Aroha Philanthropies (Minneapolis, MN)

Aroha Philanthropies has awarded nearly $500,000 in grants to 15 nonprofits through its “Seeding Artful Aging” initiative to develop and enhance successful Artful Aging programs throughout the United States. Grant awards range from $17,000 to $50,000. Artful Aging programs inspire and enable older adults to learn, make, and share the arts in ways that are novel, complex, and socially engaging. The 15 selected grantees and their funded programs include Grafton County Senior Citizens Council, Inc., Integrace Fairhaven, and United Methodist Retirement Communities Foundation.

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Virginia Health Care Foundation (Richmond)

The Virginia Health Care Foundation awarded six grants totaling $770,000 under its new population health initiative, Taking Aim, Improving Health (TAIH).The six TAIH grantees will use differing approaches to intervene with 1,335 high-cost charity care patients. Population Health partnerships funded through TAIH:

  • Eastern Shore Rural Health System and Riverside Shore Memorial Hospital
  • Free Medical Clinic of the Northern Shenandoah Valley and Winchester Medical Center
  • Lloyd F. Moss Free Clinic, Mary Washington Hospital, Stafford Hospital, and Spotsylvania Regional Medical Center
  • Martinsville Henry County Coalition for Health and Wellness and Memorial Hospital of Martinsville and Henry County
  • New Horizons Healthcare, Bradley Free Clinic, Carilion Clinic, and United Way of Roanoke Valley (Healthy Roanoke Valley)
  • Norton Community Hospital, Lonesome Pine Hospital, The Health Wagon, and Frontier Health

Contact: Cat Hulburt
Phone: 804.828.5804

UniHealth Foundation (Los Angeles, CA)

UniHealth Foundation is pleased to announce grants awarded in May 2016.

  • Citrus Valley Health Partners Care Innovation and Population Health Program—$900,000 over three years to increase organizational capacity to support the critical changes and new processes required for managing population health and transitioning to value-based payment models.
  • Casa Colina Hospital and Centers for Rehabilitation—$859,862 over three years to develop a patient navigation program to improve patients’ successful transition after discharge from acute rehabilitation.
  • Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital—$750,000 over three years to develop and implement a diabetes education program which will screen and monitor inpatients with hypoglycemic occurrences, train staff on best practices, and connect patients with a navigator to develop interventions for pre-diabetes and those with diabetes.
  • California Hospital Medical Center—$706,421 over three years in partnership with Jewish Family Services, to implement the Transition to Wellness Project which will provide service navigation to patients with mental illness treated in the emergency department and inpatient hospital units to connect them with community resources and treatment interventions.
  • Mount Saint Mary’s University—$463,737 over three years to develop and implement a Healthy Health Care Provider Program.
  • USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center C4-SPA4—$400,000 over three years to build and sustain the Comprehensive Cancer Control Coalition in Service Planning Area 4 (C4-SPA4).
  • UCLA Fielding School of Public Health Forecasting the Population Health Burden of Mental Health Disorders and Scenarios for Prevention and Treatment in Los Angeles County—$429,213 over two years to focus on forecasting the prevalence of major depression in Los Angeles County.
  • USC Keck School of Medicine Physician Wellness Initiative, Resident and Faculty Wellness—$300,000 over three years to promote resident and faculty wellness while reducing signs and symptoms of depression and burnout currently experienced by residents and faculty at USC.
  • AIDS Project Los Angeles PCMH Certification for Gleicher/Chen Health Center and Long Beach Health Center—$300,000 over two years to support the planning and implementation required to transform APLA’s two clinical sites to level three Patient Center Medical Home accreditation through the National Committee for Quality Assurance.
  • Mental Health America of Los Angeles Homeless Health Care Center—$150,000 to support renovation of property purchased by the City of Long Beach for Mental Health America’s Homeless Health Care Center. Grant funds will support the buildout of the Homeless Assistance Program drop in center.
  • UCLA Health Continuity Care Coordinators Advance Care Planning—$110,000 to support a one-year pilot project which will build and evaluate a new infrastructure using Continuity Care Coordinators specially trained to identify appropriate patients and promote advance care planning conversations.
  • Alzheimer’s Family Services Center Innovation in Dementia Care Delivery Model—$100,000 to build a sustainable, accountable, and integrated health care continuum that meets the complex medical and psychosocial needs of individuals affected by Alzheimer’s disease or other dementia and their families in Orange County.
  • Young & Healthy—$86,191 over two years to support transition from a hard-copy, piecemeal client data system to an efficient and modern system known as the FAMCare Centralized Client Data Management and Tracking System for its operations.
  • San Fernando Community Health Center—$80,000 to support the Dental Auxiliary Utilization Pilot Project which seeks to re-establish a four-handed dentistry training program for UCLA’s School of Dentistry within the structure of the pre-doctoral pediatric dentistry rotation.
  • Good Samaritan Hospital—$50,000 to conduct a planning process for the establishment of a new palliative care program and service line for inpatient care throughout the hospital with a focus on the intensive care unit.
  • Children’s Burn Foundation Full Recovery Program—$50,000 to support the Full Recovery Program which provides life-transforming surgeries, prostheses and transplants, specialty burn garments, and other medical needs for child burn survivors, as well as services to support the psychosocial and emotional recovery of child burn survivors.
  • Loyola Marymount University—$33,000 to support a collaboration between the Loyola Marymount University Bioethics Institute and the Providence Institute for Human Caring to create an end-of-life community education program.

Phone: 213.630.6500
Email: communications@unihealthfoundation.org

Tufts Health Plan Foundation (Watertown, MA)

Tufts Health Plan Foundation announced community investments of more than $1.8 million. The initiatives tackle a range of issues from access to health care and social isolation of older adults to managing chronic diseases and elder abuse. The 12 new grants include activities in Health and Wellness, Purposeful Engagement, and Field and Capacity Building.

  • Bridges Together (Sudbury, MA) Building Intergenerational Bridges in 45 Communities—To expand to 45 communities this intergenerational program that places older adult volunteers in school classrooms.
  • Brockton Neighborhood Health Center (MA) Bringing Health Home—To improve access to health promotion programs for older adults and residents in public housing.
  • Elder Services of Merrimack Valley (Lawrence, MA) Healthy Living Center of Excellence—To support this network of 90+ community-based providers that offers evidence-based programs to older adults throughout the Commonwealth.
  • Friends of Yarmouth Council on Aging (MA) Age-Friendly Yarmouth to Cape Cod: Continuous Improvement Plan Year 2—To implement activities to address community needs identified by the age-friendly survey.
  • Gerontology Institute at the University of Massachusetts Boston (MA) Environmental Scan of Assets and Activities Supporting Dementia-Friendly Communities in Massachusetts—To identify dementia- and age-friendly resources, assets, and programs in Massachusetts and help build learning communities that help Massachusetts lead the age- and dementia-friendly movements.
  • Greater Boston Legal Services (MA) Elder Abuse Prevention Project of Greater Boston Legal Services—To expand the elder abuse prevention program to Chelsea, Malden, Quincy, and Somerville.
  • Massachusetts Health Aging Collaborative (MA) Building Capacity of the Massachusetts Health Aging Collaborative to Drive Change—To provide initial support for staffing to advance the collaborative’s work, connect and align the age-friendly system, and build community capacity.
  • Metropolitan Boston Housing Partnership (Boston, MA) Building Effective Hoarding Response for Boston and Cambridge Elders—To shift municipal agencies from a punitive response to a holistic case management approach to hoarding in older adults.
  • St. Elizabeth Community (Providence, RI) The WellCare Program—To launch the nationally recognized Support and Services at Home program, a proven best practice, in Rhode Island.
  • Sustainable Southern New Hampshire Planning Commission Foundation (Manchester)Becoming an Age-Friendly Community – A Step-by-Step Analysis and Guide for SNHPC Communities—To support capacity building and the development of community plans that include age-friendly policies and practices.
  • Transition House (Cambridge, MA) Community Solutions to Domestic Violence: Focus on Elders—To expand a pilot that addresses domestic violence among older adults in Cambridge.

The foundation also awarded a grant from the James Roosevelt, Jr., Leadership Fund. This investment supports Whittier Street Health Center (Roxbury, MA) Mind/Body Wellness Intervention for Seniors to implement programs taking a holistic approach to promoting healthy living and disease management for older adults.

Contact: Alrie McNiff Daniels
Phone: 857.304.3338
Email: Alrie_Daniels@tufts-health.com

The Sisters of Charity Foundation (Columbia, SC)

Sunflower Foundation (Topeka, KS)

Sunflower Foundation has awarded $561,047 to build new trails, or connect and enhance existing trails. The program promotes healthy living by helping communities provide all populations with safe and accessible opportunities for outdoor physical activity. The following communities and school district were awarded grants:

  • Lawrence: Lawrence Loop—$120,000 to support building a .7-mile long, 10-foot wide concrete trail north of Rock Chalk Park, connecting the west leg of the Lawrence Loop Trail to the Baldwin Creek section of the loop.
  • Maize: 45th Street Trail—$55,000 to support the City of Maize in building a .53-mile long, 8-foot wide concrete trail connecting two large neighborhoods, a park, and a middle school to a network of 20 miles of trails in the Wichita metro area.
  • Atchison: South Atchison Trail—$55,000 to support the City of Atchison, working with Live Well Live Atchison, in building a 1.55-mile long, 10-foot wide, asphalt, shared-use trail.
  • Tribune: Trail to be named—$48,675 to support Growing The Vision Inc., a Greeley County Community Development foundation, in building a 1.02-mile long, 6-foot wide concrete and asphalt trail, encircling the county’s largest park and connecting its recreational amenities.
  • Augusta: Shryrock Park Trail—$48,000 for the City of Augusta to build a .64-mile long, 8-foot wide, concrete trail throughout the city’s most popular park.
  • Manhattan: Old Blue River Trail—$46,625 to support the City of Manhattan in building a .6-mile long crushed limestone trail, ranging in width from 6 to 10 feet, connecting a residential area to the city’s existing trail network.
  • St. Francis: Keller’s Pond Nature Area Trail—$41,613 to support the City of St. Francis in building a .63-mile long, 6-foot wide gravel trail around a popular local pond and wildlife area, increasing access to the pond particularly for residents with limited mobility.
  • Clearwater: Chisholm Trail Sports Complex Trail—$40,000 to support the City of Clearwater, working with the Clearwater Recreation Commission, to build a .65-mile long, 6-foot wide concrete trail through the town’s sports complex.
  • Nickerson: Partner Pass—$39,978 to support the City of Nickerson in building a .67-mile long, 6-foot wide concrete trail around the city’s only park.
  • Iola: King of Trails Bridge connector—$30,000 to support the City of Iola, working with Thrive Allen Country, overseeing construction and installation of a 150-foot long pedestrian truss bridge over Elm Creek.
  • USD #457 Garden City School District, Victor Ornelas Elementary School—$18,200 to support the Garden City School District with building a .25-mile long, 6-foot wide asphalt trail on Victor Ornelas Elementary School property.
  • Pittsburg: Pittsco Sunflower PSU Trail connector—$9,114 to support the City of Pittsburg, working with Livewell Crawford County, in building a 308-foot long, 6-foot wide connector trail that will allow passage through a railway crossing.
  • Paola: Lake Miola Trail connector—$9,022 to support the City of Paola in building a 1.4-mile, 8-foot wide crushed limestone connector trail, completing a 7.5-mile long trail system around Lake Miola.

Contact: Phil Cauthon
Phone: 785.232.3000
Email: pcauthon@sunflowerfoundation.org

Sierra Health Foundation: Center for Health Program Management (Sacramento, CA)

Sierra Health Foundation: Center for Health Program Management announced an award of $3 million over three years to the San Joaquin Valley Health Fund from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to advance racial equity and community mobilization to improve the lives of children. Funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation will be used over three years to support San Joaquin Valley Health Fund grantmaking to accelerate system changes by supporting networks, regional policy agendas, and coordinated action that increase the health and well-being of children and promote racial equity and social justice. It will help spur community mobilization and help the fund expand its funding partner network to build the capacity of at least 100 nonprofit partners to jointly advocate for better conditions for children and families across the Valley. In recognition of the disparities and the need to engage in regional efforts, the San Joaquin Valley Health Fund was launched in the fall of 2014 with initial support from Sierra Health Foundation and The California Endowment. The fund has evolved into a partnership of seven foundations: Sierra Health Foundation, The California Endowment, Rosenberg Foundation, The California Wellness Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Blue Shield of California Foundation and Wallace H. Coulter Foundation. It has invested more than $1,660,000 in 58 nonprofit partners in the San Joaquin Valley committed to working in partnership to ensure equity and tackle these disparities.

Contact: Kari Ida
Phone: 916.922.4755
Email: kida@sierrahealth.org

Saint Luke’s Foundation of Cleveland (OH)

Saint Luke’s Foundation of Cleveland has awarded $5,275,823 to 17 organizations that advance the foundation’s strategic priorities of Healthy People, A Strong Neighborhood and Resilient Families. The full list of grants is:

  • Greater Cleveland Food Bank—$1,050,000 over three years to support the organization’s strategic plan initiatives, which include expanding Children Programs; servicing 4,715 new seniors; connecting with 3,900 new patients with food-related medical illness through health care facilities; and further exploring opportunities around the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, SNAP-ED, and seniors.
  • Legal Aid Society of Cleveland—$1,050,000 over three years for operating support to enable the organization to serve more families, increasing residential stability, ensuring safety and well-being, and improving financial position.
  • Cleveland State University Foundation—$450,000 over two years to strengthen the Urban Health Fellows program.
  • Cleveland Neighborhood Progress (CNP)—$425,000 to support The Greater Buckeye Transformation Initiative that will explore and pilot new vehicles to deliver community development services in the Buckeye and Woodland Hills neighborhoods.
  • Boys and Girls Clubs of Cleveland—$355,000 over two years to support expansion of youth development services at the three school-based sites.
  • Cuyahoga County Office of Early Childhood—$338,500 to support parent engagement efforts around the expansion of the county’s universal prekindergarten program.
  • Family Promise—$300,000 over two years to cover renovation costs of its shelter and administrative offices which is a former Catholic elementary school.
  • Mental Health and Addiction Advocacy Coalition—$225,000 over two years for operating support for continued research, advocacy, and organizational effectiveness/sustainability.
  • Harvard Community Services Center—$220,000 over two years to support targeted code enforcement in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood, and to pilot an active living program.
  • Life Exchange Center—$135,000 over two years for operating support that will enable the purchase of a vehicle and the hiring of a program coordinator.
  • North Coast Health—$125,000 for operating support to engage patients in a team-based patient-centered model of care.
  • Family Connections—$74,323 to support the Supporting Partnerships to Assure Ready Kids (SPARK) program, a home visiting program that engages parents in preparing their children for school.
  • YWCA of Greater Cleveland—$55,000 to support the organization’s Early Learning Center, and specifically, its two-generational, trauma-informed approach to early learning and parent engagement.
  • Enterprise Community Partners, Inc.—$50,000 to support a collaborative initiative to end homelessness and housing insecurity for vulnerable families in Cuyahoga County.
  • College Now Greater Cleveland—$50,000 to support the You First Initiative, which will build capacity to serve adult learners – and particularly parents – through outreach partnerships with neighborhood-based family-facing organizations.
  • Far West Center—$28,000 for implementation work related to an electronic health record.

In addition, the board awarded a three-year, $345,000 grant to the Fund for Our Economic Future for ongoing support. Its purpose is to help leverage resources and collective impact and advance economic growth that benefits all people through job creation, job preparation, and job access.

Contact: David Wasserstrom
Phone: 216.403.7272
Email: david@rouxcreative.com

St. David’s Foundation (Austin, TX)

St. David’s Foundation is making over $25 million in grants to area nonprofits. With total giving for 2016 projected to be around $75 million, St. David’s Foundation grants will encompass several priority areas of giving for the locally based philanthropy. More than $11 million will go to safety net clinics that provide primary care and preventive care for low-income families. Additional grants will provide mental health services for children and adults, and support future health care professionals with scholarships and other assistance in pursuing their careers. Further investments are made to encourage healthy lifestyles, and to provide dental care for vulnerable members of the community.

Contact: Isobel Elder
Phone: 512.474.1501
Email: Isobel@Ozmun.com

St. David’s Foundation awarded scholarships to 54 Texas graduating high school seniors who plan to pursue careers in health care. St. David’s Neal Kocurek Scholarships provide up to $7,500 per year for up to four years of undergraduate studies for each recipient. Additionally, the scholarship is available for up to four years of graduate studies at Texas Colleges and Universities, as well as medical school. The scholarships help cover expenses such as tuition, fees, books, and medical supplies.

Funds for the scholarships are raised annually from Toast of the Town, a series of fundraising parties held each spring. St. David’s Foundation matches two-to-one the total amount raised from Toast of the Town, tripling the amount available for scholarships. Each scholarship recipient is matched with a St. David’s Healthcare professional who acts as a mentor for the student.

Contact: Kristy Ozmun
Phone: 512.474.1501
Email: kristy@ozmun.com

PATH Foundation (Warrenton, VA)

The PATH Foundation announced the selection of 16 area organizations to receive funding from their most recent round of grant applications. The projects selected relate to one or more of the foundation’s four priority areas: access to care, childhood wellness, mental health, and senior services. A total of $754,186 will be awarded to the following organizations:

  • Rappahannock County Schools—$100,000 for Commit to Be Fit, an initiative to integrate fresh, healthy food and increased movement for all students and employees within the school system.
  • Fauquier Excellence in Education Foundation—$96,500 to improve the main building and outdoor grounds of the existing Outdoor Lab on the Fauquier High School campus.
  • Lord Fairfax Community College—$75,000 to expand its Associates of Applied Science in Emergency Medical Services (EMS) degree and Paramedic Career Studies Certificate programs to the Fauquier Campus that will take effect this fall.
  • Piedmont Environmental Council—$64,336 to assist the Town of Remington in building on its community assets and offer transportation and recreational options, such as trails, sidewalks, bike routes, and parks projects.
  • Mountain Vista Governor’s School Foundation—$60,000 to add a 10th grade cohort to its existing 11th and 12th grade programs.
  • Windy Hill Foundation— $60,000 to support the construction of five fully-accessible handicapped units at the Washburn Place affordable housing project in Marshall.
  • Fauquier Free Clinic, Inc. —$52,700 to expand oral health resources in the region.
  • Fauquier Trails Coalition, Inc.—$50,000 to design the extension of the Cedar Run Greenway below US Highway 29/15 to Blackwell Road.
  • Fauquier County Community Development—$50,000 for a strategic planning process that involves the community in understanding and responding to the factors impacting Fauquier County’s future.
  • Boys and Girls Club of Fauquier, Inc.—$40,000 to build their program through strengthening policies, board leadership, and facilities and operations planning.
  • Fauquier Community Child Care, Inc.—$34,500 to implement the Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Standards adopted by the National Afterschool Association.
  • Fauquier County Public Library—$25,000 to conduct a community assessment to help plan future library resources and services.
  • Fauquier County Public Schools-VPI—$15,000 to plan a four-week summer program that will focus on kindergarten readiness.
  • VolTran—$15,000 to increase capacity and sustainability of the organization through their strategic plan.
  • Community Touch, Inc.—$10,000 to focus on community engagement and awareness for clients, volunteers, and donors.
  • Fauquier Habitat for Humanity—$6,150 to provide financial and nutritional education for families in the program, as well as low-income families within the community.

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Palm Healthcare Foundation (West Palm Beach, FL)

Palm Healthcare Foundation awarded 35 grants totaling $1,919,513 to local nonprofits. The funding supports the health and well being of Palm Beach County residents. Grants include:

  • Community Child Care Center of Delray Beach, Foundation, Inc. (Achievement Centers for Children and Families)—$200,000 to support programmatic strategies to address behavioral health issues.
  • George Snow Scholarship Fund, Inc.—$200,000 to support nursing student scholarships in Palm Beach County.
  • Pathways to Prosperity, Inc.—$200,000 to address family caregiving challenges and ways to better support family caregivers and their loved ones who have chronic health conditions and need assistance.
  • Jupiter Medical Center Foundation—$200,000 to address health and quality of life issues starting with diabetes prevention and management.
  • American Cancer Society, Inc.—$81,513 to educate patients on cancer prevention and early detection with a focus on nutrition, physical activity, and tobacco cessation.
  • Fred and Gladys Alpert Jewish Family & Children’s Services of Palm Beach—$80,000 to support the creation and coordination of an integrated community model to introduce the international, evidence-based Mental Health First Aid Program throughout Palm Beach County.
  • Northwest Community Consortium, Inc.—$75,000 to support the implementation of a program to increase access to health care, provide health education and literacy, and provide Mental Health First Aid Training in the Northwest Community of West Palm Beach.
  • Florida Atlantic University Simulation Center—$50,000 to support the INTERACT program that trains family caregivers and home health aides.
  • Palm Beach County Youth for Christ—$50,000 to provide programs for parents and their children that focus on physical and emotional health, and wellness and parenting skills.
  • Florida Atlantic University, College of Business—$50,000 to support the roll-out of a learning community comprised of elder-care service providers in Palm Beach County to improve communications and coordination of care.
  • Quantum House, Inc.—$50,000 to partially support the expansion of the existing facility with 20 additional rooms to offer supportive home-like care for families whose children are receiving treatment in Palm Beach County for serious medical conditions.
  • Clinics Can Help—$40,000 to provide partial funding for a permanent site for the organization.
  • Caridad Center, Inc.—$30,000 to provide equipment and supplies for a four-room vision clinic at the Caridad Center, the largest free clinic in Florida; $12,000 for Healthier Together community members to attend a two-day Racial Equity Institute workshop; $35,000 to support the Prevention, Education, and Treatment Program for high-risk diabetic Haitian and Hispanic patients.
  • Housing Partnership, Inc.—$26,000 to support a facilitated health dialogue in Lake Worth and the Glades communities named Health Dialogue to Action; $35,000 which provided a one-day Collective Impact Conference; and $200,000 to find solutions to behavioral health issues in its neighborhoods Northern West Palm Beach and Riviera Beach.
  • El Sol Jupiter’s Neighborhood Resource Center (El Sol)—$25,000 to support the Sunshine Community Garden.
  • MyClinic—$25,000 to support a capital campaign to build a permanent building on the site of this not-for-profit, free clinic that provides primary medical care and urgent care dental referrals to low income, uninsured residents of Palm Beach County.
  • Hospice of Palm Beach County Foundation, Inc.—$25,000 to provide general operating support for end-of-life care.
  • Palm Beach Atlantic University, Inc.—$22,500 for Online Healthcare Orientation; and $125,000 to support the establishment of the Volunteer Nurse Corps, administered by Palm Beach Atlantic University’s School of Nursing.
  • South Florida Science Center & Aquarium, Inc.—$15,000 to present an exhibit that aligns with the foundation’s philosophy that community engagement and education can lead to the residents’ ability to live healthier lifestyles.
  • 211 Palm Beach Treasure Coast, Inc.—$10,000 to create 211 customized community resource directories utilized for the foundation’s Healthier Together targeted communities.
  • Palm Beach County Food Bank—$10,000 to support a mobile food pantry that distributes fresh and healthy food with an education component to residents in low-income, limited access areas.
  • Truth Point Church—$10,000 to provide bags of nutritional items along with health and hygiene products to Palm Beach County’s homeless population.
  • Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties, Inc.—$10,000 for Great Give 2016.
  • Genesis Community Health, Inc.—$10,000 to support the Diabetes Coalition of Palm Beach County.
  • Palm Beach Cancer Institute Foundation/Sari Asher Center for Integrative Care—$5,000 to support cancer patients who are unable to pay for therapeutic treatments and therapies that help reduce symptoms and improve the quality of daily living.
  • The Glades Initiative, Inc.—$3,000 to enable the organization to translate the Cooking Matters Nutrition Education Program materials into Haitian Creole.
  • Blue Ridge Institute Development Fund, Inc.—$2,500 for Capacity Building for Palm Beach County Executive Leadership.
  • Cancer Alliance of Help and Hope, Inc.—$2,500 to support Palm Beach County residents undergoing cancer treatments with living expenses, health insurance, car payments, food, and other basic necessities.
  • Wellington Cares, Inc.—$2,500 to support volunteer training sessions, materials, background checks, and gift cards to enable the program to reach its goal of allowing seniors in Wellington to stay in their homes with the support of volunteers who offer free, nonmedical services to the 65+ community.
  • Young People In Recovery—$2,000 to help Palm Beach County chapters expand their work to conduct free housing, education, and employment workshops to young people in recovery.

Contact: Debbie Abrams
Phone: 561.706.0202
Email: debbie@thebuzzagency.net

Osteopathic Heritage Foundation (Columbus, OH)

The Osteopathic Heritage Foundation will provide $1,877,145 to support projects that advance the foundation’s Healthy Aging Initiative. The following organizations received funding:

  • Clintonville-Beechwold Community Resources Center—$479,500 for “Community Aging in Place,” a program that offers case management services within the organization’s service area and coordinated, county-wide group transportation assistance designed to help residents gain access to needed health and social services.
  • LifeCare Alliance—$400,000 to expand the number of Community Wellness Centers serving older adults in Franklin County.
  • St. Stephens Community House—$295,123 to expand essential services, including case management and transportation, to older adults in the Linden area.
  • National Church Residences—$254,209 for “Home for Life” community service coordination for low-income seniors on the Near East side of Columbus.
  • YMCA of Central Ohio—$205,634 to expand “Healthy for Life,” including the Diabetes Prevention and Enhance Fitness Programs to multiple YMCA locations and partner organizations across Franklin County.
  • Gladden Community House—$122,655 to expand case management, transportation, and emergency support services to seniors in Franklinton.
  • Charitable Pharmacy of Central Ohio—$120,024 to expand access to no-cost prescription medication and medical management programs for older adults in Franklin County living at or below 200 percent of the poverty level.

The foundation’s Healthy Aging Initiative also provided lead support to Age Friendly Columbus.

Contact: Susan Beaudry
Email: sbeaudry@ohf-ohio.org

The New York Community Trust (NY)

The New York Community Trust approved revised strategies for its Health and Behavioral Health and People with Special Needs grantmaking programs. Highlights of each strategy includes:

Health and Behavioral Health—to promote an equitable, patient-focused, and cost-effective health and behavioral health care delivery system. We will make grants to:

  • Monitor—through research and advocacy—health care reform implementation.
  • Build the capacity of New York City’s health, behavioral health, and human service sectors to succeed in a reformed health care system.
  • Reduce health disparities between low- and higher-income neighborhoods through investments in disadvantaged communities.
  • Foster the independence of people with mental illness and substance use histories.

People with Special Needs—This coordinated strategy reflects the common challenges and opportunities for four groups of people with special needs: the elderly, children and youth with disabilities, people with blindness and visual disabilities, and people with developmental disabilities. We support projects that target low-income individuals and communities and make grants to:

  • Make New York City communities—especially those that are under-resourced—accessible, welcoming, and inclusive for people with special needs.
  • Ensure that health, social, education, and vocational services allow people with special needs to live up to their fullest potential.
  • Build the capacity of nonprofits serving people with special needs.

Both strategies give preference to projects that offer sector-wide, systemic, and multi-agency solutions, and whenever possible, make grants in partnership with other Trust program areas to ensure the greatest systemic impact.

Contact: Irfan Hasan
Phone: 212.686.1622

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The Horizon Foundation (Columbia, MD)

The Horizon Foundation has launched Speak(easy) Howard, which aims to change the way people in Howard County talk about and plan for the health care they want to receive in the future. It encourages residents to take two critical steps in planning for end-of-life care: have a conversation about health care wishes with loved ones and identify a health care proxy who can communicate these wishes.

The campaign kicks off with the launch of a community collaborative made up of nearly a dozen faith groups, health care providers, community centers, and others who will commit one year to learning and implementing best practices in end-of-life care planning. The collaborative will receive guidance and support from experts with The Conversation Project and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.

In 2017, the Horizon Foundation will launch a countywide outreach and promotion campaign for Speak(easy) Howard. It seeks to increase the number of people who have designated their health care proxy, a trusted person who will make health care decisions if they are unable to communicate those decisions themselves.

To ensure doctors can connect with chosen health care proxies and learn each person’s care decisions so these wishes can be respected, Horizon is partnering with the Howard County government and Maryland’s official health information exchange, Chesapeake Regional Information System for our Patients, to establish an electronic registry. It will allow individuals to designate their health care proxy online and make that information easily accessible by hospital and medical providers statewide.

Contact: Tiffany Callender
Phone: 443.766.1220
Email: tcallender@thehorizonfoundation.org

The Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts (Worcester)

The Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts announced that as of June 2016, the Worcester Regional Food Hub (WRFH) kitchen is permitted and ready to help grow the local food system. A key component of the WRFH, the Commercial Kitchen Incubator provides licensed commercial kitchen facilities, culinary training, and planning assistance to support the development of food businesses by farmers, caterers, and other food entrepreneurs looking to start or grow an existing business. This month, the kitchen welcomed the very first tenant, Regional Environmental Council’s YouthGROW program, as they tested some new equipment in a new kitchen to cook up their tried and true Drop it like it’s Hot Sauce™.

Contact: Dave Johnson
Email: foodhubops@recworcester.org

George Gund Foundation (Cleveland, OH)

The George Gund Foundation announced a total of $4,886,750 in grants determined at its July board meeting. Several grants support access to high quality reproductive health through both direct services and public policy advocacy. Grants to Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio, the Ohio Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, the Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence and the Family Planning Association of Northeast Ohio, Inc. offer services to women seeking access to reproductive health care, victims of sexual assault, and vulnerable teens. Other grants of interest include:

  • $150,000 to the Cleveland Water Alliance to host an event called “AquaHacking 2017: United for Lake Erie” that will focus on water quality issues.
  • $100,000 to Montessori Development Partnerships in continued support of the launch of Stonebrook Montessori charter school in Glenville.

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Jessie Ball duPont Fund (Jacksonville, FL)

The Jessie Ball duPont Fund awarded more than $300,000 in grants to support technology improvements at four organizations.

  • Jacksonville Speech & Hearing received $135,622 to upgrade equipment, software, and practices to improve efficiencies and restructure the organization’s technology operations.
  • Family Foundations of Northeast Florida received $132,653 to upgrade its technology infrastructure, expand its client management system, and provide all staff with mobile technology to more effectively connect with clients.
  • Children’s Home Society of Florida received $25,280 to support a technology assessment.
  • Freedom’s Foundation at Valley Forge, in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, received $8,200 to conduct a technology assessment.

The Jessie Ball duPont Fund makes grants to more than 320 eligible organizations identified by Mrs. duPont in her will.

Contact: Mary Kress Littlepage
Phone: 904.616.0050
Email: mekl@comcast.ne

Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation (Princeton, NJ)

In 2015 the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation launched a grant-making initiative called Specialty Care for Vulnerable Populations to address inequities in access to, and utilization of, specialty care services in the United States. Its goal is to catalyze sustainable improvement and expansion of specialty care service delivery by safety-net providers, so as to achieve optimal and more equitable outcomes for the people they serve who are living with complex diseases such as cancers, cardiovascular diseases, and HIV/AIDS. Funding and partnerships focus on efforts to complete systems of care through specialty–primary care collaborations and to integrate patient engagement, navigation, and social support services.

As a first step to address this need, the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation invested in a number of exceptional organizations that are on the frontlines and the front edge of mitigating disparities in specialty care. The Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Care (East Harlem, NY); the Anne Arundel Medical Center (Annapolis, MD); and Maine Medical Center (Portland)—are coming up with new ways to move on new evidence-based guidelines issued by the US Preventive Services Task Force and are hoping to use reimbursement by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and private payers to roll out lung cancer screening of low-income, minority, and rural smokers who are at high risk.

The Association of Community Cancer Centers is working with its members to develop a model for early patient engagement and care coordination for lung cancer patients covered by Medicaid. Farmworker Justice is establishing community prevention and care networks that encompass use of workplace outreach, migrant health clinics, and National Cancer Institute Comprehensive Cancer Centers to serve migrant farmworkers at high risk for melanoma and other skin cancers in Florida and California. Project ECHO has received a planning grant to explore the application of its tele-mentoring and collaborative care model to cancer care. And finally, the Washington AIDS Partnership is inclusively pursuing the 90-90-90 HIV/AIDS strategy (that is, 90 percent of patients tested/90 percent treated/90 percent at undetectable viral load) to end the epidemic in the District of Columbia by reaching into the community and testing a model of home-based care to increase antiretroviral adherence and viral suppression among people who have fallen out of clinical care.

The Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation has also found that a critical area of work is sharing data about inequities in specialty care and emerging best practices with providers, payers, patient advocates, policy makers, and philanthropic funders and encouraging them to adopt an equity mindset and to take coordinated action together. Earlier this summer, they launched a new resource for the field—Breaking the Barriers to Specialty Care: Practical Ideas to Improve Health Equity and Reduce Cost. This series of five issue briefs lays out the state of inequities in specialty care; details effective strategies and solutions for improving health equity by mentioning relevant case studies; and provides implementation guidance for the field. The three core strategies are increasing availability of specialty care, ensuring high-quality care, and helping patients engage in their care.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation welcomes opportunities to learn, partner, and collaborate with the aim of eliminating disparities and creating the conditions for optimal and equitable specialty care for all.

Learn More

CareFirst (Baltimore, MD)

CareFirst recently invested nearly $3 million to expand the use of tele medicine services to help providers evaluate, diagnose, and treat patients in rural and under served areas in Maryland, Washington, DC, and Northern Virginia. The following organizations will receive funds:

  • Mosaic Community Services—$501,590 to increase access to behavioral health services and enhance care coordination for patients in Central Maryland
  • Cornerstone Montgomery—$415,000 to improve access to behavioral health services to underserved communities upon discharge from hospital care
  • George Washington University—$410,000 to provide specialty care for underserved patients in Washington, DC’s Wards 7 and 8 through creation of a telemedicine clinic at Unity Health Care’s Anacostia location
  • Queen Anne’s County Department of Health—$400,000 to implement the county’s Mobile Integrated Community Telemedicine Health Program
  • Children’s Hospital Foundation—$300,000 to improve access to in-home pediatric care for Medicaid and uninsured patients
  • Virginia Hospital Center Foundation—$275,000 to develop an outpatient clinic that will assist patients in overcoming barriers to care through telemedicine initiatives
  • The Medical Society of Northern Virginia Foundation—$250,000 to increase the number of volunteer specialists available to patients at Northern Virginia safety net health centers
  • Total Health Care—$245,046 to improve quality and reduce the cost of care through primary care telehealth solutions for patients living with diabetes and hypertension
  • University of Maryland Baltimore Foundation—$100,000 to enhance telemedicine services at skilled nursing facilities in West Baltimore
  • Western Maryland Health System—$100,000 to serve patients with chronic conditions through remote monitoring and virtual video meetings

With this investment, CareFirst has provided more than $4.2 million in telemedicine grants.

Email: carefirstcommunityaffairs@carefirst.com

Five National Health Care Foundations

Five national health care foundations, The Commonwealth Fund (New York, NY), John A. Hartford Foundation (New York, NY), Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (Princeton, NJ), Peterson Center on Healthcare (New York, NY), and SCAN Foundation (Long Beach, CA), announced a new collaboration to transform care delivery for high-need, high cost patients—people with multiple chronic illnesses as well as often challenging social needs and limited ability to care for themselves. Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine, leaders from the organizations said they will develop resources and tools to meet three urgent goals:

  • understanding this diverse population
  • identifying evidence-based programs that offer high-quality integrated care at a lower cost
  • accelerating the adoption of these programs nationally.

Phone: 212.606.3800
Email: commonwealthfund@cmwf.org

1889 Foundation (Johnstown, PA)

The 1889 Foundation and the Pennsylvania Rural Arts Alliance (PRAA) announced the recipients of the 2016 Creative Health Impact Grant Awards. The awards provide 1889 Foundation funds to programs selected by the PRAA. Six programs were selected and will receive awards ranging from $1,000 to $5,000. Here is an overview of the funded programs:

  • Bottleworks Ethnic Arts Center “Mindful Arts Initiative”— to fund the educational certification of the central facilitator for this program.
  • Community Arts Center of Cambria County – “The Language of Art”— to provide free art classes and workshops for individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing.
  • Johnstown Concert Ballet – “Dancing for a Difference”—to introduce Kairos Alive to the population of the region.
  • Mount Aloysius College–“Opening Minds through Art at Mount Aloysius College”—to implement this proven program as a part of its Expressive Arts for Healing academic program, an intergenerational art program for people with dementia.
  • Mountain Playhouse –“Seniors on the Go: An Interactive Day of Artistic Discovery”—to address the problem of senior citizens lacking transportation to get to activities and events.
  • Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art – “Arts for the Ages”—to teach artists participating in the National Center for Creative Aging’s Online Artist Training, followed by planning and implementing five-day residencies with senior centers.

The 1889 Foundation’s initial commitment to the PRAA for Creative Health Impact Grant Awards is $25,000 annually for three years.

Contact: Susan Mann
Phone: 814.532.0100
Email: smann@1889foundation.org

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