Central Florida Vocal Arts (CFVA) is among five nonprofits to receive a total of $250,000 from Winter Park Health Foundation‘s Well Together Grant Awards Challenge, aimed at finding solutions to critical youth health issues in Winter Park, Eatonville, and Maitland.
The process began in March with an open call for proposals to address mental health, diabetes/prediabetes, and/or heart health. The first phase identified five finalists that each received a $50,000 grant to carry out their initiatives. CFVA Executive Director Theresa Smith-Levin told the32789 that the funds will help to expand existing relationships that aid the organization’s mission. “It’s not about creating brand new programming, but leaning into what we’re already doing that’s successful,” she said.
CFVA designed a performing arts curriculum to strengthen confidence and self-efficacy through one-on-one lessons and group voice classes at several locations including Boys and Girls Club sites, Pace Center for Girls, and the Center for Health and Wellbeing. “Individual lessons are very cost prohibitive,” Smith-Levin said. “Kids who are receiving services would not have the income to pursue those opportunities even if they had a strong interest and talent.” She hopes to augment the current CFVA schedule with additional classes and new locations, including Winter Park High and Maitland Middle School.
The other grant-winning proposals are as follows:
Grace Medical Home will bring its mobile medical unit to Eatonville six times a year for a series of one-week engagements. A collaboration with the Central Florida Black Nurses Association will facilitate consistent health outreach, education, and screenings. And partnerships with local churches and community centers will display the mobile unit’s medical services in historically underserved areas.
Center for Change will focus on its Heart Health Blood Pressure Program, dedicated to improving individual dedication to cardiovascular health and accessibility to support services. Staff will provide one-on-one education and counseling to 100 youth participants in Eatonville, Maitland, and Winter Park. Access to support services such as walking programs and nutrition classes will also be offered.
New Hope for Kids plans to improve the mental health of the children it serves by facilitating peer support groups and physical activity sessions. A new mental health-focused initiative will also teach the importance of regular exercise as a means to improve mental health and foster healthy behaviors.
UCF Foundation will provide critical supplies needed for UCF’s College of Health Professions and Science’s Healthy Living Initiative, which addresses health risk factors that directly contribute to heart disease and diabetes/prediabetes. Services are offered free of charge to all community members who choose to participate in Neighborhood Center for Families locations in Winter Park and Eatonville.
“These five outstanding nonprofits are dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of our communities in unique and different ways” said Winter Park Health Foundation President & CEO Patricia Maddox in a prepared statement. “Their projects submitted for consideration in the Challenge are innovative and will have long-lasting positive effects on three critical health challenges. We are proud to support this important work.”
The Challenge now moves into its second phase, where recipients will receive storytelling training from the Victory Cup Initiative: a Winter Park entity dedicated to promoting collaboration and partnerships between the nonprofit and business communities. The five organizations will use the training to pitch their ideas in a competition for an additional $50,000 commitment from the Foundation.
Smith-Levin says a soon-to-be-hired grant development position will be among the CFVA team members to benefit from the Victory Cup training, which will also help with future development and awareness efforts. “We want everyone to understand we’re more than pretty performances and music lessons,” she said. “This is a tool to create more confident leaders who are going to help move Central Florida in a positive direction for decades to come.”
The five finalist pitches will be heard during an October 11 event at the Center for Health & Wellbeing. For more information on Winter Park Health Foundation and the winning organizations, log onto WPHF.org.