Project Healthy Community (PHC) has served the Detroit community for the past 8 years through health and wellness programming for the entire family.
Our health and wellness philosophy is rooted in the understanding that health and wellness are never just about the individual. Serving an individual means serving the family and community around them.
PHC's programs reflect this "whole family" approach to health and wellness, as our programs interconnect and allow us to serve Detroit youth and their families at multiple levels.
Nutritional Education (K-5) - Healthy Schools Healthy Communities
Incorporating physical activity and nutritional education, PHC delivers evidence-based, hands-on education through the Healthy Schools Healthy Communities program, sponsored by the Michigan Fitness Foundation.
Delivered virtually over the 2020/2021 school year, the program has expanded from serving 300 students in three schools to school-wide programing in six schools, engaging approximately 1,800 students.
Lester Family Summer Camp - Growing Healthy Me
This week-long camp is held six times over the course of the summer, allowing up to 180 students to get their hands dirty in PHC's very own community garden!
Each day is split between garden-based learning and organized physical activity. Camp activities are designed to spark curiosity, encourage imagination, and sustain a healthy lifestyle.
High School Mentoring Program - Hope Circles
"More of a journey than a program," is how Shirley Myrick, one of PHC's board members, described Hope Circles after sitting in on a mentoring session between high school and middle school students.
Hope Circles is led by a professor of Education Psychology at MSU whose cutting-edge positive psychology research fuels the program. After completing the six-week mentorship and leadership development program, the high school students participate in a paid internship in a field of their interest, arranged through a dedicated team of program advisors.
Hope Circles has expanded greatly in the past year; once serving 10 high school seniors, it now serves 30 high school students and 60 middle school students.
Mobile Food Pantries
To meet increased need during the pandemic, PHC's Mobile Food Pantry expanded to five pantries, serving approximately 1,500 families each month (an over 300% increase from before the pandemic).
Despite the presence of vaccines, food needs in Detroit continue to be elevated. To meet this food insecurity, PHC continues to hold three food pantries each month at the Northwest Activities Center, serving families with fresh, healthy food.
Family Wellness Program
The Family Wellness Program's interdisciplinary team supports its participants' health through nutrition education, fitness support, and health psychology.
Over the course of the 16-week program, FWP participants meet on Zoom for weekly education sessions. Participants also meet up for outdoor fitness, and have the opportunity for private coaching sessions with the program's certified nutritionist, exercise kinesiologist, and health psychologist.
Your Donation Makes a Difference
$25 covers healthy snacks for two classrooms in the Healthy Schools Healthy Communities program
$100 provides five families with two weeks' worth of grocery staples through the Mobile Food Pantry
$250 sends a child to the Lester Family Summer Camp
$500 provides five Family Wellness Program families with 16 weeks of fresh fruit and vegetables
$1,000 sponsors a Hope Circles scholar internship