The CANFit Story

CANFit understands the importance of nutrition and physical activity in these communities and leads efforts to change community environments and policies to support healthy lifestyles. 

If you wish to support us and the health of low income youth in communities of color, please make a donation.

The CANFit Program is a statewide, nonprofit organization. CANFit is funded by private tax-deductible donations, programs, materials sales and grant awards from:

• The California Endowment
• Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation
• Kaiser Permanente
• McKesson Foundation
• Robert Wood Johnson Community Health Leadership Program

The People Behind CANFit

Arnell Hinkle, Executive Director

Arnell Hinkle is the founding Executive Director of CANFit. In this role, she is responsible for all aspects, including grant-making, program development, fiscal management, training and consultation, of the day-to-day operation of a statewide program serving low income, multi-ethnic adolescents. Arnell's efforts to produce culturally appropriate nutrition and physical activity education training resources emphasizing youth leadership are nationally recognized, and she has provided consultation to numerous private, state and national agencies including the 100 Black Men of America, Inc., South Dakota Lakota Sioux Diabetes Education Project, the Region 10, U.S. Bureau of Maternal and Child Health, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the course of providing training and consultation to CANFit grantees, Arnell has experience working directly with residents of over 80 African-American, Latino, Southeast Asian, Filipino, and American Indian, low income communities throughout California. In addition to her work in the United States, she has also been involved in international development projects in India, Ecuador and Scotland.

Prior to her work at CANFit, Arnell was Project Coordinator of the Hunger and Chronic Disease Prevention Program of the Contra Costa County Health Services Department, a professional chef, and organic farmer. Arnell has a AB degree in Geology from Princeton University, and both a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition and Clinical Dietetics and a Master in Public Health from the University of California, Berkeley. She is a Registered Dietitian and Certified Health Education Specialist.

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Betty Geishirt Cantrell, Program Administrator

Betty Geishirt Cantrell is CANFit's Program Administrator. She is responsible for fundraising, financial management, communications, operations, and program management. She is also responsible for managing CANFit's training workshops and their evaluation process. She has over 25 years experience in all phases of the nonprofit world. She worked as director of a rape crisis program and suicide hotline in Louisiana after earning her Master of Science in Social Work degree from the University of Wisconsin. She was then the head social worker at a psychiatric hospital in Tennessee where she also earned her Master of Business Administration degree from Memphis State University. She then moved to New York where she was director of a sex offender treatment program and a small adoption program. She also began doing development work for the nonprofit through grant writing and event planning. She finally moved to California where she has worked in research on health related issues with American Indians prior to joining CANFit. She has several published articles on this research including one in the American Journal of Public Health. She is currently President of the Pleasant Hill Community Foundation and is very involved in her community. She enjoys doing Japanese folk dance and volunteering with high school sports.

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Lloyd Nadal, Program Manager

Lloyd Nadal, Program Manager, is responsible for after school training and consultation services at CANFit, including several projects with community-based after school programs all over California and in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco. He has more than seven years of experience in the corporate health and fitness industry as well as five years of coaching youth sport programs in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is a huge advocate for healthy living and has great experience in dealing with weight and lifestyle management. Having a family history of almost all of the factors of heart disease (diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, etc.), Lloyd is passionate about working with the community and our youth to improve the state of nutrition and physical activity in our nation. Prior to CANFit, Lloyd served as the Program Manager for the Social Security Fitness Center in Richmond, CA where he developed an award-winning fitness center and program in a low income majority ethnic community. Lloyd earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Exercise Science from the University of San Francisco (USF) as well as his Master of Arts degree from USF in Sports and Fitness Management.

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Ruth Manzano, Program Manager

Ruth Manzano, Program Manager, has 28 years experience in community-based education in the Latino community. During her tenure at the Escondido Community Health Center, she was project coordinator, Community Health Promotion director, Community Connection director, and Community Specialist. Ruth has served for the past five years as a volunteer regional coordinator for the statewide Promotora Program, Vision y Compromiso, in southern California. She has experience creating and conducting parent education and community training workshops, developing volunteer programs and creating curriculum (e.g., Dental Program How-To manual, nutrition education materials for the Pauma Indian tribe, Promotora training manuals, and an obesity prevention training program). Ruth is a Women's Health Leadership alumni and has received numerous awards for her community service to the Latino community of San Diego. She is a native of Tijuana, Mexico.

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