In recent months, several local groups have received grants and implemented program that center around improving the health and the nutritional habits and opportunities of Clinton County’s citizens, and especially those of the children and young adults growing up here.

Recently, a collaboration of efforts between agencies has resulted in yet another opportunity to see the eating habits improve and become more healthy for our children that will be brought about through a $86,700 federally funded grant.

The grant was made possible through an effort locally between the Clinton County Community Foundation which partnered with several other entities to make the grant application a successful one.

Among those partners were the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment’s Clinton County Extension Office and the Clinton County Schools District.

The grant will be awarded through the University of Kentucky’s Rural Child Poverty Nutrition Center, which is a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Center.

Clinton County was one of only two Kentucky communities chosen to receive one of the 17 grants that were awarded to other communities across the nation that ranged from $50,000 to just under $100,000.

The purpose of the grant program, according to the USDA Child Nutrition Program, is to implement creative strategies to improve access to federal nutrition assistance for families and children.

Only one other Kentucky community, Fulton County in far western Kentucky, was among the 17 communities across the nation that received grants through this round of funding.

Kathleen Booher, Chairperson of the Clinton County Community Foundation, told the Clinton County News after the grant was announced by the USDA, that the success of the application was one of the chief purposes of a local Community Foundation.

“One of the great benefits of having a community foundation in Clinton County is that we can work in partnership with other agencies – local, state and even federal – to get grants like this working for our local residents.”

She added that knowing the work and goals that is to be accomplished by the grant will chiefly be to the benefit of local children, made the news that Clinton County had been one of the successful applicant communities, even more special.

“We know that a child who is hungry is a child who cannot concentrate on learning. Seeing the children in our community benefit from such a large grant makes all of us who support the Clinton County Community Foundation very happy.”

Clinton County’s economic standing was one of the main contributing factors in the grant being awarded to our community.

According to the USDA’s recent announcement concerning the round of grant monies, about 85 percent of all persistently poor counties in the United States are in rural areas and children are one of the most vulnerable groups.

Christy Nuetzman, the Clinton County Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Agent with the local University of Kentucky office, will be the local figure who will be most closely working with the program that will see the grant monies implemented.

She told the Clinton County News that among other issues, the grant monies here would be used in an effort to make sure that local families who were eligible were receiving as much nutritional assistance as possible.

“Many times families might qualify for additional nutrition assistance programs but may simply not be aware of what the programs are and what is required to apply, Nuetzman said. “This grant helps increase the number of families in our community who participate in nutrition assistance programs. We will offer various promotional events for families to learn more about each of these programs.”

She added that one of the goals of the program that will be implemented here will be to increase the number of families participating in the WIC, SNAP, school breakfast and lunch programs and the after school meals.

In addition, the local plan will also be geared toward making improvements to various programs that are already in place to help provide better nutritional opportunities to youth and families in Clinton County.

One of those areas will be the already successful mobile feeding program known as the School Bus Stop Café.

“Much of the local plan focuses on enhancements to the mobile Bus Café which will operate over the summer months as well as increasing the number of days per week that students can participate in the child and adult care food program (CACFP) after school,” Nuetzman said. “Our efforts with this grant will reduce the number of hungry children in our community. ”

Nuetzman also spoke of the importance of the idea of partnering between local agencies to make the likelihood of grant applications and the ensuing projects more successful.

“Through leadership efforts of the Clinton County Community Foundation, partners such as the school district with its food service program, FRYSC, and 21st Century after school programs, along with community agencies such as the Extension Office and Health Department will come together to extend outreach to families who are eligible to participate,” Nuetzman said. “Community meetings will be scheduled soon to encourage more people to get involved in food assistance efforts this summer.

In making the announcement about the grant program, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack also pointed out the importance of bridging the gap between urban communities and rural areas such as Clinton County that are often still suffering from the results of the economic downturn.

“Children living in persistently poor rural areas tend to experience worse outcomes in terms of nutrition, activity, and obesity,” said USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack. “Despite their critical role in our economy, too many Americans in rural areas are not sharing in our nation’s economic growth and, in turn, their children have also been disproportionately affected. These grants will make it possible for children in these areas to access much-needed nutrition assistance and help close the large food insecurity gap between urban and rural communities.”

In 2015, USDA selected the University of Kentucky to create the Rural Child Poverty Nutrition Center, which will administer and evaluate the grant.