REEDLEY – The checks handed out to Sierra Kings Health Care District (SKHCD) grant recipients may have been oversized, but the impact of the funding they represented was not.
With 35 grant awards and scholarships totaling just over $385,000 distributed to area organizations and students in 2025, SKHCD is marking its fifth year as a community-based grant-making agency. The district celebrated those in the Reedley and Parlier communities who are committed to promoting health and wellness at an annual grant awards ceremony on April 24.
“You all are here because you are excellent,” SKHCD CEO Chinayera Black Hardaman said. “You are the cream of the crop.”
SKHCD awards grants to programs that help support any of its three priorities: preventing obesity through health services, expanding services and support for diabetes and expanding access to behavioral health services. Programs are required to benefit residents in the SKHCD boundaries, which include Reedley, Parlier and the unincorporated communities of Dunlap, Miramonte and Yokuts Valley.
Grant awards provided in 2025 included multiple renewal grants along with a handful of new grants, mini grants and special initiatives. SKHCD works with a variety of nonprofits, city departments and school district programs to fund projects that meet specific needs in the community.
Some of the new programs SKHCD is helping get off the ground include a senior garden in the city of Parlier, which received a $5,500 grant, and a mental health feasibility study done by Community Youth Ministries (CYM), which received a $15,000 grant. Saint Agnes Medical Center received $25,000 for a diabetes education program.
SKHCD also awarded $25,000 to United Way Fresno and Madera Counties for a 211 project. The number 211 is a helpline similar to 411 in that residents can utilize it to find information about essential community services and be alerted of emergency situations. United Way of Tulare County has a well-established 211 program, and Black Hardaman said Fresno and Madera Counties are looking to extend their program’s reach as well.
Another new program is the Parlier Unified School District La Canasta Food Pantry, which received $10,000 in support from SKHCD. The food pantry staggers distributions with the city of Parlier so that every Friday, there’s somewhere for families to go if they’re in need, PUSD Community Schools Coordinator Lamar Lopez said.
“Through the course of several years worth of surveys, outreach to families, interviews, focus groups, the whole nine, one issue that was loud and clear was food security,” Lopez said. “People not having enough to eat at home or the rising cost of food, so we’re thrilled to be able to address that.”
Special initiatives funded by SKHCD included supporting pickleball courts at the Reedley Sports Complex, which is currently under construction, promoting Reedley’s Rails to Trails and contributing to mental health awareness month and wellness programs.
Returning programs
For the fourth year in a row, SKHCD provided funding to the Get Moving program at Sierra View Homes, which assists Sierra View Homes residents with improving their balance in the later years of their life, preventing falls that could force them out of their homes. The program received $35,000 to continue its strength and balance classes and also support newer components that promote healthy eating and mental health.
Black Hardman said many of the renewal grants benefit what SKHCD refers to as flagship programs that have been with the district for many years already.
“They’ve been with us because they’ve demonstrated a need, they’ve also been with us because they’ve demonstrated outcomes, they’ve demonstrated success,” Black Hardaman said.
Other renewal grants included $40,000 to PUSD behavioral health intervention program, $8,000 to the city of Reedley to support pickleball court access and $25,000 to the Reedley Boys and Girls Club for its healthy eating program.
SKHCD also awarded $42,000 for the Reedley College Farmers’ Market, with $33,000 directed to Reedley College, $4,000 directed to the Greater Reedley Chamber of Commerce and $5,000 directed to Fitness Plus for the work they do on the farmers’ market partnership.
If that wasn’t enough, SKHCD also provides $1,000 scholarships to graduating high school seniors every year. Twenty students from Reedley and Parlier who are involved in the Valley Regional Occupational Program (VROP) health science pathways and intend to pursue a career in health care received scholarships.
Black Hardaman said that the district particularly awards students who are committed to return to the region once they finish their education. This way, SKHCD can further promote community health by supporting the Valley’s future nurses, doctors and other health practitioners.
