ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Cornell Cooperative Extension of Monroe County is now competing in A Community Thrives, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK, a fundraising program on CrowdRise by GoFundMe, the most trusted social fundraising platform. A Community Thrives is a nationwide program that is focused on helping organizations by shining a national spotlight on their community building initiatives. CCEMonroe has the opportunity to be awarded up to $1 million in available project-based grants to help fund Harvesting Health: A Garden & Nutrition Approach to Community Building. [https://www.crowdrise.com/acommunitythrives].
The combination of high poverty rates and low access to food in the City of Rochester produces a food insecure community, in which it is difficult for families to both afford and access an adequate supply of nutritious food. This should not be in Rochester, NY, where we are geographically situated near numerous local farms and home to the popular Rochester Public Market. The Harvesting Health: A Garden & Nutrition Approach to Community Building project seeks to support families by providing the tools necessary to support healthy eating on a budget. Using a World Community Café model, adults and youth living in the City of Rochester will engage in an 8-week gardening and nutrition program where they will learn gardening skills, meal planning, and food preparation skills to support healthy living. Curriculum used for this project includes Seed to Supper and Cooking Matters for Chefs and Kids! This 8-week program will be duplicated throughout the City of Rochester as part of the overall Harvesting Health: A Garden & Nutrition Approach to Community Building project to address issues of food insecurity and promote community building. The Seed to Supper program will utilize the world community café model to bring together youth and families. Youth from Cooking Matters for Chefs and Kids! will pair with adults from Seed to Supper to enjoy the food they create and address the social-emotional well-being of children and families. The two-generational approach of the World Community Café combines parent and child educational experiences to bring families together and interrupt the cycle of food insecurity. This approach emphasizes education, nutrition, social engagement, and health and well-being to create a legacy of food security that passes from one generation to the next.
A Community Thrives launched on CrowdRise by GoFundMe on Monday, March 18th, 2019 at 12pm ET and will continue through Friday, April 12th, 2019 at 11:59:59am ET. The organizations in tier 1 and tier 2 that raise the most during the program will each be awarded a $25,000 grant, second place organizations will each be awarded a $15,000 grant and third place organizations will each be awarded a $10,000 grant. Weekly bonus challenges enable organizations to be awarded up to $50,000 in grants in each Tier. At the end of the crowdfunding period, an additional 16 grants totaling $800,000 will be awarded to participating organizations. Plus, qualifying organizations that provide services in USA TODAY NETWORK’s 109 newspaper markets may be eligible to receive an additional operating grant from a $1,300,000 fund. For more information on qualifying organizations, visit the official rules here.
CrowdRise administers innovative fundraising competitions for charitable organizations designed to build capacity, create massive engagement and use the power of the crowd to provide new meaningful funding streams for organizations in every sector.
To help CCE-Monroe be awarded A Community Thrives grant, visit https://www.crowdrise.com/o/en/campaign/cooperative-extension-association-in-the-state-of-nymonroe-county-new-york
ABOUT CORNELL COOPERATIVE EXTENSION OF MONROE COUNTY
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Monroe County provides research-based information and educational programming to ensure the vitality of agriculture, strengthen families, promote health and well-being, responsibly improve home and community landscapes, and enhance our natural environment.
ABOUT CROWDRISE BY GOFUNDME
CrowdRise by GoFundMe is the world’s largest crowdfunding platform dedicated exclusively to charitable fundraising. Used by millions of individuals, tens of thousands of charities, hundreds of companies and many of the most famous artists and athletes in the world, CrowdRise by GoFundMe enables people to creatively leverage their resources and networks to unlock the power of the crowd to support positive social missions and create massive impact.
Founded by actor Edward Norton, film producer Shauna Robertson and Robert and Jeffrey Wolfe, CrowdRise has conceived, implemented and powered campaigns that have raised hundreds of millions of dollars to date. For more information visit www.CrowdRise.com. In January 2017, CrowdRise merged with GoFundMe to offer both people and organizations the best fundraising tools for any cause they care passionately about.
ABOUT USA TODAY NETWORK
USA TODAY NETWORK, part of Gannett Co, Inc. (NYSE: GCI), is the largest local-to-national media organization in the country, powered by our award-winning newsrooms and marketing solutions business. With deep roots in local communities spanning the U.S. with more than 100 brands, plus USA TODAY, we engage more than 120 million people every month through a diverse portfolio of multiplatform content offerings and experiences. For more information, visit www.gannett.com
–Cornell Cooperative Extension of Monroe County
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