to continue in the program. New participants will be offered the beginners level of the activities program component. Demonstrating healthy meals served using the "My Plate Model" to help educate our participants on how a healthy plate should look, as well as to illustrate food choices and healthy portions we will provide a welcoming environment where participants can share their experiences, encourage each other, and build friendships. Our goal is to not only improve physical health but also to create a supportive community where everyone feels empowered to make positive lifestyle changes.
- Keep Still Cares: Our Wellness Ambassador program for girls and young women of color, ages 16-21. This initiative offers holistic health workshops, cultural food wisdom sessions, and body-positive activities. Participants engage in peer-led events, strengths discovery, and develop culturally relevant resources. By blending traditional wisdom with modern health practices, we empower young women to embrace their heritage, lead community wellness initiatives, and build a supportive network of advocates for holistic health.
- Seton Center: Our Wellness Wednesdays program focuses on the well-being of the whole person. The sessions start with an inclusive physical activity like chair yoga, followed by a health-related workshops like nutrition, prevention/controlling chronic disease, mental health and more! In the spring we focus on oral health and will have students facilitate oral health workshops.
- Seventh Balance: Our LIVING PLENTIFULLY Program aim to empower Spanish-speaking women with management tools that successfully help them navigate conflict management and anxious attachment within the family unit. Our goal is to improve emotional and physical well-being practices via improved decision making will include activities like learning about different familial crisis types, managing familial conflicts, respectful parenting, the impact of practices that lead to digestive dysfunction and weight gain, sleep as an aid to all repair pathways- emotional and physical, and community building to reinforce bonds and foster a sense of togetherness within the group.
- What is Black: We will implement a comprehensive, multi-media approach to provide culturally informed health and wellness education tailored for Black families in Frederick County. The activities and strategies include podcasting & social media engagement that includes a series of episodes focused on healthy eating, culturally relevant nutrition practices, and wellness tips. Cooking demonstrations and in-store tours that showcase how to prepare culturally relevant, healthy meals guided tours in local grocery stores, helping participants learn how to shop for healthy, culturally relevant foods and understand food labels and monthly health and wellness articles that provide in-depth information on various health and wellness topics tailored to the needs of Black families.
- Women Solve: Our focus remains on promoting a balanced approach to diet and fitness, rather than one rooted in deprivation. The goal is to empower women and their children by introducing them to new ways of thinking about health and wellness, offering accessible and enjoyable opportunities to improve their physical activity and nutrition. Our activities will include a series of workshops, fitness events, and community gatherings that encourage participants to explore diverse forms of exercise and healthy eating practices. This will include continued offerings such as ice-skating sessions, Pilates classes, and dinner workshops with local chefs. Each event is designed to challenge conventional notions of diet and fitness, showing that healthy living can be both satisfying and sustainable. By providing these opportunities, we strive to create a supportive environment where participants can discover their own paths to better health, with a focus on balance, enjoyment, and long-term well-being.
Tobacco Prevention Grant (January 2024 - June 2024)
The Frederick County Health Department awarded grants to organizations to provide tobacco and vaping education programs to the communities they already serve in Frederick County. Funded programs will focus on tobacco and vaping prevention activities, such as educating youth in the community about the dangers of tobacco use, vaping, and electronic smoking devices (ESDs).
Below is a list of the grant recipients and a brief description of their projects.
Grant Recipients:
- Centro Hispano de Frederick: During its STEAM Summer program, Centro Hispano will educate Latino, Hispanic and at-risk youth on the effects of tobacco use and vaping using STEAM activities, videos, reading materials, and other resources. Centro Hispano will also hold discussion groups and encourage young people to express their thoughts about tobacco use and vaping through the use of mixed media art.
- Asian American Center of Frederick: With this grant AACF plans to carry out tobacco education by facilitating conversation between seniors and youth in their own communities. AACF’s AmeriCorps Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (“RSVP”) has leveraged Frederick’s senior residents in addressing the county’s most pressing issues. One of the flagship activities under this program is called “Across Ages,” which pairs seniors with youth to exchange knowledge and life-experiences. The goal of this collaboration will be to equip seniors of various immigrant, minority, and low-income communities of Frederick with information and materials that they will then disseminate in their homes and neighborhoods. An added component of an Instagram video/post competition amongst youth will be used to further scale the reach of tobacco education across social media realm.
- Women Solve: Women Solve will launch its program called "Y.E.T. - Your Every Tomorrow, Smoke and Vape-Free!," which will include a Student-Led Commercial PSA Production where students will actively participate in the development, filming, and editing of a compelling Public Service Announcement (PSA). This PSA will serve as a core educational tool for increasing awareness about the dangers of tobacco use and vaping. To maximize our program's reach, Women Solve will employ a multi-pronged approach to disseminate the PSA.
Beyond Diet & Exercise Grant (November 2023 - May 2024)
Multiple grants were awarded to organizations to provide healthy weight management programs that (i) focus on health disparities for women, particularly communities experiencing significant disparities; (ii) include interventions that consider more than diet and exercise; and (iii) focus on health determinants beyond the individual level.
Below is a list of the grant recipients and a brief description of their projects.
Grant Recipients:
- Asian American Center of Frederick (AACF) - we will create a community garden as part of our Family Support Services collaborating with some of AACF’s internal programs such as Citizenship Integrated Services, Seniors Volunteers and Senior Companion Program.
- Centro Hispano de Frederick - Our Program will be called Proyecto: Nutricion Sana - Familia Sana (Project: Healthy Nutrition-Healthy Family). Each Monday we will invite someone to talk about health topics and guided activities that are culturally acceptable in the Hispanic community.
- Evangelical Lutheran Church - The goal is to get folks moving around town together - caring for our bodies - and encouraging folk to invite the group to walk in their neighborhood. This connects people to the community and to each other. The funding will help provide the tools to track our walking and to create comradery. Folks will collect "Toe Tokens," when they hit mile markers and can earn fun prizes to incentivize their participation and get them to build consistency
- Farm to School Frederick - The overall goal for the activities is to transform the school community food environment to create a healthy food movement at in-school and after-school special programs. School administration desires to only include foods at events with high nutritional value that promote good health and create an environment where the policy, program and practice within the school aligns with the health and wellness goals of the School Improvement Plan. (Please note that none of the activities are related to the national school breakfast program or national school lunch program.)
- Girls on the Run - GOTR will expand our reach to ensure more girls in Frederick County who could benefit from the program can participate, without financial cost as a barrier. Our program cultivates the positive benefits of physical activity and running while, at the same time, consciously addressing harmful habits like negative self-talk, poor self-esteem and more that are prevalent among adolescent girls and detrimental to their physical AND mental health. Every GOTR lesson incorporates physical activity and sports skills to support the development of these qualities among girls and promote girls' confidence in physical activity, as well as a lifetime appreciation for active living and healthy habits.
- Jackson Chapel UMC - Our program includes meal portion control consisting of affordable healthy food choices, healthy snacks, increased water consumption, regular walking and low-intensity cardio exercises. We will also exercise together beginning with a series of regular chair exercises. Many people have some issues with mobility while still in the 50 - 60 years of life, so we'll be including chair exercises addressing core strengthening, stretching, chair yoga, hand and ankle weights for strengthening and toning.
- Keep Still Cares Foundation - The program exists to support the development of healthy lifestyle choices for 6th - 9th grade girls through fitness and nutrition education. Our approach is grounded in evidence-based research that supports a peer-group based model where girls are exposed to activities geared to build character, confidence, and healthy relationships education. Additionally, we are going beyond diet and exercise through our engagement model.
- Seton Center - Our new Seton Center Wellness Group will have two main strategies for the grant period: 1) promoting healthy food choices and meal preparation and 2) promoting healthy practices such as exercise and sleep. Our Wellness Group will be for everybody, but special attention will be given to women and senior citizens. Many of our clients do not have computer access so we will provide a paper journal for them to record their meals and activity, weight, personal goals, steps, and noticeable changes like “more energy, sleeping better, happier, etc.”
- Seventh Balance: We will connect with for Spanish Speaking Women (Ages 25-40) in our IMMERSE-MIND Program, an empowering 2-month initiative designed to promote healthy lifestyles and positive mindset. All sessions are conducted by professionals native to Latin American countries and conducted entirely in Spanish. Through this comprehensive program, we aim to empower Spanish-speaking women with the knowledge and tools to make positive lifestyle changes, nurture a positive mindset, and cultivate a sense of self-worth. The IMMERSE-MIND Program seeks to create lasting impact and transform the lives of these women, leading to improved health and well-being in the community.
- Str8 Health N Fitness - Our Fitness Forever Fitness Program will improve positive progression with overall health, motor skills, coordination, balance, strength, and longevity among seniors with weight problems and/or chronic diseases. This is the primary group of this project to support seniors 55+. It will help foster a supportive community environment that encourages social interaction and mutual support as a community. Our second project will be Fitness Stars Fitness Program to address special fitness activities for mother and children 3-9 years old and education about the effects of breastfeeding on postpartum weight reduction in the mother/birthing person. This will be peer programming for the clients attending the Early Childhood Education Program at the Family Support Services at AACF.
- Women Solve - Our proposed transformational initiative, "Get Fit Frederick," is dedicated to creating sustainable and inclusive exercise programs that combat unhealthy weight management practices within our community of minority women with children. We firmly believe that by nurturing a supportive environment and equipping individuals with the knowledge and tools for healthy living, we can create and sustain lasting positive change through multiple strategies. One strategy will be Cultural Nutrition Sharing on Social Media. Utilizing social media platforms, we will celebrate and share culturally diverse healthy cooking habits and recipes. This digital engagement will inspire healthier food choices while honoring the richness of our community's culinary traditions.