About Us

The FARE Project is a broad-based, community-wide initiative designed to connect and support organizations and individuals engaging in healthy food access work in Cleveland and Cuyahoga County. The project provides support within and across eight program areas, leading to increased capacity and coordination across sectors, building demand for access to healthy foods and improved health outcomes for our residents and neighborhoods

The Heart Smarts program meets residents where they are. brining nutrition education, health. social services. and increased food access to local corner stores. Heart Smarts empowers residents with the information and resources they need to improve their health.

History

Cleveland residents suffer from higher disease and mortality rates than residents of other parts of Cuyahoga County and Ohio. Social Determinants of Health and racist policies like redlining contribute to these health disparities, which disproportionately impact People of Color. In Cleveland, as in many cities, grassroots leaders have not typically been in positions of power, and existing efforts have tended to lack cross-sector collaboration, collective vision and connection to people’s lived experiences.

To address these issues, the Saint Luke’s Foundation funded FARE (which was then part of The Food Trust)  for a planning year in 2015, when we created an advisory board, did interviews and site visits with local stakeholders, and held a public convening to learn about food access assets and needs in Cleveland and Cuyahoga County. The report from that year, written with FARE advisors, focused on the following eight food access program areas that had emerged and identified overarching themes about the need for increased collaboration, vision, technical assistance and resources.

Nutrition Education
Healthy Retail
Farm to School/Institution
Healthcare Partnerships
Farmers Markets
Healthy Food Financing
Youth Leadership
Urban Agriculture

For the last five plus years, FARE has implemented the recommendations from that report, while also expanding and responding to new needs and opportunities, not only related to food access but all factors impacting health equity. Our work has allowed us to dig deeper and form trusting relationships with people who had not been at the table when we started. In 2020, FARE became an independent organization from The Food Trust and all staff are now based in Cleveland. Today, FARE works in the Cleveland neighborhoods suffering from the highest health disparities, working alongside local residents who experience inequity in their daily lives in order to counteract these structural barriers and work on solutions that make sense for their own communities.

Past & Current Funders

  • Saint Luke’s Foundation
  • Sisters of Charity Foundation
  • Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
  • Kresge Foundation
  • Anthem Foundation
  • Neighborhood Connections
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