Delta Fresh Foods, Blue Cross open SPROUT Park in Cleveland

SPROUT Park in Cleveland is aimed at families already connected to Delta Fresh Foods Initiative’s food-education work in Bolivar County, tying fresh food access to a public park setting. The Delta Fresh Foods Initiative and the Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi Foundation are opening the park in a town where the initiative already reaches children through school-based programs.

FoodCorps says Delta Fresh Foods Initiative is based in Bolivar County and partners with Cleveland School District and Sunflower County Consolidated School District. In the 2025-26 school year, FoodCorps said the group partnered with four elementary schools and supported other schools in those districts, with members serving as food educators who provide cafeteria and classroom support.

The Mississippi Farm to School Network describes Delta Fresh Foods Initiative as a diverse coalition of community stakeholders committed to sustainable, equitable community food systems in the Mississippi Delta. That background puts SPROUT Park in the same lane as the group’s school work, where the focus has been on food access, nutrition education and direct community involvement rather than one-off programming.

Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi Foundation says its mission is to provide leadership and targeted grant funding for sustainable initiatives and programs that improve overall well-being. Its 2026 grants page says city parks count as health infrastructure because they deliver physical, mental and environmental benefits, and the foundation listed annual giving at $5.5 million in 2023.

The Cleveland project also sits inside a longer run of work around food security in northern Mississippi. Delta Fresh Foods Initiative has been described as a coalition built to strengthen community food systems across the Mississippi Delta, and the new park gives that mission a public face in Cleveland rather than keeping it inside school buildings alone.