August 14, 2025 • 35 mins
Talked with Healthier Glades project director, Annie Ifill and Dr. Lisa Wiese, FAU's Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing. Healthier Glades is the latest in the Palm Health Foundation Healthier Together initiative. "Healthier Glades launched in fall 2017 in the historically underserved rural area of Palm Beach County with rich culture and agricultural assets. “The Glades” is the collective of four communities—Belle Glade, Pahokee, South Bay and the unincorporated community of Canal Point—located in the western section of the county along Lake Okeechobee. Healthier Glades’ focus is behavioral health, with the goal for residents to thrive physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Community Partners of South Florida serves as the initiative’s fiscal agent." They partner with FAU and Dr. Wiese, collaborate with American Heart Association, providing programs such as chair yoga, seniors helping seniors, addressing metabolic syndrome, and providing mini grants that enable non-profits with resources to thrive and improve the behavioral health of the Glades. For more information, listeners can follow Healthier Glades on Facebook or go to https://healthiertogetherpbc.org/our-communities/healthier-glades/
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Ihearts Communities Presents Palm Beach Treasure Coast Perspective, Which dead
and now.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Good morning, Welcome to Calm Beach Treasure Coast Perspective. I'm
your host, dev Nev. Thanks for spending your weekend with me.
All kinds of great things going on at Culture Council
sending over. Lots of fun things going on now. Is
the Matchbox part of the Pop Culture Exhibition happening at
the Cornell Art Museum, going on now through September twenty eighth.
But right now it's kind of hot outside, so parks
(00:29):
and rec has definitely stepped up. You can now do
indoor pickleball, so you can get your pickleball fixin folks.
It's happening at West Boyton, Westgate and West Jupiter Recreation Centers.
Give them a call five six y one three five
five eleven twenty five and they can tell you what
time when the studios are open. Lots of fun things
(00:49):
happening at the more Commi Museums. They've got the o
Bone Festival happening this weekend. Go to morecommy dot org
and there's details there for you. And then the North
Museum Mark. Oh, so many cool things happening there right now.
They've got Laddie John Dill. It's Eastern Standard Time exhibition running,
and they have a fun Art after Dark coming up.
(01:09):
Of course, that's happened on Friday nights from five to
ten pm. August twenty second. It is Bianca Rosario and
the Smooth Operators, so don't check these out there. And
then of course there's Hatchling releases happening now through the
end of August at the Loggerhead Marine Life Center, OH.
Coming up on August twenty second, starting at seven point thirty,
(01:30):
it is a bat night hike and that's happening at
Riverbend Park in Jupiter. This one's good for kids ages
eight and up and it is five dollars a person,
and you want to reach out to the park to
make sure you sign up, so they have enough naturalists
on hand to help with that. Got a notice from
our friends at the Spady Culture Museum in Delray Beach
they've got a cool Black History study program coming up,
(01:51):
so registration is now open for that seven month curriculum.
It's stories the Brilliance Resilience of the African diaspora and
it's to middle school, high school, students and adults. Includes
a lot of really cool history and modern tools. So
it's going to be podcasting, social media, field trips, music,
and from information. You can go to Spadymuseum dot com.
(02:13):
Speaking of getting more information, I want to welcome my
guests for today. I have Miss Annie from the Healthier
Glades Project. You're the project director. Good morning, Good morning,
so thanks for coming in and doctor Lisa Wacey and
you are from the Florida Atlantic University's Christine E. Linn
College of Nursing. So Miss Annie, tell the listeners and
I what is Healthier Glades Project?
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Sure, Good morning everyone. Healthier Glaze is one of several
Healthier Together initiatives that is funded by Palm Health Foundation.
In twenty seventeen, Healthier Glaze was the last of the
six Healthier Together communities to come on board, where it
consists of a director and a community board that consists
(02:56):
of residents and community stakeholders to address issues on improving
overall health and wellness in the Glades community, with a
specific focus on behavioral health that was decided by the community.
So I was on the board of Healthier Glades before
I became the director in November. In twenty nineteen, and
so when I came on board, my focus was to
(03:20):
bring awareness about the importance of mental health and look
at it from a different lens in terms of unlocking
our community strengths. I'm born and raised in the Glades.
It's home for me. So one of the things we
wanted to do is give people a chance to see
the Glades in a different lens and tap into our
natural assets. So we have several natural assets that we
(03:41):
work with in the community to try to bring about
positive change. Since twenty nineteen, Healthier Glades has been in
a way, doing a lot of collaborating, a lot of networking,
a lot of scaffolding in terms of supporting local initiatives
that are already existing to make sure that they get
(04:01):
the support that they need to bring out the change
that they want to see in their respect to the communities.
When I talk about the Glades, I'm going from Canal
Point Pahokee Bell Glade in South Bay right alongside Lake Okachobe.
And so for Healthier Glades, we tap into our natural assets,
which could be financial, it could be social, it could
(04:22):
be physical, it could be intellectual, and it's definitely spiritual.
We have a very strong spiritual base in the Glades community.
So how we got involved with FAU College of Nursing
is when I became the director, I was quote unquote
volunteerd by one of my board members to say, hey,
(04:44):
you need to attend this meeting. And so when I
attended this meeting, Doctor WEC had this group of residents
that were part of the faith based community and they
were going around and bringing awareness around the importance of
brain health and that was something that was not really
being talked about in our communities. And so Doctor we
(05:05):
See formed this group in the Glades and they were
meeting every week every Wednesday at one o'clock to just
talk about how we can go about providing education and
screening in our communities. And so, with healthier Glades coming
in and wanted to focus with our focus on behavior
health as well as improving all overall health and wellness,
(05:28):
we partnered with the faith based health educators to provide
the support in terms of getting the word out, securing
locations to host these educational and screening events. And this
has been a relationship that has continued to bloom since
I became the director of November twenty nineteen.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Oh that's fantastic, and it's so cool that you're able
as part of the Healthier Glades to utilize those networks
that are already in place, and the faith based networks
are like just so rich. There like lots of locations
for folks to go, so if they can't make this
one this week, they can go next week to now
and catch up. So doctor Waycy, what are some of
(06:10):
the things you target with your conversations about the brain
health when you have these meetings.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
Well, first, I am so honored to be able to
work with a community leader such as Annie Eiffel, because
she's so well respected and known in the Glades, having,
as she said, been born and raised there. Is she
came back from the University of Florida to her community
because she wanted to make a difference there and that
has really been an amazing thing to witness. With the
(06:37):
support of Palm Health Foundation and Annie's leadership, we've been
able to do different initiatives, from increasing understanding about Alzheimer's disease,
to providing screenings for brain health and memory, to providing
interventions to help people to protect their brain health and
(06:58):
prevent decline. We've been able to offer cher yoga sessions
that were only online for the first venture that was
funded by Florida Atlantic University Eye Health Pillar, but then
picked up by Healthier Glades and sustained by community residents.
Some of the many Glades projects that Healthier Glades funds
(07:19):
have led to that program being expanded to both in
person and online and with different organizations supporting it, from
a be Well Foundation, to American Heart Association, to Palm
Health Foundation to private residence and now the city is
helping in that endeavor because it's been so well received,
(07:43):
and the American Heart Association has been a strong partner
with Healthier Glades and their health equity outreaches and providing
education about metabolic syndrome and addressing the different diseases that
fall under that umbrella to getntinue to make a difference
in health. And we also have worked on mental health initiatives.
(08:07):
Healthier Glades has a Mental Health Awareness Month where we
do a lot of mental health We have an upcoming
neuro arts on the Muck Festival coming this fall, and
all of this has been in this beautiful partnership with
Healthier Glades who taps into the community voices. We don't
(08:27):
do anything without the Community Advisory Board and the stakeholders
having a part of that. That one PM meeting that
Annie mentioned still goes on faithfully every Wednesday, and we
have all kinds of folks who offer services joining that
and it's really a great way to show how resonant
led engagement can really make a difference.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Oh that's so cool, and I think it's really what
a neat idea with the initiatives to go to the
residents because each area has different needs. So I like
the cheer yoga idea.
Speaker 4 (09:00):
So the cher yoga was an initiative of doctor G.
Young Park from the Department of Social Work to see
if it decreased pain, increased mobility, and decrease cognitive decline,
and that work's been published. We did see, even over
only three months, twice a week, an improvement in cognition
for our participants, which we're thirty two, and we had
(09:24):
Glades Central High School students who actually partner with us.
They went to the individual's homes, the residents of the
Glades and taught them how to use chromebooks which FAU
provided to log into the zoom access for the class.
And another important thing that has been accomplished because of
(09:47):
the healthier glades is a diabetes coalition is a very
strong partner. They come out and do at least monthly
diabetes screenings with the residents. They've done thousands of screenings.
There are always a few people that have elevated A
one C levels that they were not aware of when
we were able to connect them to services. W Walters
(10:10):
as the director of that, and she and her staff
personally have driven folks to the hospital to get care
when needed. And it's all interactive with the communities who
are saying, yes, we want you to come to this
location this month or this church next month. It's really
been a remarkable turnaround for this community.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
I think it's fantastic. And well, you said, there's some
people that had an elevated A one C and they
didn't know. If you feel good, you know, and when
you're not going to go to the doctor, if you
feel good, to be honest, and you can honestly have
high blood pressure and elevated A one C and be
functioning and not realize that you have some kind of
an issue and then you hopefully go for your annual checkup.
(10:54):
But some of us are busy and we don't get
there for that, and it can be sometimes a couple
of years before you go.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
So true, and by then you have kidney disease starting
or aggravating your heart disease. We know that diabetes is
a risk factor for dementia, so it's very proactive upstream
work that is going on.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
I didn't realize it was an indicator for the dementia.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
Yes it is. Actually, there's fourteen potentially modifiable risk factors
for Alzheimer's disease and we actually address education with all
of them. They range from lack of sleep to head trauma,
so there are many ways that you can help decrease
your risk for dementia. And exciting news in the Alzheimer's
(11:40):
Association International Conference, which just concluded last week, released the
first ever result of the US POINTER trial, which was
thousands and thousands of persons entered into a behavioral intervention
which included exercise like we do at Cheri Yoga, and
they had two groups. One that was structured doing you know,
(12:03):
really rigorous you know, two to three times a week
thirty thirty five minutes of exercise with social engagement, and
another group that just basically we're told this is important
and this is what you need to do. Here's some
ways to do it. And in both groups they had
improvement and cognition. It was much more with the structure group.
But that is now a goal that Healthier Glades and
(12:25):
the faith based health educators have is to bring that
sort of initiative formally to the glades.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Well, I think that's a fascinating study. And do you
think the folks with the structured classes that included the
social aspect, because they the physical activity and the social engagement,
do you think maybe that's why they may have had
better results.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
Oh, you are absolutely right. We have shown that social
isolation is a significant respactor for dementia. So helping people
to connect and social engage even when there's not a
lot of infrastructure resources in the glades, it really makes
a big difference. And that's another initiative of Healthier Glades
(13:06):
is they are looking at the belt environment to increase
that social engagement.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Okay, well, I know I went years ago with friend
to one of them. It was a country music venue
and like every Starry, every Tuesday night was Miss Cheryl's
line dancing class and it was free. Everybody just go
and show up. And she would teach you the steps.
To this day, I do not know which dance goes
with which song, but there is like, well, boot scoot
and boogie comes on, there is actually a boot scoot
(13:33):
and boogie dance step that goes with that. So a
lot of the folks that went there, they were raised
on country music and doing this dancing, so they knew
immediately what steps went with what dance. The rest of us, well,
that was It was fun, but it was quite the
learning curve. But when I had spoken with some of
the doctors about the Alzheimer's, they're like learning a new
(13:54):
style of dance in a setting like that, you're getting
a threefold impact because you're gett the social part. Your
brain is actually rewiring to learn the new steps and
remembering them, you know. So it was a whole and
then you're physically active, so like you're hitting a lot
of components. And it was a lot of fun. But
I just remember the most incredibly good looking man behind
(14:16):
me saying, baby girl, your other left.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
Make sure absolutely right. That's a wonderful way to maintain
your brain brain health.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
So I think different things like you're doing like you're
doing the chery yoga. I like that it's an inclusive
program that everybody can participate in, right so miss any So,
when folks are in the Glades and they want to
find out about some of the programs, like like say
they have got their grandma's starting to exhibit some signs
of dementia a little bit more forgetfulness than normal, how
(14:46):
do they reach out to you see what programs are available.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
So for us, we're a little unique because we're not
a direct service provider because we work in community. So
with the relationships that I had with different community partners
and providers, usually I'll get folks to reach out to
me through social media through our Healthier Glazed Facebook or
Instagram page, or they'll call me or they'll send me
(15:09):
an email, and then I will respond back to them
and give them information as well. We also have the
Glazes Initiative that has their Glazed Community Updates. So anybody
who's an organization that is providing a specific service for
the Glaze area, they usually send their stuff to the
Glazed Community Updates and that gets dispersed out to our
local partners and actually residents can sign up for that
(15:31):
information as well. And then we also have with the
city of Belglade, missus Mary Evans. She does her community
advocacy show on the radio with Churchboard will Past the Pope,
and they do that every Friday at nine forty five,
So if there's anything that's going on in community, they
(15:52):
get the word out as well. So for our community,
we're very close knit, we're relational. It's all about relationship
in our community. With the Glades, they're also very guarded,
but in a in a protective way, I will say,
because there's been too many times when organizations or people
(16:13):
have come and go in our communities and just as
somebody get comfortable with a resource or a service is gone.
And so with Healthier Glades. What makes Healthier Glades unique
in a sense, and I think what has helped Healthier
Glades a lot is because the people that are part
of Healthier Glades are either from the community or have
(16:34):
worked in the community a long time, and so that
we can we can relate and give input on things
that we see. I think one of the unique things
with what Palm Health did with this Healthier Together initiative.
Usually when funders want to bring services to a community,
sometime they don't ask the community. That's what they want,
(16:56):
they just bring it and then they can't understand why
nobody's utilizing the service. Well, you never asked them. So
Palm Health was intentional of making sure that we ask
community what they wanted. And so when I was part
of the board, we went to Belglade, South Bay and
(17:18):
pahoky Caneal Point was able to participate in the one
in Pahochy and we asked them, Hey, we got this
X amount of dollars that we want to invest in
these communities for five years, and these are the focused
areas we want to We're interested in focusing on give
us inputing what you want us to do. I'm a
social worker by profession. Bless your heart, Lisa, you said
(17:39):
University of Florida, but I'm a Florida State seminole. That's
all right, it's all good. Now I needed this football
seasons about to start and I gotta make sure I
gotta represent so God knows, but so yeah. So with
that being from the community worked in the community as
a social worker, I got a chance to work the
(18:01):
regularly with folks. So what we did was we gathered
information from the areas and asking what they wanted to do.
I'm gonna be honest, I was surprised they said behavior
health because of our fear of and a lot of
our residents tied behavior mental health with DCF formerly known
as HRS, so we had to really I was very
(18:24):
surprised that they focused on that, but that's what they
wanted to do. And then a couple of years later
we had COVID, and so when I came on board
as the director, I came on in November. Everything shut
down in March, and so we had to be very
creative in terms of how to address that social isolation
(18:45):
that was happening. And so when doctor Weis was talking
about miss Canty, ms Canty actually was one of our
mini grant awardees. Oh okay, So what happened was ms
Canty came up with an idea, let's say, hey, seniors
helping seniors. So they took high school students, mostly juniors
and seniors, and connected them with our Senior Citizens group
(19:09):
because we have very active senior programs in the Glades,
and connected them to teach them how to navigate this technology.
Because remember when everything went virtual appointments, Doctor appointments were virtual,
getting folks to sign in to be on a TV screen.
So what happened was with her grant that she was
(19:30):
awarded by us, she was able to teach those kids
how to work with seniors, bridged that generational gap and
make sure that the seniors were able to still get
their doctor's appointments even though they weren't able to physically
go there. And so because of that, then Lisa got
connected with ms Canty and then applied for a grant
(19:52):
to continue this and that's really how cher Yoga started.
And then so when I came on as to direct
what are the members of the faith based Health Educators,
applied for some additional funding to pay for an instructor
and then after that it just continued. And then when
Healthier Glades begin to be more involved with the faith
(20:15):
based health Educators, Healthier Glades provide some of that financial
support to keep the chir Yoga classes going. So we
just started back August fifth, so we'll be continuing now.
And this is another thing we're partnerships. We're now partnering
with Palmbish County to pay for the instructors to continue
those classes. So now it's just it's all about accessing
(20:39):
your assets and bridging those gaps to make sure that
things happen. So I think one of the biggest things
for healthier glades that we've been able to do is
build residents capacity to bring about change in their own
communities and the minigrants that have been a big help
with that. We have awarded probably over forty plus folks
(21:03):
with grants and over one hundred, one hundred and forty
thousand dollars in awards, and so now these awardees now
are now applied for bigger grants and getting more money
that's being put back into the glazed community, which is
which is good. So I think that's if I had
to say a strength, that would be one of our
(21:23):
strengths definitely.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Well, and that is such a great outcome because you
want to build up their mental health, the resilience, all
that stuff. The economic benefit that's just like a bonus,
you know, Like I don't know that was necessarily part
of the original plan, but it's a nice it's a
nice side effector if you will, right, because then like
(21:45):
you said, then that strengthens the community relationships as a whole.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
Yeah, And I still have relationships with our passed Mintegrant
awardees to this day. So what would happen is for
the one of the things we were trying to do
is we knew that there were opptitortunities for our community
to apply for funding, but I don't know if our
community was ready to apply. So when we first started,
I mean it took a while. It was a slow bill.
(22:11):
Now I get people calling me all the time when
the grant started. When the grant started, so we're starting
at now August twentieth. But what would happen is we
had folks that were already doing things in community anyway.
So I would say, hey, you know, healthy ladies, getting
ready to start our grant. I encourage you to apply.
And some of those folks, some of them took heed
(22:32):
to what I said. Some of them didn't. But the
ones who took heed, they were able to get awarded.
We were giving grants up to three thousand dollars for
residents and up to two thousand dollars for grassroom organizations.
And what we were doing was for most funders, you
have to either be a five or one C three
(22:54):
or formal organization. Well a lot of folks don't have that.
But what happened was we were able to based on
the folks who applied, they were able to take that
experience and build on it. So now folks who didn't
have five oh one c threes not have it and
now are able to apply for those bigger grants and
then we're And it also shifted the way funders looked
(23:16):
at how to get folks to apply as well. So
Palm Health has been on the forefront of trying to
change or flip the script on how we look at
funding opportunities for grassroots and residents.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
I agree, and Palm Health is great at that because
sometimes all you need is a couple grand to get going,
or or you are going and that couple grand is
gonna allow you to get a better car to or
you know, if you're things out of a truck service.
You know, for like say, if you're doing deliveries for folks,
you get a better equipment or better base, right, or
if you need an extra yoga teacher, you have the
(23:53):
money to hire one.
Speaker 4 (23:54):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
So I think it's great. So I always recommend folks,
if it's something you're interested in and it calls to you,
go ahead and investigate it. Try learning something new. When
I turned fifty, I was interested in baking. So I
went to the library and got cookbooks. Every weekend, I
go get cookbooks, go to the restaurant, have my lunch.
It's like you're having lunch and looking at a COOKOK.
(24:14):
I'm like, yeah, I'm going to figureut what cakes I
want to make, and then the staff of like, can
you make this? So it was like a whole way
of communicating and connecting with people. And then my friends
had a business and it was like a little cottage industry.
So I did that for a couple of years. I
met a lot of amazing people. It was not financially
lucrative for me, but it was such a cool thing,
(24:36):
like you know, helping with preventing dementia. I was not
at home alone. My mom always says, you're not gonna
be meant anybody sitting on your couch. So beginning up,
getting out, learning something new, you know, trying a different thing.
But yeah, so, and I always think it's cool when
the charities can help each other and like you said,
have that synergy where you're all working together, and then
(24:57):
now having the county being a funder as well, it's
spent time. Yeah, because that's really.
Speaker 4 (25:01):
It's a great synergy. As you said, that's such a
wonderful word because we're doing so much. I wanted to
just mention it struck me when you said economic difference.
As part of the original Cheriogragrant, the doctor Park and
I got the high school students received one thousand dollars stipend.
(25:22):
There were twenty of them, and they used it for
their college applications. We worked with Miss Canti. They were
able to put this volunteer service on their applications and
we have students who went to top tier universities from
that class, from Harvard to Emory.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
It was it was impressive, and yeah, what a cool
thing to do. And like that is in need. I know, kids,
they need their own community service hours. That's a fun one.
They love the technology and if they're good at it,
and then they're encouraged to learn more. Right, And like
my whole thing is like if you can teach somebody
how to do it, then you really know it because
(26:00):
and then also teaches them patients. And I got to
say reframing because like sometimes when you teach folks, we
all learn slightly different. There's the people, the visual people,
the hands on people. People have to hear it like
five times, all different ways of learning things. So I
think that would expose them to that as well, because
some of the signs, the seediers, they need a lot
(26:21):
of the repetition. Oh yeah, because we had a seller
that was a little bit older, and hey, we forget
how to turn the computer on. Every day. Once we
turned it on, he was fine. He was good for
the whole day. Next day, turn it back on again,
and he's good for the day. So I'm like, okay,
so I just could turn BOP's computer on, don't fuss
and the just turn it on. Help him out. So but yeah,
and he worked here for like five years doing that.
(26:43):
It was amazing. But it was just like a simple
thing to help somebody out. Yeah, And that simple thing
had a great impact for them because, like you said,
then that money that stipend helped with their fees to apply,
so not only to get like the the personal emotional
reward of helping somebody, they actually got a like a
more tangible reward, which I think sometimes that's for the
(27:06):
younger folks, that's a little more helpful.
Speaker 4 (27:08):
Yes, that intergenerational learning for both the older adult and
the high school student was very impactful and that's included
in the article. But again I think seeing these these
mariad of residents of the Glades across the lifespan participating
in these objects is amazing.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Miss any object. These really cool programs happening. The grantee
process is opening up again soon. Yeah, they've got a
great program. How do I apply?
Speaker 3 (27:41):
Yes, So our grant process has evolved over the years.
What we're doing now is we realize that we need
before anybody can apply, we need to do some education
and training. So what we've done for the past couple
of years we have offered a grant writing boot camp,
(28:02):
if you will, where we offer five sessions to talk
about the grant writing process for budgets, project development, data
collection of how to complete an application. Once they go
through those sessions, they can submit an application to apply.
There'll be a a link for them to submit their application.
(28:25):
Then we have a review team that reviews it and
then they're awarded sometime around November December, and then they'll
be able to implement their projects by May thirty six,
so they can so this year. In the past, it
used to be open to anyone, but right now what
we're doing is we want to make sure that folks
(28:47):
get the training before they apply because one of the
things we realized we had some great ideas that have
been submitted and didn't go through the process because they
didn't follow directions. They went over word count They then
complete a section of the application, and those are those
little things that if we can teach our folks how
(29:07):
to not make those little small mistakes, it'll take they'll
go a long way. I've had folks that did it,
that did that, they learned and then they were able
to apply again and then got awarded. So I think
our leadership team said, well, instead of going through all that,
let's give them the training first. So we have invited
local funders who are experts in grant process to provide
(29:32):
these trainings and so we've been doing it now for
the past two years and we're doing it again. The
sessions start August twentieth. Every Wednesday at five thirty is
going to be at the Pombish County Glades Recovery Hub.
Twenty five Dark Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard is right
next to the Cuban Restaurant. For folks from the Glades,
(29:55):
it's the old drug store on avenue E. Yeah, so
it'll be there and we'll provide refreshments and training and
then after that the application will go live on September
twenty ninth and they'll have about three weeks to submit it.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
That sounds awesome and I would have I would also
think that once they learn the process for you, they
can also apply that same kind of grant application technique
for other grants matter find Trader our workshops.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
Our workshops are catered not necessarily as much for our application,
but for any application that they apply for. Because one
of the things that we realize is our community. And
I said, for me, because I'm part of the community,
we want to do things right and if we feel
that we've messed up, we won't try again. And I'm
(30:45):
trying to encourage our community don't give up. If you
don't do it right the first time, keep going.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
Well, I can add on to that, definitely keep going
because I've burnt so many cakes. I just tried it again.
But I definitely encoage people try again because oh my gosh, my,
be something simple that, like you said, they went over
the work hout, easy to fix.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
Just trygne another thing too. We're trying to prepare them
because our process, I feel is a little much more
lenient if they were applied for other formal organizations. So
we use our process as a way to gradually introduce
them to the grant writing space. But we also want
to give them education, Like, if you think we're being hard,
(31:27):
they will be much harder. So if we can show
you now, then you're ahead of the game. So yeah,
so we're encouraging residents. So you do have to be
a resident of the Glades. You cannot be someone from
Palm Beach or like I said, you to apply, you
have to be a resident from the Glades. If you
are an organization or you have a grassroot grow, you
(31:49):
have to have a physical Glades address. The reason why
because I know when we did it our first year,
we had folks from West del Ray, bournt and everywhere
trying to apply. And our thing is we want the
money to go into community. So we want to make
sure that our community folks were able to apply.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
Right, and if you live there, you're invested in making
that community successful. Absolutely, I think that's a great adduendum
if you will. So, is there a website they go
to or a phone umber they can call to get
more information or stil like on Facebook, so they can.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
Go to our Facebook page. It's up now, it's Healthier Glades.
The information for the workshops are already online. They could
also email me at ANTI dot Glades at HTPBC dot
org if they want to know more information about the
grant process, or they can call me on my sale
at five six one six eight five four eight two
(32:41):
nine that's my work sale. They can call me as well.
I mean, from the time I posted on Facebook, I
had about several calls asking me about the grant and
how to register for the class. So people are expressing interest.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
That's fantastic. So that's cool. I think it's so too neat,
and like you said, it's it's meeting the need that
they want met.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
Right, and it's also giving the community a chance to
continue what they're doing and invest in their own community.
Because one of the things we realize is if we want,
if we want our communities to change, we have to
do it from the ground up. And so I think
back to all our passed many grand awardees, and some
of these folks have been doing stuff for years. I
(33:22):
think of one that we had this past year, she
has been doing this girl mentoring group. Missus Wilkinson. She's
been doing this girl mentoring group at her school because
she's a teacher for more than ten plus years and
she's been always going out of her pocket to pay
for it. So I told her, I said, why don't
you apply, you know, And she was a little hesitant
(33:44):
at first, but she did and she ended up being awarded.
So now this last year she didn't have to worry
about the expense because she got the funding to continue it.
So now working with her on establishing her five oh
one C three so she can apply for some more
dollars like from Community Foundation, United Way, Quantum in those
(34:05):
other places. So yeah, So one of the things we're
starting to see what our Minigrant awardees is that personal growth.
And I've seen folks that have gotten fifteen thousand. We
only give three folks have gotten fifteen thousand, twenty five
thousand to continue their projects. I think of Miss Brispence
with moms on the mook because we don't have labor
(34:29):
and delivery at our hospital. So she she's a dula.
So what she does is she took her her love
for being a doula and turn it into an organization
that provides support for pregnant moms, and so she's been
doing all that stuff. So it's been I mean to
see some of that growth with our recipients. It's just
(34:49):
it just reinforces to me that we're on the right
track and we're doing.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
The right thing.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
Oh, definitely, it's gonna be very healthier glades very soon.
If it well, already is healthier, but it's gonna given better.
What is the Facebook page and the Instagram.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
Page, it's healthier glades. So you just side in healthier glades,
you'll see it.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
Very cool. Well, ladies, thanks for coming in and sharing
all the information with us. Thanks for doing such a
cool thing in the community. Obviously very much needed and
is definitely very much appreciated. If you need more information,
reach out to me Palm Beach Perspective at iHeartMedia dot com.
Happy to forward on the details and don't forget. You
can always download the shows a podcast on our iHeartRadio app.
Hope everybody has a wonderful weekend. I'm devn and this
(35:28):
has been my perspective. Remember life is good, so be
your healthieste and let's get out there and live it.
Until next week enjoy.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
iHeart Communities, the community engagement arm of the station, champions
critical issues and causes in the area of health and wellness,
social impact, education, literacy, and music and art. Join us
next week for Palm Beach Treasure Coast Perspective
Ihearts Communities Presents Palm Beach Treasure Coast Perspective, Which dead
and now.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Good morning, Welcome to Calm Beach Treasure Coast Perspective. I'm
your host, dev Nev. Thanks for spending your weekend with me.
All kinds of great things going on at Culture Council
sending over. Lots of fun things going on now. Is
the Matchbox part of the Pop Culture Exhibition happening at
the Cornell Art Museum, going on now through September twenty eighth.
But right now it's kind of hot outside, so parks
(00:29):
and rec has definitely stepped up. You can now do
indoor pickleball, so you can get your pickleball fixin folks.
It's happening at West Boyton, Westgate and West Jupiter Recreation Centers.
Give them a call five six y one three five
five eleven twenty five and they can tell you what
time when the studios are open. Lots of fun things
(00:49):
happening at the more Commi Museums. They've got the o
Bone Festival happening this weekend. Go to morecommy dot org
and there's details there for you. And then the North
Museum Mark. Oh, so many cool things happening there right now.
They've got Laddie John Dill. It's Eastern Standard Time exhibition running,
and they have a fun Art after Dark coming up.
(01:09):
Of course, that's happened on Friday nights from five to
ten pm. August twenty second. It is Bianca Rosario and
the Smooth Operators, so don't check these out there. And
then of course there's Hatchling releases happening now through the
end of August at the Loggerhead Marine Life Center, OH.
Coming up on August twenty second, starting at seven point thirty,
(01:30):
it is a bat night hike and that's happening at
Riverbend Park in Jupiter. This one's good for kids ages
eight and up and it is five dollars a person,
and you want to reach out to the park to
make sure you sign up, so they have enough naturalists
on hand to help with that. Got a notice from
our friends at the Spady Culture Museum in Delray Beach
they've got a cool Black History study program coming up,
(01:51):
so registration is now open for that seven month curriculum.
It's stories the Brilliance Resilience of the African diaspora and
it's to middle school, high school, students and adults. Includes
a lot of really cool history and modern tools. So
it's going to be podcasting, social media, field trips, music,
and from information. You can go to Spadymuseum dot com.
(02:13):
Speaking of getting more information, I want to welcome my
guests for today. I have Miss Annie from the Healthier
Glades Project. You're the project director. Good morning, Good morning,
so thanks for coming in and doctor Lisa Wacey and
you are from the Florida Atlantic University's Christine E. Linn
College of Nursing. So Miss Annie, tell the listeners and
I what is Healthier Glades Project?
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Sure, Good morning everyone. Healthier Glaze is one of several
Healthier Together initiatives that is funded by Palm Health Foundation.
In twenty seventeen, Healthier Glaze was the last of the
six Healthier Together communities to come on board, where it
consists of a director and a community board that consists
(02:56):
of residents and community stakeholders to address issues on improving
overall health and wellness in the Glades community, with a
specific focus on behavioral health that was decided by the community.
So I was on the board of Healthier Glades before
I became the director in November. In twenty nineteen, and
so when I came on board, my focus was to
(03:20):
bring awareness about the importance of mental health and look
at it from a different lens in terms of unlocking
our community strengths. I'm born and raised in the Glades.
It's home for me. So one of the things we
wanted to do is give people a chance to see
the Glades in a different lens and tap into our
natural assets. So we have several natural assets that we
(03:41):
work with in the community to try to bring about
positive change. Since twenty nineteen, Healthier Glades has been in
a way, doing a lot of collaborating, a lot of networking,
a lot of scaffolding in terms of supporting local initiatives
that are already existing to make sure that they get
(04:01):
the support that they need to bring out the change
that they want to see in their respect to the communities.
When I talk about the Glades, I'm going from Canal
Point Pahokee Bell Glade in South Bay right alongside Lake Okachobe.
And so for Healthier Glades, we tap into our natural assets,
which could be financial, it could be social, it could
(04:22):
be physical, it could be intellectual, and it's definitely spiritual.
We have a very strong spiritual base in the Glades community.
So how we got involved with FAU College of Nursing
is when I became the director, I was quote unquote
volunteerd by one of my board members to say, hey,
(04:44):
you need to attend this meeting. And so when I
attended this meeting, Doctor WEC had this group of residents
that were part of the faith based community and they
were going around and bringing awareness around the importance of
brain health and that was something that was not really
being talked about in our communities. And so Doctor we
(05:05):
See formed this group in the Glades and they were
meeting every week every Wednesday at one o'clock to just
talk about how we can go about providing education and
screening in our communities. And so, with healthier Glades coming
in and wanted to focus with our focus on behavior
health as well as improving all overall health and wellness,
(05:28):
we partnered with the faith based health educators to provide
the support in terms of getting the word out, securing
locations to host these educational and screening events. And this
has been a relationship that has continued to bloom since
I became the director of November twenty nineteen.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Oh that's fantastic, and it's so cool that you're able
as part of the Healthier Glades to utilize those networks
that are already in place, and the faith based networks
are like just so rich. There like lots of locations
for folks to go, so if they can't make this
one this week, they can go next week to now
and catch up. So doctor Waycy, what are some of
(06:10):
the things you target with your conversations about the brain
health when you have these meetings.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
Well, first, I am so honored to be able to
work with a community leader such as Annie Eiffel, because
she's so well respected and known in the Glades, having,
as she said, been born and raised there. Is she
came back from the University of Florida to her community
because she wanted to make a difference there and that
has really been an amazing thing to witness. With the
(06:37):
support of Palm Health Foundation and Annie's leadership, we've been
able to do different initiatives, from increasing understanding about Alzheimer's disease,
to providing screenings for brain health and memory, to providing
interventions to help people to protect their brain health and
(06:58):
prevent decline. We've been able to offer cher yoga sessions
that were only online for the first venture that was
funded by Florida Atlantic University Eye Health Pillar, but then
picked up by Healthier Glades and sustained by community residents.
Some of the many Glades projects that Healthier Glades funds
(07:19):
have led to that program being expanded to both in
person and online and with different organizations supporting it, from
a be Well Foundation, to American Heart Association, to Palm
Health Foundation to private residence and now the city is
helping in that endeavor because it's been so well received,
(07:43):
and the American Heart Association has been a strong partner
with Healthier Glades and their health equity outreaches and providing
education about metabolic syndrome and addressing the different diseases that
fall under that umbrella to getntinue to make a difference
in health. And we also have worked on mental health initiatives.
(08:07):
Healthier Glades has a Mental Health Awareness Month where we
do a lot of mental health We have an upcoming
neuro arts on the Muck Festival coming this fall, and
all of this has been in this beautiful partnership with
Healthier Glades who taps into the community voices. We don't
(08:27):
do anything without the Community Advisory Board and the stakeholders
having a part of that. That one PM meeting that
Annie mentioned still goes on faithfully every Wednesday, and we
have all kinds of folks who offer services joining that
and it's really a great way to show how resonant
led engagement can really make a difference.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Oh that's so cool, and I think it's really what
a neat idea with the initiatives to go to the
residents because each area has different needs. So I like
the cheer yoga idea.
Speaker 4 (09:00):
So the cher yoga was an initiative of doctor G.
Young Park from the Department of Social Work to see
if it decreased pain, increased mobility, and decrease cognitive decline,
and that work's been published. We did see, even over
only three months, twice a week, an improvement in cognition
for our participants, which we're thirty two, and we had
(09:24):
Glades Central High School students who actually partner with us.
They went to the individual's homes, the residents of the
Glades and taught them how to use chromebooks which FAU
provided to log into the zoom access for the class.
And another important thing that has been accomplished because of
(09:47):
the healthier glades is a diabetes coalition is a very
strong partner. They come out and do at least monthly
diabetes screenings with the residents. They've done thousands of screenings.
There are always a few people that have elevated A
one C levels that they were not aware of when
we were able to connect them to services. W Walters
(10:10):
as the director of that, and she and her staff
personally have driven folks to the hospital to get care
when needed. And it's all interactive with the communities who
are saying, yes, we want you to come to this
location this month or this church next month. It's really
been a remarkable turnaround for this community.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
I think it's fantastic. And well, you said, there's some
people that had an elevated A one C and they
didn't know. If you feel good, you know, and when
you're not going to go to the doctor, if you
feel good, to be honest, and you can honestly have
high blood pressure and elevated A one C and be
functioning and not realize that you have some kind of
an issue and then you hopefully go for your annual checkup.
(10:54):
But some of us are busy and we don't get
there for that, and it can be sometimes a couple
of years before you go.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
So true, and by then you have kidney disease starting
or aggravating your heart disease. We know that diabetes is
a risk factor for dementia, so it's very proactive upstream
work that is going on.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
I didn't realize it was an indicator for the dementia.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
Yes it is. Actually, there's fourteen potentially modifiable risk factors
for Alzheimer's disease and we actually address education with all
of them. They range from lack of sleep to head trauma,
so there are many ways that you can help decrease
your risk for dementia. And exciting news in the Alzheimer's
(11:40):
Association International Conference, which just concluded last week, released the
first ever result of the US POINTER trial, which was
thousands and thousands of persons entered into a behavioral intervention
which included exercise like we do at Cheri Yoga, and
they had two groups. One that was structured doing you know,
(12:03):
really rigorous you know, two to three times a week
thirty thirty five minutes of exercise with social engagement, and
another group that just basically we're told this is important
and this is what you need to do. Here's some
ways to do it. And in both groups they had
improvement and cognition. It was much more with the structure group.
But that is now a goal that Healthier Glades and
(12:25):
the faith based health educators have is to bring that
sort of initiative formally to the glades.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Well, I think that's a fascinating study. And do you
think the folks with the structured classes that included the
social aspect, because they the physical activity and the social engagement,
do you think maybe that's why they may have had
better results.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
Oh, you are absolutely right. We have shown that social
isolation is a significant respactor for dementia. So helping people
to connect and social engage even when there's not a
lot of infrastructure resources in the glades, it really makes
a big difference. And that's another initiative of Healthier Glades
(13:06):
is they are looking at the belt environment to increase
that social engagement.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Okay, well, I know I went years ago with friend
to one of them. It was a country music venue
and like every Starry, every Tuesday night was Miss Cheryl's
line dancing class and it was free. Everybody just go
and show up. And she would teach you the steps.
To this day, I do not know which dance goes
with which song, but there is like, well, boot scoot
and boogie comes on, there is actually a boot scoot
(13:33):
and boogie dance step that goes with that. So a
lot of the folks that went there, they were raised
on country music and doing this dancing, so they knew
immediately what steps went with what dance. The rest of us, well,
that was It was fun, but it was quite the
learning curve. But when I had spoken with some of
the doctors about the Alzheimer's, they're like learning a new
(13:54):
style of dance in a setting like that, you're getting
a threefold impact because you're gett the social part. Your
brain is actually rewiring to learn the new steps and
remembering them, you know. So it was a whole and
then you're physically active, so like you're hitting a lot
of components. And it was a lot of fun. But
I just remember the most incredibly good looking man behind
(14:16):
me saying, baby girl, your other left.
Speaker 4 (14:20):
Make sure absolutely right. That's a wonderful way to maintain
your brain brain health.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
So I think different things like you're doing like you're
doing the chery yoga. I like that it's an inclusive
program that everybody can participate in, right so miss any So,
when folks are in the Glades and they want to
find out about some of the programs, like like say
they have got their grandma's starting to exhibit some signs
of dementia a little bit more forgetfulness than normal, how
(14:46):
do they reach out to you see what programs are available.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
So for us, we're a little unique because we're not
a direct service provider because we work in community. So
with the relationships that I had with different community partners
and providers, usually I'll get folks to reach out to
me through social media through our Healthier Glazed Facebook or
Instagram page, or they'll call me or they'll send me
(15:09):
an email, and then I will respond back to them
and give them information as well. We also have the
Glazes Initiative that has their Glazed Community Updates. So anybody
who's an organization that is providing a specific service for
the Glaze area, they usually send their stuff to the
Glazed Community Updates and that gets dispersed out to our
local partners and actually residents can sign up for that
(15:31):
information as well. And then we also have with the
city of Belglade, missus Mary Evans. She does her community
advocacy show on the radio with Churchboard will Past the Pope,
and they do that every Friday at nine forty five,
So if there's anything that's going on in community, they
(15:52):
get the word out as well. So for our community,
we're very close knit, we're relational. It's all about relationship
in our community. With the Glades, they're also very guarded,
but in a in a protective way, I will say,
because there's been too many times when organizations or people
(16:13):
have come and go in our communities and just as
somebody get comfortable with a resource or a service is gone.
And so with Healthier Glades. What makes Healthier Glades unique
in a sense, and I think what has helped Healthier
Glades a lot is because the people that are part
of Healthier Glades are either from the community or have
(16:34):
worked in the community a long time, and so that
we can we can relate and give input on things
that we see. I think one of the unique things
with what Palm Health did with this Healthier Together initiative.
Usually when funders want to bring services to a community,
sometime they don't ask the community. That's what they want,
(16:56):
they just bring it and then they can't understand why
nobody's utilizing the service. Well, you never asked them. So
Palm Health was intentional of making sure that we ask
community what they wanted. And so when I was part
of the board, we went to Belglade, South Bay and
(17:18):
pahoky Caneal Point was able to participate in the one
in Pahochy and we asked them, Hey, we got this
X amount of dollars that we want to invest in
these communities for five years, and these are the focused
areas we want to We're interested in focusing on give
us inputing what you want us to do. I'm a
social worker by profession. Bless your heart, Lisa, you said
(17:39):
University of Florida, but I'm a Florida State seminole. That's
all right, it's all good. Now I needed this football
seasons about to start and I gotta make sure I
gotta represent so God knows, but so yeah. So with
that being from the community worked in the community as
a social worker, I got a chance to work the
(18:01):
regularly with folks. So what we did was we gathered
information from the areas and asking what they wanted to do.
I'm gonna be honest, I was surprised they said behavior
health because of our fear of and a lot of
our residents tied behavior mental health with DCF formerly known
as HRS, so we had to really I was very
(18:24):
surprised that they focused on that, but that's what they
wanted to do. And then a couple of years later
we had COVID, and so when I came on board
as the director, I came on in November. Everything shut
down in March, and so we had to be very
creative in terms of how to address that social isolation
(18:45):
that was happening. And so when doctor Weis was talking
about miss Canty, ms Canty actually was one of our
mini grant awardees. Oh okay, So what happened was ms
Canty came up with an idea, let's say, hey, seniors
helping seniors. So they took high school students, mostly juniors
and seniors, and connected them with our Senior Citizens group
(19:09):
because we have very active senior programs in the Glades,
and connected them to teach them how to navigate this technology.
Because remember when everything went virtual appointments, Doctor appointments were virtual,
getting folks to sign in to be on a TV screen.
So what happened was with her grant that she was
(19:30):
awarded by us, she was able to teach those kids
how to work with seniors, bridged that generational gap and
make sure that the seniors were able to still get
their doctor's appointments even though they weren't able to physically
go there. And so because of that, then Lisa got
connected with ms Canty and then applied for a grant
(19:52):
to continue this and that's really how cher Yoga started.
And then so when I came on as to direct
what are the members of the faith based Health Educators,
applied for some additional funding to pay for an instructor
and then after that it just continued. And then when
Healthier Glades begin to be more involved with the faith
(20:15):
based health Educators, Healthier Glades provide some of that financial
support to keep the chir Yoga classes going. So we
just started back August fifth, so we'll be continuing now.
And this is another thing we're partnerships. We're now partnering
with Palmbish County to pay for the instructors to continue
those classes. So now it's just it's all about accessing
(20:39):
your assets and bridging those gaps to make sure that
things happen. So I think one of the biggest things
for healthier glades that we've been able to do is
build residents capacity to bring about change in their own
communities and the minigrants that have been a big help
with that. We have awarded probably over forty plus folks
(21:03):
with grants and over one hundred, one hundred and forty
thousand dollars in awards, and so now these awardees now
are now applied for bigger grants and getting more money
that's being put back into the glazed community, which is
which is good. So I think that's if I had
to say a strength, that would be one of our
(21:23):
strengths definitely.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Well, and that is such a great outcome because you
want to build up their mental health, the resilience, all
that stuff. The economic benefit that's just like a bonus,
you know, Like I don't know that was necessarily part
of the original plan, but it's a nice it's a
nice side effector if you will, right, because then like
(21:45):
you said, then that strengthens the community relationships as a whole.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
Yeah, And I still have relationships with our passed Mintegrant
awardees to this day. So what would happen is for
the one of the things we were trying to do
is we knew that there were opptitortunities for our community
to apply for funding, but I don't know if our
community was ready to apply. So when we first started,
I mean it took a while. It was a slow bill.
(22:11):
Now I get people calling me all the time when
the grant started. When the grant started, so we're starting
at now August twentieth. But what would happen is we
had folks that were already doing things in community anyway.
So I would say, hey, you know, healthy ladies, getting
ready to start our grant. I encourage you to apply.
And some of those folks, some of them took heed
(22:32):
to what I said. Some of them didn't. But the
ones who took heed, they were able to get awarded.
We were giving grants up to three thousand dollars for
residents and up to two thousand dollars for grassroom organizations.
And what we were doing was for most funders, you
have to either be a five or one C three
(22:54):
or formal organization. Well a lot of folks don't have that.
But what happened was we were able to based on
the folks who applied, they were able to take that
experience and build on it. So now folks who didn't
have five oh one c threes not have it and
now are able to apply for those bigger grants and
then we're And it also shifted the way funders looked
(23:16):
at how to get folks to apply as well. So
Palm Health has been on the forefront of trying to
change or flip the script on how we look at
funding opportunities for grassroots and residents.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
I agree, and Palm Health is great at that because
sometimes all you need is a couple grand to get going,
or or you are going and that couple grand is
gonna allow you to get a better car to or
you know, if you're things out of a truck service.
You know, for like say, if you're doing deliveries for folks,
you get a better equipment or better base, right, or
if you need an extra yoga teacher, you have the
(23:53):
money to hire one.
Speaker 4 (23:54):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
So I think it's great. So I always recommend folks,
if it's something you're interested in and it calls to you,
go ahead and investigate it. Try learning something new. When
I turned fifty, I was interested in baking. So I
went to the library and got cookbooks. Every weekend, I
go get cookbooks, go to the restaurant, have my lunch.
It's like you're having lunch and looking at a COOKOK.
(24:14):
I'm like, yeah, I'm going to figureut what cakes I
want to make, and then the staff of like, can
you make this? So it was like a whole way
of communicating and connecting with people. And then my friends
had a business and it was like a little cottage industry.
So I did that for a couple of years. I
met a lot of amazing people. It was not financially
lucrative for me, but it was such a cool thing,
(24:36):
like you know, helping with preventing dementia. I was not
at home alone. My mom always says, you're not gonna
be meant anybody sitting on your couch. So beginning up,
getting out, learning something new, you know, trying a different thing.
But yeah, so, and I always think it's cool when
the charities can help each other and like you said,
have that synergy where you're all working together, and then
(24:57):
now having the county being a funder as well, it's
spent time. Yeah, because that's really.
Speaker 4 (25:01):
It's a great synergy. As you said, that's such a
wonderful word because we're doing so much. I wanted to
just mention it struck me when you said economic difference.
As part of the original Cheriogragrant, the doctor Park and
I got the high school students received one thousand dollars stipend.
(25:22):
There were twenty of them, and they used it for
their college applications. We worked with Miss Canti. They were
able to put this volunteer service on their applications and
we have students who went to top tier universities from
that class, from Harvard to Emory.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
It was it was impressive, and yeah, what a cool
thing to do. And like that is in need. I know, kids,
they need their own community service hours. That's a fun one.
They love the technology and if they're good at it,
and then they're encouraged to learn more. Right, And like
my whole thing is like if you can teach somebody
how to do it, then you really know it because
(26:00):
and then also teaches them patients. And I got to
say reframing because like sometimes when you teach folks, we
all learn slightly different. There's the people, the visual people,
the hands on people. People have to hear it like
five times, all different ways of learning things. So I
think that would expose them to that as well, because
some of the signs, the seediers, they need a lot
(26:21):
of the repetition. Oh yeah, because we had a seller
that was a little bit older, and hey, we forget
how to turn the computer on. Every day. Once we
turned it on, he was fine. He was good for
the whole day. Next day, turn it back on again,
and he's good for the day. So I'm like, okay,
so I just could turn BOP's computer on, don't fuss
and the just turn it on. Help him out. So but yeah,
and he worked here for like five years doing that.
(26:43):
It was amazing. But it was just like a simple
thing to help somebody out. Yeah, And that simple thing
had a great impact for them because, like you said,
then that money that stipend helped with their fees to apply,
so not only to get like the the personal emotional
reward of helping somebody, they actually got a like a
more tangible reward, which I think sometimes that's for the
(27:06):
younger folks, that's a little more helpful.
Speaker 4 (27:08):
Yes, that intergenerational learning for both the older adult and
the high school student was very impactful and that's included
in the article. But again I think seeing these these
mariad of residents of the Glades across the lifespan participating
in these objects is amazing.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Miss any object. These really cool programs happening. The grantee
process is opening up again soon. Yeah, they've got a
great program. How do I apply?
Speaker 3 (27:41):
Yes, So our grant process has evolved over the years.
What we're doing now is we realize that we need
before anybody can apply, we need to do some education
and training. So what we've done for the past couple
of years we have offered a grant writing boot camp,
(28:02):
if you will, where we offer five sessions to talk
about the grant writing process for budgets, project development, data
collection of how to complete an application. Once they go
through those sessions, they can submit an application to apply.
There'll be a a link for them to submit their application.
(28:25):
Then we have a review team that reviews it and
then they're awarded sometime around November December, and then they'll
be able to implement their projects by May thirty six,
so they can so this year. In the past, it
used to be open to anyone, but right now what
we're doing is we want to make sure that folks
(28:47):
get the training before they apply because one of the
things we realized we had some great ideas that have
been submitted and didn't go through the process because they
didn't follow directions. They went over word count They then
complete a section of the application, and those are those
little things that if we can teach our folks how
(29:07):
to not make those little small mistakes, it'll take they'll
go a long way. I've had folks that did it,
that did that, they learned and then they were able
to apply again and then got awarded. So I think
our leadership team said, well, instead of going through all that,
let's give them the training first. So we have invited
local funders who are experts in grant process to provide
(29:32):
these trainings and so we've been doing it now for
the past two years and we're doing it again. The
sessions start August twentieth. Every Wednesday at five thirty is
going to be at the Pombish County Glades Recovery Hub.
Twenty five Dark Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard is right
next to the Cuban Restaurant. For folks from the Glades,
(29:55):
it's the old drug store on avenue E. Yeah, so
it'll be there and we'll provide refreshments and training and
then after that the application will go live on September
twenty ninth and they'll have about three weeks to submit it.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
That sounds awesome and I would have I would also
think that once they learn the process for you, they
can also apply that same kind of grant application technique
for other grants matter find Trader our workshops.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
Our workshops are catered not necessarily as much for our application,
but for any application that they apply for. Because one
of the things that we realize is our community. And
I said, for me, because I'm part of the community,
we want to do things right and if we feel
that we've messed up, we won't try again. And I'm
(30:45):
trying to encourage our community don't give up. If you
don't do it right the first time, keep going.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
Well, I can add on to that, definitely keep going
because I've burnt so many cakes. I just tried it again.
But I definitely encoage people try again because oh my gosh, my,
be something simple that, like you said, they went over
the work hout, easy to fix.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
Just trygne another thing too. We're trying to prepare them
because our process, I feel is a little much more
lenient if they were applied for other formal organizations. So
we use our process as a way to gradually introduce
them to the grant writing space. But we also want
to give them education, Like, if you think we're being hard,
(31:27):
they will be much harder. So if we can show
you now, then you're ahead of the game. So yeah,
so we're encouraging residents. So you do have to be
a resident of the Glades. You cannot be someone from
Palm Beach or like I said, you to apply, you
have to be a resident from the Glades. If you
are an organization or you have a grassroot grow, you
(31:49):
have to have a physical Glades address. The reason why
because I know when we did it our first year,
we had folks from West del Ray, bournt and everywhere
trying to apply. And our thing is we want the
money to go into community. So we want to make
sure that our community folks were able to apply.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
Right, and if you live there, you're invested in making
that community successful. Absolutely, I think that's a great adduendum
if you will. So, is there a website they go
to or a phone umber they can call to get
more information or stil like on Facebook, so they can.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
Go to our Facebook page. It's up now, it's Healthier Glades.
The information for the workshops are already online. They could
also email me at ANTI dot Glades at HTPBC dot
org if they want to know more information about the
grant process, or they can call me on my sale
at five six one six eight five four eight two
(32:41):
nine that's my work sale. They can call me as well.
I mean, from the time I posted on Facebook, I
had about several calls asking me about the grant and
how to register for the class. So people are expressing interest.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
That's fantastic. So that's cool. I think it's so too neat,
and like you said, it's it's meeting the need that
they want met.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
Right, and it's also giving the community a chance to
continue what they're doing and invest in their own community.
Because one of the things we realize is if we want,
if we want our communities to change, we have to
do it from the ground up. And so I think
back to all our passed many grand awardees, and some
of these folks have been doing stuff for years. I
(33:22):
think of one that we had this past year, she
has been doing this girl mentoring group. Missus Wilkinson. She's
been doing this girl mentoring group at her school because
she's a teacher for more than ten plus years and
she's been always going out of her pocket to pay
for it. So I told her, I said, why don't
you apply, you know, And she was a little hesitant
(33:44):
at first, but she did and she ended up being awarded.
So now this last year she didn't have to worry
about the expense because she got the funding to continue it.
So now working with her on establishing her five oh
one C three so she can apply for some more
dollars like from Community Foundation, United Way, Quantum in those
(34:05):
other places. So yeah, So one of the things we're
starting to see what our Minigrant awardees is that personal growth.
And I've seen folks that have gotten fifteen thousand. We
only give three folks have gotten fifteen thousand, twenty five
thousand to continue their projects. I think of Miss Brispence
with moms on the mook because we don't have labor
(34:29):
and delivery at our hospital. So she she's a dula.
So what she does is she took her her love
for being a doula and turn it into an organization
that provides support for pregnant moms, and so she's been
doing all that stuff. So it's been I mean to
see some of that growth with our recipients. It's just
(34:49):
it just reinforces to me that we're on the right
track and we're doing.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
The right thing.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
Oh, definitely, it's gonna be very healthier glades very soon.
If it well, already is healthier, but it's gonna given better.
What is the Facebook page and the Instagram.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
Page, it's healthier glades. So you just side in healthier glades,
you'll see it.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
Very cool. Well, ladies, thanks for coming in and sharing
all the information with us. Thanks for doing such a
cool thing in the community. Obviously very much needed and
is definitely very much appreciated. If you need more information,
reach out to me Palm Beach Perspective at iHeartMedia dot com.
Happy to forward on the details and don't forget. You
can always download the shows a podcast on our iHeartRadio app.
Hope everybody has a wonderful weekend. I'm devn and this
(35:28):
has been my perspective. Remember life is good, so be
your healthieste and let's get out there and live it.
Until next week enjoy.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
iHeart Communities, the community engagement arm of the station, champions
critical issues and causes in the area of health and wellness,
social impact, education, literacy, and music and art. Join us
next week for Palm Beach Treasure Coast Perspective
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