Past Grantees - Thriving Communities

The Blue Zones Project is part of a multi-sector partnership in Klamath Falls, Oregon, committed to the promotion of healthy communities. The Trail Signage Project, which SFF helped to fund, is aimed at increasing trail utilization through signage and education. The completed signs, installed as part of the Lake Ewauna Trial system, are attractive, easy to understand, and certain to be helpful towards the goal of helping people be more active outdoors in a safe and enjoyable manner.

Wolf Creek, located in the Sierra Nevada foothills of California, has been a working alliance for over 20 years with the dual goals of preserving and protecting the local watershed while increasing public access to the creek and adjacent hillsides. As part of this effort, and with help from a SFF grant, Wolf Creek recently created a series of walking and biking tours within the watershed.

White Buffalo (WB), located near Santa Barbara California, is committed to land stewardship practices that support biodiversity, water and soil resources, and human health. WB has recently partnered with the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians in the planning and implementation of a series of trainings focused on the building of resilient gardens. With the help of a SFF grant, these gardens are today being managed by members of the Ynez Band to grow a variety of food, fiber, and medicinal and ceremonial plants.

Building Healthy Families, a family support organization serving Eastern Oregon, spearheaded an effort to construct a bicycle park features rollers, tunnels, pump tracks, rock gardens and a wide number of areas for kids to ride bikes, scooters, skateboards and rollerblades. Funds provided by the Schwemm Family Foundation were used for the purchase of several features in the playground, including bike teeter totters and a snake tunnel, which help to make the park a unique green space for the children of Wallowa County to enjoy.  

The Farm to School program partners with local schools in the greater Los Angeles area to build farm labs and outdoor learning gardens for students to have access to project-based outdoor learning opportunities.  Funds provided by the Schwemm Family Foundation went to refurbish the culinary learning garden at Arroyo High School, supporting the AHS students taking part in this program to learn to grow their own organic food, and to cultivate and experience the setting of urban green spaces at their school.

Formed in rural Southern Oregon in 1992, the APWC has evolved to become a national model for agency-community collaboration and innovation. One of their newest collaborative projects, Grow Youth, combines riparian restoration with monitoring education at a popular county park. In 2021, funds from the SFF were used to support this program in their efforts to enhance a section of the Applegate River for fish, beaver, and other wildlife while involving students in monitoring the removal of a variety of invasive species and the growth and survival of numerous native plants.

The Schwemm Family Foundation helped the Oakland-based organization, Cycles of Change, host a bike class (bike included) in order to help community members have more accessible and environmentally friendly modes of transportation.

The Schwemm Family Foundation supported Coastal Roots Farm in its missions of growing and distributing fresh, organic food to low-income, elderly, and food insecure Indigenous/Native families living throughout San Diego County. Each year, the Farm grows more than 50,000 pounds of food for over 30,000 community members.

Sierra Harvest works to build small, local gardens at public facilities and to train residents to tend the gardens and ultimately produce healthy meals. The SFF supported this effort by providing funding that allowed the construction of 14 gardens and the organization of gardening, composting, and cooking classes