GuideWell Innovation

GuideWell today selected three Central Florida organizations to receive seed money to implement their innovative ideas to address barriers to health access and health literacy. The Center for Multicultural Wellness and Prevention, the Alzheimer’s & Dementia Resource Center and the Center for Quality Medication Management at the University of Florida were selected from a group of 10 regional innovators across Central Florida to receive $5,000 in funding. In addition, they will advance to GuideWell’s Reshaping Health Access challenge finals where they’ll have the opportunity to compete for a $40,000 state grand prize. Funds will be used to address health and racial inequities that exist in their respective local communities.

The three innovative ideas from Central Florida organizations advancing to the finals include:

A Jacksonville farmer and entrepreneur who is turning brownfields in food-desert communities into farms where produce is grown and sold in street-side markets earned first place and a $20K grand prize in the GuideWell Block by Block Food Insecurity Challenge, a statewide competition focused on addressing food insecurity in Florida.

Foodery Farms CEO Angela TenBroeck is a fourth-generation farmer who is passionate about addressing food insecurity, an issue impacting 2.8 million people in Florida alone. TenBroeck says her street-side markets are strategically designed and built in neighborhoods where food is traditionally not grown. Her hope is to expand her markets and environmentally-controlled facilities by adding street-side vending machines stocked with aquaponically-grown produce so consumers can have the ability to purchase fresh produce 24/7.

From teaching people to grow microgreens in their homes to empowering residents at a homeless shelter to grow their own healthy produce to creating a virtual food drive, three organizations' innovative ideas aimed at fighting hunger in West Florida were recognized as regional finalists in GuideWell's Block by Block Florida Food Insecurity Challenge.

On Sept. 11, 15 regional finalists from across Tampa Bay pitched their innovative ideas to fight hunger in their respective communities. The Homeless Empowerment Program, The Well and Feeding Tampa Bay were selected as the thee regional finalists to receive $2,000 in funding. In addition, they will advance to GuideWell’s Block by Block Food Insecurity Challenge finals where they’ll have the opportunity to compete for a $20,000 state grand prize. Funds will be used to reduce or eliminate food insecurity in their local communities.