FLIPANY

FLIPANY (Florida Introduces Physical Activity and Nutrition to Youth) is a nonprofit organisation advancing community health in under-resourced South Florida communities. Working across Broward County, Palm Beach County and Fort Lauderdale, it provides nutrition education, healthy meals, fitness programming and wellness initiatives for youth, adults and seniors. The organisation describes its aim as disrupting how health and wellness support reaches historically overlooked communities, on the principle that every child should have the opportunity to live a healthy life regardless of where they live.

Its programmes cover the full cycle of food-insecurity intervention and physical activity. As a Meals Sponsor, FLIPANY has provided over 16 million meals and leveraged more than $37 million in state and federal funds to combat food insecurity. Deliverables include the Afterschool Meal Program and Summer BreakSpot, which serve healthy meals to youth at out-of-school sites; Senior Meal Programs; and a network of Free Neighborhood Market Pantries distributing roughly 450,000 pounds of nutritious food a year. In total, the organisation reports impacting some 40,000 community members.

Beyond meals, FLIPANY runs Soccer for Success, a fitness mentoring programme that has reached 1,600 youth, alongside hands-on nutrition education and healthy meal preparation classes: 1,700 young people have been taught to prepare healthy meals, and 300 adults and seniors have been helped to shop for healthy food on a budget. Life skills and social-emotional learning are built into every programme to support emotional wellbeing and resilience.

The work is partnership-based, delivered with schools, after-school centres, community centres, city-run sites, funders, government agencies and community organisations. The culture is described as active and hands-on, with an emphasis on creative, boundary-pushing approaches to health and wellness programming and a strong equity focus.