Austin-Bailey Health and Wellness Foundation (Canton, OH)

The Austin-Bailey Health and Wellness Foundation has approved grants totaling $172,100 to 11 nonprofit organizations. The foundation supports programs that promote the physical and mental well-being of the people residing in Holmes, Stark, Tuscarawas, and Wayne counties in Ohio.

The foundation also provides $43,000 in scholarships to students engaged in health-related studies at Aultman College, Kent State University Stark, Kent State University Tuscarawas, Malone University, Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, Stark State College, University of Akron Wayne College, University of Mount Union, and Walsh University.

Those receiving grants include:

  • American Red Cross—for blood drive support. ($10,000)
  • Ascend Services—for recovery through peer support. ($10,000)
  • Aultman College—for radiography equipment for its nursing school. ($20,000)
  • Beacon Charitable Pharmacy—for operating support. ($35,000)
  • Feed Kids First—for its school pantry program. ($11,500)
  • The Grace Project— for resilience training for mental health. ($6,000)
  • Heart of Ohio Diaper Bank—for supplies and operational support. ($26,000)
  • Malone University—for medication training equipment for their school of nursing. ($15,000)
  • Trinity United Church of Christ—for a commercial dishwasher for its breakfast program. ($18,600)
  • Tuscarawas Clinic for the Working Uninsured—for operating support. ($10,000)
  • Vantage Aging—to support its meal support program for the elderly. ($10,000)

The foundation has two grant cycles each year and welcomes grant requests that are health and wellness related. It is suggested that nonprofit organizations call the foundation office first to discuss their project or program. The deadline for submitting grants for the next cycle is May 28, 2024.

Contact: Don Sultzbach at 330.580.2380.

Mary Black Foundation (Spartanburg, SC)

The Mary Black Foundation has awarded $567,500 in grants to 21 nonprofit organizations serving Spartanburg County, South Carolina. The foundation supports nonprofit partners to foster a thriving community for everyone in Spartanburg County, South Carolina. It awarded grants to organizations dedicated to advancing early childhood education, ensuring equitable and accessible health care, and cultivating safe and supportive neighborhoods.

Funded organizations include:

  • Angels Charge Ministries—to expand its reentry program, operational support, and two new long-term transitional homes. ($30,000)
  • Benjamin E. Mays Family Resource Center—to support counseling services for uninsured and underinsured individuals in Pacolet and surrounding communities. ($30,000)
  • BirthMatters—for expansion of its doula program for mothers 25 years and older. ($30,000)
  • Bloom Upstate—in general operating support and to provide evidence-based youth development programming. ($15,000)
  • CommunityWorks—for general operating support and to provide down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers. ($20,000)
  • EMERGE Family Therapy—to strengthen organizational and community capacity to better meet behavioral health needs. ($50,000)
  • GoForth Recovery—for general operating support and to track family outcomes as a result of their addiction recovery and treatment programs. ($10,000)
  • Habitat for Humanity—to provide affordable housing, while addressing the increasing cost of construction and support services. ($20,000)
  • Healthy Smiles of Spartanburg—to provide dental screenings, prevention, and restorative care to children without access to health insurance. ($15,000)
  • Institute for Child Success—for general operating support, that leads to systems-level changes to improve early childhood development outcomes. ($50,000)
  • JUMPSTART—to provide services that address the educational, employment, health care, housing, and family relationship needs of previously incarcerated residents. ($20,000)
  • Kids Upstate—for general operating support and to provide evidence-based youth development programming. ($15,000)
  • Middle Tyger Community Center—to provide free or low-cost services to children and families in Spartanburg School District 5. ($30,000)
  • Northside Development Group—for general operating support that will improve health and well-being in a historically underresourced neighborhood. ($20,000)
  • ReGenesis Health Care—to support the work of a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, focused on behavioral health needs of children. ($30,000)
  • The Children’s Museum of the Upstate—to expand early childhood programming in the Spartanburg County, South Carolina location. ($15,000)
  • United Way of the Piedmont—to support the work of a Community Health and Resource Coordinator, focused on financial stability and health. ($25,000)
  • Upstate Family Resource Center—for general operating support and to provide low-cost or free services to children and families in northern Spartanburg County, South Carolina. ($30,000)
  • The Roo Crew—to increase organizational capacity to serve families with children experiencing medical or educational obstacles. ($7,500)

The foundation also awarded $105,000 to two pilot programs and early-stage initiatives. Live Healthy Spartanburg received $75,000 to lead countywide community health efforts. The Faith Initiative to End Child Poverty received $30,000 to pilot a mental well-being initiative within churches.

The California Wellness Foundation (Los Angeles, CA)

The California Wellness Foundation announced $10.2 million in 26 grants to address racial health inequities in California. The grants fall under the foundation’s four Advancing Wellness portfolios, focusing on closing gaps in Black maternal and infant health, championing Black workers and an equitable economy, and investing in affordable housing in historically marginalized communities.

Grantee highlights include:

  • Black Wellness and Prosperity Center
  • California Coalition for Black Birth Justice
  • Advance Peace
  • Los Angeles Black Worker Center
  • End Poverty in California
  • California Primary Care Association
  • Horizons Foundation
  • Little Tokyo Service Center

To learn more, click here.

Caring for Denver Foundation (Denver, CO)

Caring for Denver Foundation announced over $12.1 million across 39 grants to youth mental health and substance misuse care initiatives.

Grantees in the Youth priority area include:

  • 5280 High School—to support students ages 15-21 in recovery by providing afterschool recovery supports through the Altitude Youth Recovery Program and in-school mental health supports.
  • Ability Connection Colorado—to provide support to BIPOC youth with disabilities through trauma-informed mentoring and mental health care.
  • Adoption Options—to aid Fostering Healthy Futures, an evidence-based program promoting positive youth development for children with child welfare involvement through individualized mentorship and accessible skills training.
  • Art from Ashes, Inc.—to foster a safe, non-judgmental space with caring adults and community artists for youth to share their dreams, hopes, fears, and pain, as well as the opportunity to connect with their community and transform their stories from trauma to self-empowerment.
  • AUL Denver—to offer bilingual mental health support and wrap around services that are culturally responsive to support the mental health needs of its students.
  • Centus Counseling, Consulting & Education—to sustain and grow the school counseling program, currently serving nine schools, and the Post Graduate Residency Program (now in its second year), which provides counselors from diverse backgrounds to serve students from similar backgrounds supporting therapeutic alliance.
  • Colorado Perinatal Mental Health Project—to offer bilingual perinatal mental health support groups in trusted spaces in the community through the Birth Squad Program that serves as an immediate entry point into care for Black and LatinX mothers and birthers.
  • Colorado Youth Congress—to facilitate small group mental health conversations for youth participants led by a trained youth peer specialist and a staff member.
  • Convivir Colorado—to expand art- and narrative-based therapeutic programming for immigration-impacted youth, while increasing our internal capacity to implement trauma-informed practices and help the ecosystem better support undocumented youth and mixed immigration status families.
  • Developmental FX—to address the crisis in early childhood mental health by extending the SWIFT-R program to new partner schools in Denver, and training and mentoring early childhood educators, demonstrating the power of this model while improving mental health outcomes for children.
  • Envision: You—to conduct workshops for trusted adults of LGBTQ+ youth that foster healthy relationships and create affirming environments by educating adults about the lived experience and health outcomes of LGBTQ+ youth and available local resources and creating space to process their relationships with youth.
  • Families Forward Resource Center—to address mental health inequities among pre- and post-partum Black families in Denver by launching a comprehensive in-house mental health program. Service offerings include Wellness Recovery Action Plan facilitation and on-site counseling with a culturally congruent qualified therapist.
  • From the Heart Enterprises—to facilitate group and individual support that will address substance and mental/behavioral health issues. This organization will engage youth utilizing key components of Habilitation Empowerment Accountability Therapy and Wellness Recovery Action Plan.
  • Girls Inc. of Metro Denver—to support girls with knowledge, skills, and attitudes critical to navigating substance use and misuse, maintaining a healthy lifestyle, and building a positive sense of self in a challenging world.
  • Greater Denver CARES Mentoring Movement—to boost culturally fluent mental health/wellness, and academic and emotional literacy for Denver’s BIPOC youth through the Rising program and the Baldwin Literacy Project, with support from strong community and therapeutic partnerships.
  • Holistic Life Foundation—to implement the Mindful Moment program in Colorado High School Charter–Osage Campus, improving the mental and social-emotional health of low-income Denver students in and out of the classroom.
  • Homies Unidos Denver—to provide Latino youth with access to trauma-informed violence prevention and gang intervention services (including character development, healing circles, and mentoring). And, to expand youth-led programming and support the provision of safe, consistent drop-in space for youth.
  • Jewish Family Service of Colorado—to support Denver youth with comprehensive mental health counseling and supportive services through a continuum of care designed to build resilience, coping skills, and improve mental health and wellness—particularly to those impacted by trauma and inequitable access to services and supports.
  • Joy as Resistance—to expand and diversify the clinical mental health department to better meet the varied, intersectional needs of Denver’s LGBTQIA2S+ youth ages 10-24. Joy as Resistance will expand to include a greater range of service providers, treatment modalities, and accessibility options.
  • La Pinata del Aprendizaje—to help staff to receive guidance from a trained mental health professional as they learn to best support parents and caregivers to cope with family stressors and mental health challenges. Special attention will be devoted to managing the team’s own self-care while supporting program participants.
  • Lutheran Family Services Rocky Mountains—to continue expansion of the Trust-Based Relational Intervention® program to serve foster youth in Denver. This family-based intervention is designed for children who have experienced relationship-based traumas and guides youth back to their natural development trajectory.
  • Muslim Youth for Positive Impact—to provide mental health services that are culturally competent, well-informed, and trusted. In order for these services to be accessed, this organization will combat stigma and bring forth dialogue and safe spaces to build trust between families, leaders, mental health providers, and youth.
  • PlatteForum—to support underresourced, creative high school youth with critical mental health support. This support includes: clinical therapy, wellness tools workshops, experiential outings, art therapy, case management, and opportunities for creative self-expression and community engagement.
  • Revel—to assess and diagnose mental health issues in youth with autism or intellectual and developmental disabilities, collaborating with all stakeholders at home and in the community, creating individualized mental health plans, addressing mental health concerns, and providing personalized support and strategies.
  • Rise Above Colorado—collaboration between Rise Above Colorado, Denver Health, and Denver Public Schools to facilitate youth-led prevention education, art-based activations, and skill-building for teens, educators, and families in focused Denver sites to reduce substance use and improve behavioral health outcomes.
  • Riseup Community School—to offer access to a Licensed Addictions Counselor, facilitated student driven groups, and community organizations that support the mental health and/or substance misuse needs of its student body.
  • The ROCK Center—to continue implementation of a community-based model of mental wellness care informed by evidence-based practices that help youth build resilience from trauma and promote mental wellness through connection, coping, and competency.
  • Saint Joseph Hospital Foundation—to build upon previous work to expand universal screening to all pregnant people who seek services in the emergency and triage departments to reduce the negative consequences of unidentified and untreated disorders and further integrate behavioral health for these patients.
  • Scholars Unlimited—to create a mental health team to support scholars in this organization’s afterschool and summer programs. This team will infuse recreation, art, and individual therapy based on youth and community voice.
  • Second Wind Fund, Inc.—to support youth ages 19 and under who are at risk for suicide and facing one or more financial or social barriers with accessing treatment, matching them with providers in this organization’s network and providing 12-20 sessions of therapy.
  • The Spring Institute—to support East Colfax: Collaborative Care, that builds on trusted community relations to identify youth in need of and desiring mental health services. These youth will be provided individual case management to connect them with culturally and linguistically competent care.
  • Sun Valley Kitchen and Community Center—to expand existing youth programming to cultivate the holistic well-being for underserved youth, offering nutritious meals for physical and mental health, emotional support for empowerment and resilience, and employment opportunities charting the course for a brighter future.
  • Sun Valley Youth Center—to provide mental health services to low-income students including equine therapy, art therapy, trust-based relational intervention (trauma-practicing) methodologies, and onsite group and individual therapy for students and their families.
  • University of Colorado Foundation – Denver—to provide scaffolded workbooks, reflective coaching, social workers, and youth teams across four sites as they each implement a two-year youth participatory action research group to identify and address mental health at individual, group, and community levels.
  • Urban Peak—to address mental health challenges and substance misuse among Denver homeless youth. This organization will support youth accessing shelter services and housing programs in providing support and peer groups, clinical supports, and relationship building with harm reduction principles.
  • ViVe Wellness—to offer emotional wellness programs to the “currently homeless” newcomers youth arriving and settling in Denver as their new home, focusing on addressing mental health through community-driven cultural beliefs and traditions and language-appropriate services.
  • Vuela for Health—to create healthy, resilient, and thriving Latinx youth with parents equipped to support them while educating youth on how to support their friends/peers and engage in healthy activities to reduce the possibility of substance misuse.
  • Warren Village—to expand and enhance equitable mental health services and supports for unhoused single-parent families, including targeted social and emotional interventions for children 0-5, school age children, parents, and teachers to support secure attachment and development and address the effects of trauma.
  • Youth On Record—to expand this organization’s current programming by developing an integrated mental health strategy that builds upon the organization’s existing efforts to connect youth with supportive services while raising awareness of behavioral health resources across all programming and partnerships.

To learn more, click here.

Communities Foundation of Texas (Dallas, TX)

Communities Foundation of Texas awarded $625,000 to 19 nonprofits in North Texas providing social services relevant to their local population, such as education, health care, economic development, and youth and senior citizen programming.

Awardees of the 2023-2024 Social Services Community Grant opportunity are:

  • AB Christian Learning Center—to support digital access to families through improved online, website, and mobile app capabilities and support the hire of a part-time community liaison. ($30,000)
  • Bonton Farms—to support capacity building to innovate scalable solutions. ($30,000)
  • Celebrate Forever Families—to support bilingual resources, staffing, and sustainability. ($50,000)
  • Cornerstone Community Development Corporation—to support the distribution of food, clothing, household essentials, and home repair services for seniors. ($30,000)
  • Dallas Community Fellowship—to support staff expenses, supplies, technology, and program materials. ($50,000)
  • Dallas Leadership Foundation—to support food boxes for the South Dallas/Fair Park community and salaries for Youth Staff and Workforce Development Training. ($25,000)
  • For Oak Cliff—to support personnel, programming development, community outreach, and maintenance of Community Campus. ($30,000)
  • Foundation Communities—to support educational opportunities for Out-Of-School Time students and high-quality wraparound services for residents. ($50,000)
  • Frazier Revitalization—to support positive community development, home improvements, resident empowerment, capacity building, and holistic programming for children. ($30,000)
  • Hope for You—to support upgrading emergency shelter facilities and services for financial assistance and financial education. ($25,000)
  • Jubilee Park & Community Center—to support general operations for programs to operate free of charge. ($30,000)
  • LVTRise—to support community safety, adult and youth education, housing, workforce development, health screenings, and nutrition education. ($30,000)
  • Mansfield Mission Center—to support free onsite mental health care, health screenings, emergency financial assistance, and food distribution. ($50,000)
  • Owenwood Farm and Neighbor Space—to support computer lab staffing, equipment and software to allow for digital access, computer training, and career building workshops. ($20,000)
  • Parker Co. Center of Hope—to support food and emergency financial assistance and materials for career and financial education programs. ($30,000)
  • Serve Denton—to support operations and capital funding to cover the costs of the expansions underway. ($25,000)
  • The Golden SEEDS Foundation—to support food distribution, a community garden, and financial education sessions on wills and estate planning. ($30,000)
  • R. Hoover Community Development Corporation—to support the salary of an on-site case manager to help deliver services to the community. ($30,000)
  • Wesley-Rankin Community Center—to support program staff and program expenses such as textbooks for students, materials for hands-on learning activities, or technology upgrades. ($30,000)

To learn more, click here.

Connecticut Health Foundation (Hartford, CT)

With funding from the Connecticut Health Foundation, Hartford Hospital will make changes to policies to better integrate doulas into patient care teams. This pilot is intended to improve maternal health outcomes for people of color.

The $63,000 grant will allow Hartford Hospital to work with community-based doulas and community organizations to study and adjust how to welcome doulas into the hospital. That includes rewriting the hospital’s policies to make doulas an integral part of a patient’s care team. Funding will also be used for training and education for hospital staff on the role of doulas and how to collaborate with them.

This grant was among four awarded by the Connecticut Health Foundation this quarter, totaling $213,000. The other grantees are:

  • Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, Inc.—to support research into the cost of expanding HUSKY insurance to state residents under the age of 25, regardless of immigration status. The research will build upon a 2022 RAND report, “Expanding Insurance Coverage to Undocumented Immigrants in Connecticut,” and will update the projected impact, costs, and savings of HUSKY expansion. This research will be used to inform policy making in the state. ($100,000)

President’s discretionary grants are awarded to organizations and institutions that respond to the foundation’s overall mission or priority areas:

  • Latinas and Power Corp.—to support the work of the Latinas in Leadership Institute, a program of Latinas and Power Corp., designed to empower women in Connecticut to advocate for health equity. This grant will be used for a storytelling project that will highlight health equity issues and be shared through several different media channels. The project aims to create awareness and engage others on the topic. ($25,000)
  • The Connecticut Association of School Based Health Centers—to support efforts to expand school-based health centers to communities with limited health services. The funds will be used towards advocacy for sustainable funding for these centers, and education for staff members and partners on addressing racial inequities. The Connecticut Association of School Based Health Centers will also use this grant to explore how to create a statewide data collection system for school-based health centers and develop a stronger and more diverse medical workforce. ($25,000)

To learn more, click here.

The John A. Hartford Foundation (New York, NY)

The John A. Hartford Foundation approved two grants totaling $524,286 that will spread age-friendly care by promoting the use of person-centered outcome measures and creating a learning collaborative that will develop state policies to support both family caregivers and direct care workers.

  • National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA)—to promote the use of person-centered outcome measures, which are health care quality measures that evaluate how well clinicians address “What Matters” to older adults—an essential component of the Age-Friendly Health Systems 4Ms Framework. This two-year project aims to embed person-centered outcome measures in publicly reported health plan measure sets by launching a learning collaborative of three to five Medicare Advantage Special Needs Plans to identify structured processes for goal tracking and data reporting. It will also build demand for the measures among state Medicaid programs, health plans, clinicians, and consumer advocacy organizations through dissemination of resources to guide the person-centered outcomes approach. ($425,000 for two years)
  • ADvancing States—to build on the work of the Administration for Community Living’s Direct Care Workforce Strategies Center by developing a learning collaborative for up to eight states to develop policies that support both family caregivers and direct care workers. It will include states seeking to reach older adults and people with disabilities who are low-income and minority, live in rural settings, have Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias, have limited English proficiency, and may be at risk of nursing home placement. ADvancing States will provide the learning collaborative with opportunities to engage in person and with other states at its annual Home and Community-Based Services Conference. The learning collaborative will result in customized action plans for participating states to facilitate the implementation of policies such as creating new caregiver benefits or training programs for case managers on integrating input from direct care workers and family caregivers into care plans. ($99,286 for eight months)

Contact: Marcus Escobedo at 212.832.7788 or marcus.escobedo@johnahartford.org.

Health Foundation for Western & Central New York (Buffalo, NY)

The Health Foundation for Western & Central New York has awarded a grant of $100,000 to Universal Primary Care (UPC), a federally qualified health center (FQHC) in Cattaraugus County, New York to support a new approach to strengthening obstetric and gynecological (OB/GYN) services.

The funds are part of a larger fundraising effort led by UPC that will allow the FQHC to reimagine how it staffs and supports the OB/GYN service line. UPC, like many rural health providers across New York and the United States, is dealing with the impact of health care workforce shortages. Currently, UPC employs only one full-time OB/GYN, putting them at risk of staff burnout and being unable to meet the maternal and reproductive health needs of the community they serve.

According to the March of Dimes, as of 2022, Cattaraugus County, New York had the lowest access to maternal care in western New York and was the only county in the region categorized as having “moderate access” to maternal care rather than full access. FQHCs like UPC play a critical role in meeting the health care needs of rural areas by providing care for all patients regardless of their ability to pay.

The funds will enable UPC to take proactive steps to preserve and grow OB/GYN services in the community, including the hiring of a nationally-recognized organizational consultant. The new approach, which may include a “Hospitalist OB Program” in conjunction with the leadership of Olean General Hospital, aims to create a healthier work environment, reduce burnout, and increase the likelihood of hiring and retaining clinical staff. UPC is seeking additional funders to support this effort.

Since the release of the 2022 March of Dimes report, two other counties in western New York—Wyoming and Niagara—have lost hospital obstetric services.

The state of OB/GYN services in western New York mirrors national trends. March of Dimes reports that 36 percent of counties in the United States are considered maternity care deserts, meaning the demand for maternity care is greater than the supply of OB/GYNs. These shortages have an impact, among many other factors, on maternal and infant health outcomes. In 2022, the United States infant mortality rate grew 3 percent, marking the biggest increase in 20 years.

The Health Foundation launched Transform Rural Health in 2022, a campaign to raise awareness and support for the health disparities facing rural counties in western and central New York.

Contact: Gwen Baggs Ito at 716.697.4255.

Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey (Millburn, NJ)

The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey is pleased to announce that it has awarded $1,719,969 to 16 nonprofit organizations in its first quarterly grant cycle of 2024. This quarter represents a strong focus on behavioral health, buoyed by responses to a Request for Proposals (RFP) for projects to strengthen behavioral health support for adolescents in the Jewish community of Greater MetroWest, New Jersey.

The full list of the grants awarded in the first quarter of 2024 is as follows:

  • New Community Corporation/Family Service Bureau—Bringing Hope to Individuals and Families ($171,152)
  • Family Connections—Pride + Counseling & Support for LGBTQIA+ Youth and Their Families in Essex County ($156,890)
  • Rabbinical College of America—RCA Office of Emotional Wellness ($150,000)
  • Turning Point Community Services—Clinical and Supportive Services Program for Homeless Women and Their Families ($150,000)
  • Wynona’s House—Prevention By Design ($131,864)
  • NJ Citizen Action—Health Care for All Education and Outreach Project ($130,000)
  • Essex County Family Justice Center—Expanding Trauma-Informed Mental Healthcare for Greater Newark’s Most Marginalized Victims of Domestic Violence ($126,924)
  • JCC of Central Jersey—Holistic Disability Support – Expanded ($100,350)
  • NJPAC—The Art of Well-being: Leveraging the Arts for Healthier Newark ($100,000)
  • Jewish Family Service of MetroWest—Supporting the Mental Health and Wellbeing of Jewish Teens and Young Adults in MetroWest NJ ($91,713)
  • Temple B’nai Jeshurun—One Community, One Goal – Youth Mental Health First Aid ($90,196)
  • Moving Traditions—MetroWest Student Teacher Wellness and Inclusion Training Program ($85,000)
  • Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest—Greater MetroWest Day School Mental Health Initiative ($73,880)
  • Jewish Family Service of Central NJ—Program to Prevent Homelessness for Union County Older Adults ($70,000)
  • WNET/NJ Spotlight—Continuing a Mental Health Beat within NJ Spotlight News Healthcare Reporting ($50,000)
  • Sadie Nash Leadership Project—Creating Sustainable Mental Health and Wellness Support for Newark Youth ($42,000)

To learn more, click here.

Point32Health Foundation (Canton, MA)

Point32Health and Point32Health Foundation announced over $1.5 million in grants to community organizations addressing food insecurity in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island as part of the White House Challenge to End Hunger and Build Healthier Communities.

Connecticut

  • City Seed, Inc.
  • Connecticut Foodshare, Inc.
  • Council Of Churches of Greater Bridgeport, Inc.
  • Green Village Initiative
  • Haven’s Harvest Inc.
  • New Britain ROOTS, Inc.
  • Wholesome Wave Inc.

Maine

  • Alan Day Community Garden
  • Cumberland County Food Security Council
  • Eastern Woodlands Rematriation
  • Full Plates Full Potential
  • Good Shepherd Food Bank
  • Healthy Acadia
  • Somali Bantu Community Association

Massachusetts

  • About Fresh
  • Boston Area Gleaners Inc.
  • Boston Public Library Fund Inc.
  • Coastal Foodshed
  • Community Harvest Project, Inc.
  • Community Servings, Inc.
  • Digger Foods, Inc.
  • Gardening the Community
  • Growing Places Garden Project, Inc.
  • Harvard University Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation
  • MA Food System Collaborative
  • Mill City Grows Inc.
  • Project Bread – The Walk for Hunger
  • Rachel’s Table of Western Massachusetts
  • The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts Inc.
  • The Greater Boston Food Bank, Inc.
  • The Urban Farming Institute of Boston, Inc.
  • Women’s Lunch Place, Inc. | Boston, Mass.
  • Worcester County Food Bank Inc.

New Hampshire

  • The Community Kitchen Inc.
  • Farmsteads of New England, Inc.
  • Gather
  • New England Grassroots Environment Fund, Inc.
  • New Hampshire Food Bank
  • New Hampshire Hunger Solutions, Inc.
  • Organization for Refugee and Immigrant Success
  • Willing Hands Enterprises

Rhode Island

  • Hope’s Harvest Rhode Island
  • Rhode Island Community Food Bank Association
  • Rhode Island Food Policy Council
  • Southside Community Land Trust
  • University of Rhode Island Foundation and Alumni Engagement

To learn more and view the full list of grantees, click here.

The Point32Health Foundation also announced 20 grants totaling more than $2 million to nonprofit organizations advancing equity in aging and social and racial justice initiatives. The new foundation investments support public policy and system changes to eliminate barriers, promote inclusion, and support community-centered solutions.

The new grants go to:

Connecticut ($215,000)

  • Fairfield County’s Community Foundation—to support the Community Equity Incubator, a part of the Equity Lab, that builds capacity of diverse community leaders and residents through coaching, organizational development, and a peer-support network. ($100,000 over two years)
  • Haven’s Harvest—to support food recovery efforts across the region. ($25,000)
  • Jewish Family Service of Greater New Haven—to support a food pantry, nutritional center, and care navigator program. ($65,000)
  • New Britain Roots—to support the mobile farmers’ market operations and equitable access to healthy food. ($25,000)

Maine ($230,000)

  • Maine Council on Aging—to expand the Leadership Exchange on Ageism. ($50,000)
  • Wabanaki REACH (Reconciliation, Engagement, Advocacy, Change, and Healing)—to support the self-determination of Wabanaki people through education, truth-telling, restorative justice, and restorative practices in Wabanaki and Maine communities. ($90,000 over three years)
  • Elder Abuse Institute of Maine—to design, deliver, and evaluate person-centered elder abuse prevention, detection, and intervention programs. ($90,000 two years)

Massachusetts ($1,036,500)

  • Carroll Center for the Blind—to improve accessibility and inclusion for older adults experiencing vision loss and enhance Age with Independence program. ($287,500 over three years)
  • Dismas House—to engage community leaders who are older adults and former offenders in community organizing efforts for affordable housing and supportive reentry services and a collaborative compassionate release initiative. ($70,000 over two years)
  • Elder Health Care Disparities Coalition—to support Elder Connect – Loneliness Reduction and Digital Literacy Intervention program that uses technology training and intergenerational activities for increased social engagement and improved access to telehealth for older people of color. ($44,000)
  • Health Care For All—to support the Health Ambassadors for Older Adults initiative that improves health care access and connection to community-based supports by addressing social determinants in communities of color and informing policies and systems that impact older people. ($120,000 over three years)
  • Mattapan Food and Fitness Coalition—to support older residents through the Edgewater Neighborhood Association to improve outdoor community space, increase social connections, access to healthy food and physical activity in Mattapan. ($100,000 over three years)
  • NAMI Massachusetts—to support programs that improve the quality of life for people living with mental health conditions, their families, and their caregivers. ($100,000)
  • Three Sisters Garden Project—to increase access to healthy, culturally relevant food for people with lower incomes in Essex County. ($30,000)
  • Way Finders—through the Chestnut Community Alliance and Flexing Civic Muscle Program, advance older adult resident-led advocacy and community organizing focused on digital equity, housing justice, and other community priorities in Springfield and Holyoke. Activities offered in English and Spanish. ($285,000 over three years)

New Hampshire ($270,000)

  • New Hampshire Hunger Solutions—to enroll more older adults in federal nutrition programs by advancing the Elderly Simplified Application Project and increasing awareness of hunger and community solutions in N.H. Advocate, support, and build food access coalitions to address hunger at the state, local, and national levels. ($270,000 over three years)

Rhode Island ($275,000)

  • DARE: Direct Action For Rights & Equality—to grow and sustain a strong and diverse membership to identify solutions to community problems, collaborate with community leaders, and advocate to advance policy priorities, including probation reform, that disproportionately impact people of color. ($150,000 over two years)
  • NAMI Rhode Island—to support NAMI R.I. education programs, resources, and advocacy efforts to ensure the rights and dignity of people, and support to all whose lives are affected by mental illness. ($100,000)
  • Real Access Motivates Progress (RAMP)—to support policy priorities, strategic planning, and capacity of the organization to advocate for disability rights, inclusion, and accessibility. ($25,000)

National ($40,000)

  • Grantmakers In Aging—to invest in Fund for Older Americans Act Reauthorization (OAA) 2024 to promote bipartisan solutions and increased funding to advance equity, address disparities in aging, and better align public and private resources. ($40,000)

Contact: Alrie McNiff Daniels at alrie.daniels@point32health.org.

RRF Foundation for Aging (Chicago, IL)

At its February 2024 board meeting, RRF Foundation for Aging approved $1.2 million in grants supporting aging-related efforts across the organization’s priority areas.

Highlights include:

  • Health and Medicine Policy Research Group—to continue developing a multi-sector plan on aging equity for Illinois through the Illinois Aging Together campaign. ($175,000)
  • Illinois Aging Services, Inc.—to continue advocacy efforts for increased resources and support for family caregivers throughout Illinois. ($93,500)
  • National Alliance to End Homelessness—to continue addressing the challenge of homelessness among older adults. ($109,700)
  • The Renaissance Collaborative, Inc.—to support intergenerational and affordable housing for older people, grand-families, and young adults. ($200,000)

In addition, RRF board trustees approved a major strategic initiative to prevent and mitigate rising debt among older people and stave off its destructive consequences. The share of older people who have incurred “high risk” debt (unsecured debt such as credit cards, medical bills, and student loans) has soared by 50 percent over the last two decades. An astounding 60 percent of adults age 65 and over carry debt and more than one-third are financially constrained and unable to meet basic needs.

Beginning with RRF’s Call to Action more than a year ago, followed by staff research and conversations with many stakeholders, RRF awarded a two-year, $574,502 amplified grant to the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC), to lead this debt initiative. NCLC will address two areas that adversely affect older adults’ economic security: medical debt, including unlawful nursing home debt collection, and student loan debt. NCLC will pursue several policy reforms in both areas, lead and participate in strategic coalitions, and provide training and technical assistance to legal aid lawyers and private attorneys, and other on-the-ground advocates.

To complement this effort, RRF awarded a $60,000 grant to New America Foundation, a key partner with NCLC in the student loan area. New America will conduct research to determine the uptake of older adult borrowers in new relief programs rolled out by the federal government. NCLC will use this data to inform needed program revisions and outreach strategies.

RRF will continue to explore opportunities to build this debt initiative by seeking out organizations that can raise awareness of debt issues and help build momentum to advance policy reform; educate older adults to protect them against incurring bad debt; offer innovative, effective community models to assist older adults with debt relief; and identify funding partners who are interested in this area.

Contact: info@rrf.org.

Stanford Medicine Children’s Health (Stanford, CA)

In their 2023 fiscal year, Stanford Medicine Children’s Health and Stanford Health Care Tri-Valley invested over $1.07 billion in programs and services for the local community, such as food donations, training for medical professions, health education classes, home health services for seniors, supportive care for cancer patients such as free exercise classes, and research into improved care and better health outcomes.

To learn more, click here.

Vitalyst Health Foundation (Phoenix, AZ)

Continuing its mission to connect, support, and inform efforts to improve the health of individuals and communities in Arizona, Vitalyst Health Foundation announces recipients of its Spark Grants and System Change Grants. The grants will total $1M in funding to local organizations in the state.

The System Change Grants, worth $175,000 over three years each, were awarded to: Arizona Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Arizona Community Health Workers Association, Black Lives Matter Phoenix Metro, Central Arizona Shelter Services, and EAR Foundation of Arizona. These grants invest in efforts that positively address complex community health challenges and reduce structural and/or systemic gaps in health outcomes or opportunities.

The Spark Grant recipients receive $25,000 each and are as follows: Abolish Private Prisons, Greater Phoenix Economic Council, Parents of Addicted Loved Ones, Pastoral Care Associates, and Tooth B.U.D.D.S. These Q3 grantees join three others previously approved in the 2023-24 fiscal year, a total of $300k in Spark Grants will be distributed this fiscal year. These Spark Grants support collaborations in their journey to address systemic change, allowing partners to figure out solutions, which could then be further funded by a Systems Change Grant.

The grants will be used in a variety of projects, from the Arizona Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics filling gaps in nine counties without child psychiatry to Tooth B.U.D.D.S. expanding access to dental hygienists and dental therapists.

Contact: Garrett Otto at gotto@gcjpr.com, 602.274.1988

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