As part of its ongoing commitment to the communities of Eatonville, Maitland, and Winter Park, today the Winter Park Health Foundation is sharing its latest group of grantee organizations and their innovative projects that support the health and wellbeing of their constituents: 

Grant: Power Up for Health
Grantee: MicheLee Puppets 

MicheLee Puppets empowers lives through the art of puppetry. MicheLee Puppets’ issue-based, educational performances, videos, and puppetry classes have promoted respect, responsibility, and positive life choices among more than 2.3 million Florida children, youth, and families.
 

A new grant from WPHF will support MicheLee’s Power Up for Health program that promotes healthy eating for children. Working with Center for Health & Wellbeing cooking program presenters/chefs and filmed in its Nutrition Theatre, MicheLee Puppets will plan and produce four entertaining and educational videos to teach children how to prepare healthy snacks and breakfasts. The videos will be distributed to the 13 Winter Park Health Foundation partner schools and organizations serving children and youth from Eatonville, Maitland and Winter Park, and will also be made available to all schools in Orange, Osceola, and Seminole counties.  

Grant: Nonprofit Employee Wellbeing Program
Grantee: The Gardens at DePugh  

The Gardens at DePugh will receive funding from WPHF to implement an employee wellbeing program including a variety of health and wellness activities for its staff members.   

Grant: Rollins College Sustainability Program – Bicycle Library Program
Grantee: Rollins College 

With grant funding from WPHF, the Rollins College Sustainability Program will resume its Bicycle Library Program that ran from 2009 until 2021. As part of this alternative transportation initiative, members of the Rollins community are able to check out a bike for up to three days using the same checkout system they would for a book, DVD, or camera.  Bikes can be used for on- and off-campus transportation – to and from class, as well as for shopping, leisure and exercise.  

Grant:  Community Partner Participation in Creating Healthy Communities 2022 Convening
Grantee:  University of Florida – Center for Arts in Medicine/Arts in Health Initiative 

With the overarching goal of creating stronger, healthier, and more equitable communities through cross-sector collaboration, the 2022 Creating Healthy Communities Convening will engage people from across the country who are working and thinking at the intersections of the arts, public health, and community development. The convening, to be held in October at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, provides a unique opportunity for local artists, clinicians, public health practitioners, and community health advocates to foster relationships, learn best practices, and share experiences with the field of arts in public health. 

A WPHF grant will enable up to 20 leaders and representatives from WPHF’s partner organizations in community health and/or the arts, and five WPHF/CHWB staff, to attend the 2022 Creating Healthy Communities Convening. This cohort of local participants will create the foundation to strengthen partnerships between the arts, public health, and community development sectors in Central Florida.   

Initiative: Stetson University Community Counseling Class Recommendations for Eatonville Nonprofit Organizations 

WPHF benefited from a unique opportunity to collaborate with Stetson University faculty and graduate students in the field of counseling to assess community needs in Eatonville.  Master’s level Clinical Mental Health and Marriage & Family Counseling students worked in groups assigned to ten Eatonville-serving nonprofit organizations. The goal was to develop and conduct needs assessments unique to each organization and the population served. Based on the students’ findings and interactions with nonprofit staff and residents, each group also proposed ways to address the identified needs.  

WPHF funding will underwrite the implementation of six of the projects and activities recommended by the Stetson graduate students with the following nonprofit organizations: Eatonville Library; Hungerford Elementary School via the Foundation for Orange County Public Schools; Neighborhood Center for Families in partnership with the Town of Eatonville; and the Winter Park Housing Authority.