Colorado Health Foundation Awards $1.6 Million to Cooking Matters
Posted by Ruth Stemler on Monday, May 9, 2011
To help residents of The Centennial State gain access to nutrition and cooking education, the Colorado Health Foundation has pledged a significant sum of money — $1,664,540 — to our regional Share Our Strength Cooking Matters program.
The new grant doubled the Foundation’s previous commitment in 2008 and will help fund Cooking Matters Colorado under the Foundation’s Healthy Living Initiative for three full years.
With this generous grant, the Colorado Health Foundation recognizes our unique approach and honors the success we have had over the last three years in empowering families with skills, knowledge, and confidence to prepare healthy and affordable meals. Now, our goal is to increase the number of underserved children and adults who eat adequate amounts of fruits and vegetables.
With these funds we will conduct approximately:
- 239 courses, reaching 2,750 families in 2011/12
- 243 courses, reaching 2,795 families in 2012/13
- 250 courses, reaching 2,875 families in 2013/14
An additional 4,000+ families will be reached each of these years at farmer’s markets, health fairs, food pantries and community events.
This grant will bring a solid Cooking Matters/Share Our Strength presence in more than 50 percent of Colorado’s 64 counties, facilitating more integration in the state within the Campaign to End Childhood Hunger.
Specifically, this grant funds our work to strengthen the Cooking Matters nutrition education program throughout Colorado, allowing us to:
- Continue gold-standard courses in the six-county Denver/Boulder Metro area
- Strengthen satellite programs in four locations:
- Southwestern Colo. - Durango
- South Central Colo. - Colorado Springs
- Western Slope - Grand Junction
- Northern Colo. - Greeley and Ft. Collins
- Conduct a “train-the-trainer” course program model in more rural communities throughout the state
- Fund a Spanish-language coordinator
- Fund a chef to better reach Colorado communities of color and address health disparities
- Pilot a program of Cooking Matters for Child Care Providers
- Initiate the Shopping Matters program
- Continue our healthy food and nutrition program to work with food banks and food pantries
Please join us in extending our gratitude to the Colorado Health Foundation for making our work in the region possible.
To learn more about the Cooking Matters cooking and nutritional education program and to explore volunteer opportunities in your area, visit http://cookingmatters.org.
The Share Our Strength Cooking Matters nutritional education program is nationally sponsored by the ConAgra Foods® Foundation and generously supported by the Walmart Foundation.
May 9, 2011 | 0 comment(s) | Tags: Colorado, Cooking Matters
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