The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association remains committed to our goal of improving the cardiovascular health of all Americans by 20 percent while reducing deaths from cardiovascular diseases and stroke by 20 percent by 2010. We recognize the need to form strategic community partnerships in order to achieve this aggressive goal. To this end, The Community Impact Grants provides seed money for projects of community-based organizations located in and serving the NYC area.
Awarded projects will help further the goal of our organization by specifically focusing in improving the cardiovascular health of youth. These awardees have committed to help us fight this epidemic and help us build healthier lives free of cardiovascular disease and stroke.
2012 - 2013 Community Impact Grant Awardees
Women's Heart NY is multisite comprehensive wellness support program for female cardiology patients of Continuum Cardiovascular Centers of New York. The AHA's New York City Community Impact Grant will support the establishment of a new Spanish language family nutrition education program. Bilingual cardiologists and a registered dietitian will facilitate, "Salud con Sabor Latino,” a monthly workshop series that is kid-friendly and open to the community. Each session will be held at St. Luke's Hospital Center at Amsterdam Avenue and 114th Street and will include food demonstrations, discussion, and specific education topics such as Cardiovascular Wellness, Cholesterol, Healthy Lunches, Emotional eating, Low sodium cooking, Low fat cooking, Grocery shopping on a budget, Managing the holidays, and more!
Harvest Home Farmer’s Market (Harvest Home) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to increasing access of farm-fresh, locally grown produce to consumers in high need New York City communities. The 2013 AHA Community Impact Grant will support our Eating for Good Health Program - a two-part, community-centered seminar and healthy meal preparation workshop. The workshop addresses the unique nutritional, health and culinary needs of culturally-diverse families on a limited budget with a focus on nutrition education and healthy meal preparation. 
The Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center (MSAHC) is a program of the Mount Sinai Hospital and Division of Mount Sinai School of Medicine. We provide integrated and comprehensive services including primary healthcare, sexual and reproductive healthcare, mental healthcare, dental care, and health education and wellness services to adolescents ages 10-24. Funding from the American Heart Association will support our Teen Fit program. Teen Fit is a three tier program with a focus on nutrition, physical activity, and mental health.
The Harlem Healthy Heart Series is a goal of family education through workshops that teach healthy nutrition and novel approaches to shopping and preparing meals as well as increased awareness of cardiac risk factors and their manifestations. There will be monthly workshops, which will be presented by professionals who are experienced in community and healthcare primarily focusing on the nutrition and lifestyles of the family, designed to include sessions that are “practical” where attendees have the opportunity to create menus, learn about recipes, prepare, and sample foods. Field trips will be conducted, to grocery stores, green markets and green gardens by a seasoned organizer who already provides tours with a goal to cut cost and purchase healthier choices. Screening will be conducted measuring for obesity, blood pressure, sugar and cholesterol at the beginning, middle, and end of the program and appropriate referrals made back to the medical providers if needed.
Nourishing USA is a 501(c)(3), which strives to offer nutrition for all through direct service and digital nutritional advocacy. AHA Community Impact and Nourishing USA have banded together to create digital resource videos for both soup kitchen clients and volunteer coordinators at soup kitchens across America. These how-to videos will focus on transforming less nutritious packaged and canned food into more nutrient dense meal items. The video’s focus is on culinary and nutritional basics and highlight empowering the low-income community to make better health choices. In addition, there is an entertaining and interactive junior chef component focusing on teaching youth about eating healthy.
Peer Health Exchange’s mission is to give teenagers the knowledge and skills they need to make healthy decisions. The support from the American Heart Association’s Community Impact Grant will help train nearly 500 college volunteers to deliver our comprehensive health curriculum, free of cost, to 5,000 high need public school students, who would otherwise not receive health education. More specifically, this grant will provide the necessary support to implement our Time on Task pilot, an exciting new program initiative that will bring our program to middle school students. This support will provide a strong foundation for the continued growth of our unique and replicable peer health education model in a crucial year of organizational development.
The Variety Boys & Girls Club of Queens is the premier after-school and vacation center for school-aged children in Western Queens. We focus on three impact areas for children; Academic Success, Civic Engagement, and Healthy Lifestyles. The SNAP (Smart Nutrition and Athletics Program) program which is a series of cooking classes that include budgeting, shopping, preparing and serving the meals while exercising regularly will impact more than 200 children in 2013. This project combines physical activity with healthy food choices to encourage fun lifestyle changes for kids and their families.
Questions
Please reach out to Gesselle Carradero at NYCCIG@heart.org with any grant-related inquiries.
Additional Resources
Visit our American Heart Association Healthier Kids Website
