A $5 million
GSK IMPACT Grant to a Philadelphia collective led by
The Food Trust will allow the local food and health access leader to significantly expand its existing
HYPE (Healthy You, Positive Energy) program to reach 50,000 kids over the next three years.
The dollars, administered through the
Philadelphia Foundation, are going to boost programs at nine partner organizations citywide, with a special focus on North Philadelphia. The new collective’s work will be known as
Get HYPE Philly!
HYPE has already been working with local kids in about 100 different schools over the last several years, explains Food Trust executive director Yael Lehmann.
"It’s going to build on this existing program," she says. "And at the same time we’re going to be working with all these other groups," who will also be expanding their own work.
The Get HYPE collective includes Guild House West’s
Greener Partners, East Park Revitalization Alliance’s
Common Market,
The Village of Arts and Humanities, and the Garden Education Program of
Norris Square Neighborhood Project. Also partnering under the Food Trust umbrella are the
Free Library’s
Culinary Literacy Center (and branch-based teen mentoring program),
The Philadelphia Freedom Valley YMCA,
The Philadelphia Youth Network,
The Enterprise Center Community Development Corporation and
Equal Measure, which will help evaluate the Get HYPE programming’s impact throughout the grant’s three-year span.
Some of these organizations will focus on urban farming, nutrition, literacy through food-based activities, and exercise; others will build on different aspects of overall health such as workforce development and entrepreneurship.
"This is really going to strengthen the networking between all of our agencies," insists Lehmann. "It’s going to have this awesome ripple effect throughout the city."
Lehmann is particularly excited about the new youth advisory board the grant will create, which will consist of about fifteen to twenty teens from around the city. They will be able to direct mini-grants of up to $2,000 (or a total of $70,000 per year for the life of the program) to student-led initiatives focused on things such as exercise, urban agriculture and healthy food donations.
"It’s not just window-dressing. They’re going to have some work to do," Lehmann says of the students who will be involved (their selection process is still TBD).
The grant’s allowance for evaluating the programs is also important, she insists, "to be able to tell the story, and look at how this is impacting kids in Philly, and help us adjust as needed."
And she hopes Get HYPE Philly! will continue far beyond the initial three-year roll-out.
“From day one, all the collective partners and the Food Trust will be thinking about how to sustain this beyond the grant," she says. "We see this as a long-term project."
Writer: Alaina Mabaso
Source: Yael Lehmann, The Food Trust