Rooted Santa Barbara County (Rooted SBC) is spreading roots in 2022, thanks to a transformational grant from the Mosher Foundation. The local grant-making foundation has awarded $50,000 to support the growth of bilingual nutrition and food-skills programming and outreach initiatives, Rooted SBC’s Board of Directors has announced.
The Mosher Foundation’s partnership is helping Rooted SBC take strategic steps to advance its mission to optimize community health through whole food plant-based nutrition education and support.
The Mosher Foundation is an active partner to healthcare organizations in Santa Barbara. The foundation’s leadership and expanding commitment to food as medicine initiatives to improve and promote equitable health throughout the community is helping to further cultivate its work through partnerships and innovative programs.
“We are thrilled to be a part of Rooted Santa Barbara County’s growth,” said Yvette Birch Giller, executive vice president of the Mosher Foundation. “We share a common vision for how food can be a significant driver for change in our community’s health.
“Through their growing programs and collaborations, Rooted is already tipping the needle locally towards an expanded preventive focus. Their work in the coming year will help ensure nutrition and food skills education is accessible and empowers our healthcare community and community members alike.”
“Funds from the Mosher Foundation’s grant supports the development of an online learning platform, growth of our team and partnerships to ensure equity-driven, culturally significant bilingual programs and resources, expanded healthcare community outreach and partnerships, and plant-forward recipe development and curation,” Rooted SBC said.
“The Mosher Foundation’s commitment to supporting Rooted is creating a new path forward in our healthcare community that expands collaborations, prioritizes prevention and nutrition, and helps make healthy whole food lifestyles more accessible. This is transformational for both our organization and our community,” said Beth Skidmore, chair of Rooted SBC.
“We have a strong, dedicated volunteer network and growing collaborations that have been powering our work and we’re incredibly grateful for the resources to take significant strides to grow,” she said.
Rooted SBC is the first local organization specifically focused on plant-based nutrition education and preventive health. Its resources are based on a growing body of research indicating that human health can benefit from more whole plant-based foods while reducing or eliminating highly processed and animal-based foods.
Rooted SBC’s goal is to make this information accessible to all Santa Barbara County residents and their healthcare providers. As a collaborative hub, partner and resource for healthcare practitioners and direct service organizations, Rooted SBC offers:
Low to no cost, bilingual, plant-forward nutrition and food skills education programs, tools, resources, and support; and community collaborations that ensure inclusivity and accessibility, healthy food access, healthcare community engagement, and culturally relevant support to improve health outcomes.
For more about the Mosher Foundation, visit MosherFoundation.org. For more on Rooted Santa Barbara County, visit RootedSantaBarbara.org.