March 2019 – On February 12, the Hillsborough MPO’s Garden Steps initiative was named as one of just eight runners up in the Healthiest Cities & Counties Challenge. The Challenge is a collaboration between the Aetna Foundation, the American Public Health Association (APHA) and the National Association of Counties (NACo) empowering 50 small to midsize U.S. cities and counties to make measurable, scalable improvements to public health issues in their local communities. Since its inception, $1.5 million in grants and prizes have been awarded to the 50 participating programs to support their efforts to tackle the most pressing health issues facing their communities.

As a runner up, the Hillsborough MPO will receive a $50,000 grant to be presented at the March 11 MPO Board Meeting to continue work to improve health equity by creating community gardens with easy pedestrian, bicycle, and transit access in identified food deserts in the City of Tampa.

Learn more at our community garden resource page