New grant opportunity to build resilience in our community!
The Foundation is seeking partners to help protect and support mental wellbeing. Specifically, we are seeking creative solutions from organizations to help build and strengthen our resilience as a community. Proposals must address at least one of the following three areas of resilience:
- Physical: Investing in physical health and wellness to increase protective benefits from a healthy lifestyle.
- Personal: Supporting education in emotional regulation, reactivity and impulsivity, and problem-solving.
- Social: Establishing social supports to build connections to family, peers and mentors.
The deadline to apply is Monday, September 26, 2022.
Read the full RFP>>
Apply now>>
Two more grant opportunities coming up!
The Foundation will be releasing two more grant opportunities this fall:
- 2022 Diabetes Outreach Grant: Advance tactics and strategies that shape the physical and nutritional environments of Howard County.
- 2022 Advancing Community Advocacy Grant: Help organizations advance issues that matter most to their community.
Keep an eye out for an announcement in September about the criteria and deadlines for these two exciting funding opportunities! Visit our Grants page to learn more.
Take Action: Let’s make fruits and vegetables more affordable!
Howard County is known as an affluent community; but healthy food and drinks can be out of reach for lower income families and those who do not have access to transportation that can take them to farmers markets or grocery stores with fresh, healthy produce. The Maryland Market Money program is a statewide program that offers matching dollars to residents receiving SNAP benefits to use at local farmers markets – but the program is barely utilized in Howard County. What are we waiting for?
Let’s make the healthy choice is the easy choice – so good health can be achievable for everyone. Sign this petition today to make healthy fruits and vegetables more affordable in Howard County!
HoCo Unsweetened campaign led to 30% drop in soda sales
Great news! A recent study by the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health found that Howard County residents bought fewer sugary drinks compared to residents in a control community after extensive community engagement, a media campaign, and policy changes. The study, published in AJPM Focus, tracked supermarket sales data to measure the effectiveness of the Foundation’s HoCo Unsweetened campaign which was designed to reduce consumption of sugary drinks, the largest source of calories and sugar in our diets. The researchers compared sales data in 2012, before the campaign began, to sales data for each successive year and found notable declines in purchases over the six-year period.
Over the first six years of the campaign, there was a:
- 29.7% decrease in soda sales;
- 7.5% drop in fruit drink sales; and
- 33.5% drop in 100% fruit juice sales.
Read the press release>>
Read the full study>>
Read the Baltimore Sun’s editorial about the campaign>>
Reflections from Horizon’s 2022 staff retreat
Earlier this month, the Horizon team took some time out of the office to connect with each other at a staff retreat. Led by our terrific senior program director, Tiffany, the staff engaged in some deep conversations about how we work best as a team, how to tackle the challenges we are facing and how to achieve our personal and collective visions for the future. And, of course – we had a ton of fun together! Check out this month’s blog for reflections from each staff member about the time together and the biggest takeaways from our conversations as we approach our next strategic plan.
