W.K. Kellogg Foundation (Battle Creek, MI)

With support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Calhoun Intermediate School District’s Early Childhood Connections (ECC) has serviced more than 3,000 children since 2011. It has increased kindergarten readiness from 25 percent to 89 percent. The organization uses the Parents as Teachers curriculum, a national parent education model, to increase kindergarten readiness for children from birth to age five. ECC also offers home visits by trained family coaches, who teach parents to engage with their children to prepare them for kindergarten. The organization’s Welcome Baby Education program provides every nursing mother in Calhoun County a baby gift basket and three home visits. It supports children’s developmental growth through hands-on creative playgroups at one of its 40 partner facilities in Calhoun County. Transportation is provided to and from playgroups because most families enrolled in ECC don’t have their own vehicles. In addition, ECC provides weekly car seat clinics, offering free car seat inspections and tips on child vehicle safety. The program also has a “Raising a Reader” book bag initiative, where families exchange books with other families and parents are taught to engage children in daily reading activities. During the 2013-14 school year, ECC served more than 1,500 children.

Williamsburg Health Foundation (VA)

In 2014 Williamsburg Health Foundation adopted a new strategic plan with the vision of “Individuals making healthy choices in a community with health opportunities for all.” While “health opportunity” may be a new concept to the public, it is a not a new idea to those who study health. A great example of creating health opportunity is a Mobile Food Pantry that brings fresh produce and lean meats from the Virginia Peninsula Foodbank to communities in the Lackey area of York County.

The foundation also makes sure there are healthy foods easily accessible at public schools of Williamsburg-James City County. For that reason, the largest single grant of the Williamsburg Health Foundation is made to the School Health Initiative Program, a health and wellness program focused on promoting and supporting healthy eating, physical activity, and other health opportunities at Williamsburg-James City County Public Schools.

Another grant that takes aim at making children healthier is to KaBOOM! to build a community playground in upper James City County. Finally research shows that babies who are breastfed have fewer and less serious illnesses than those who are not breast fed. For that reason, the foundation is funding a new breastfeeding support program at Child Development Resources.

Contact: Jeanne Zeidler
Phone: 757.345.0912
Email: jzeidler@williamsburghealthfoundation.org

Paso del Norte Health Foundation (El Paso, TX)

Paso del Norte Health Foundation (El Paso, TX) recently awarded five grants totaling more than $666,000 under the Tobacco and Alcohol Control Priority Area – A Smoke Free Paso del Norte initiative. Funding will support the initiation of smoking in youth, create availability of cessation programs, and promote smoke-free environments.  Click on the link below for a list of organizations funded.

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Moses Taylor Foundation (Scranton, PA)

Moses Taylor Foundation awarded $628,078 to 10 organizations that promote health and wellness throughout Northeast Pennsylvania. Grantees include:

  • Friendship House, Northeast Regional Autism Center—$106,610 to expand its telemedicine clinical program and enroll staff members in a board certified assistant behavior analyst certification program;
  • Greater Carbondale YMCA—$60,000 to expand wellness programming and reduce capital debt;
  • Meals on Wheels—$20,000 to assist in continuing its weekday hot meal delivery to the homebound elderly and disabled population;
  • Northeast Pennsylvania Center for Independent Living—$47,000 to support construction of the new Transitional Skills Center and purchase of sensory room equipment and driving simulator;
  • Rural Health Corporation of NEPA—$36,788 to purchase modern dental chairs;
  • Saint Joseph’s Center—$245,000 over two years to create two full-time staff positions and upgrade technology and educational resources for staff orientation and training;
  • Wilkes University—$41,000 to improve and expand its Transition of Care service to Regional Hospital of Scranton;
  • Lackawanna County Aging Needs Assessment and Service Gap Analysis—$56,680 to conduct a needs assessment survey of Lackawanna County’s aging population;
  • Enrichment Audio Resource Services—$10,000 to support an outreach program that provides general information about age-related eye diseases; and
  • The F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts, Jamie Tworkowski, founder of To Write Love on Her Arms—$5,000 to support a free community presentation that focuses on teen behavioral health challenges.

Contact: LaTida Smith
Phone: 570.207.3731
Email: lsmith@mosestaylorfoundation.org

Pottstown Area Health & Wellness Foundation (PA)

Pottstown Area Health & Wellness Foundation (awarded $1,755,755 in grants to 41 nonprofit organizations, schools, and municipalities.

  • PRIORITY #1A: Promoting healthy living through nutrition, activities and programs in public and private schools ($813,020)—Boyertown Area School District, Brookeside Montessori ,Coventry Christian School, Coventry Christian School, Daniel Boone Area School District, Falkner Swamp Nursery School, Inc., Owen J. Roberts School District, Perkiomen Valley School District, Pottsgrove School District, Pottstown School District, Spring-Ford Area School District, St. Aloysius Parish School, The Blazer Foundation, The Wyndcroft School, West-Mont Christian Academy. PRIORITY #1B: Improving parks, programming, and the built environment to increase access to physical activity ($114,000)—Colebrookdale Railroad Preservation Trust, Limerick Township,West Pottsgrove Township.
  • PRIORITY #1C: Creating and promoting social networks involving healthy living ($278,285)—Boyertown Area Branch- Philadelphia Freedom Valley YMCA, Expressive Therapy Concepts Inc., Greater Pottstown Tennis & Learning, Green Valleys Association, Helping To Inspire Positive and Healthy Opportunities for Progress, Julian Dorsey Foundation, Olivet Boys & Girls Club, Pottstown Branch- Philadelphia Freedom Valley YMCA, Pottstown Parks & Recreation Foundation Inc., and Trinity Evangelical Congregational Church.
  • PRIORITY #2: Programs for physical health and emotional well-being ($146,000)—Accion Comunal Latinoamericana de Montgomery County, Health and Dental Care. Inc., Maternal and Child Health Consortium of Chester County, and Spring-Ford Counseling Services.
  • PRIORITY #3: Learning opportunities and strategic planning to strengthen nonprofits ($404,450)—Foundation for Boyertown Education, Foundation for Pottstown Education, Pottstown Area Industrial Development Inc., SAVE Alliance Foundation, TriCounty Community Network Inc., United Way of Boyertown Area, and United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey.

Contact: Skye Tulio
Phone: 610.323.2006
Email: stulio@pottstownfoundation.org

Sierra Health Foundation (Sacramento, CA)

Sierra Health Foundation awarded 36 grants totaling $500,000 in this year’s Responsive Grants Program. The grants up to $15,000 will support programs that improve health and well-being in the foundation’s Northern California funding region, which consists of 26 counties. The following is a list of grants:

  • Yolo Food Bank,
  • Rio Vista Care, Inc.,
  • Karuk Tribe of California,
  • Community Pool for the Handicapped Committee, Inc.,
  • Catholic Council for the Spanish Speaking of the Diocese of Stockton,
  • WIND Youth Services,
  • Calaveras County Office of Education,
  • Iu Mein Community Services,
  • Stockton Shelter for the Homeless,
  • People of Progress, Inc.,
  • Stanislaus Multi-Cultural Community Health Coalition*West Modesto/King Kennedy Neighborhood Collaborative,
  • Inyo Mono Advocates for Community Actions, Inc.,
  • Society for the Blind,
  • Tuolumne River Preservation Trust,
  • California Indian Manpower Consortium, Inc.,
  • Seniors First, Inc.,
  • Meristem Inc.,
  • Trinity County Health & Human Services,
  • Insight Garden Program,
  • Gender Health Center,
  • Habitat for Humanity Intl Yuba Sutter,
  • Delta Health Care and Management Services Corporation,
  • Sierra Senior Services,
  • Adventure Risk Challenge,
  • Amador Community College Foundation,
  • Alternatives to Violence,
  • International Rescue Committee Inc.,
  • Episcopal Church,
  • Mutual Housing California,
  • Intermountain Health Care Foundation,
  • Incorporated Senior Citizens of Sierra County,
  • Roundhouse Council,
  • Welcome Home Vets, Inc.,
  • Center for Land-Based Learning,
  • Plumas District Hospital, and
  • Planned Parenthood Shasta Diablo, Inc.

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

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Potomac Health Foundation (Woodbridge, VA)

Potomac Health Foundation (Woodbridge, VA) awarded grants to 25 programs serving residents of eastern Prince William County, Lorton, and North Stafford communities through its Howard L. Greenhouse Large Grant Program for a total of $2,687,748. YEAR 1 GRANTS:

  • Consumer Health Foundation-Regional Primary Care Coalition—$25,000 for Regional Primary Care Coalition
  • The Doorways—$38,000 for Patient and Family Access Program
  • National Coalition of 100 Black Women/PWC Chapter, Inc.—$98,000 for Colon Cancer Project
  • Nueva Vida—$125,000 for increasing cancer prevention and improving continuity of care to underserved Latinas
  • Pathway Homes—$125,000 for permanent supportive housing for individuals with serious mental illnesses
  • Project Mend a House—$40,000 for preventing health complications through participation in the Stanford Chronic Disease Self-Management Program and the Diabetes Self-Management Program

YEAR 2 GRANTS:

  • Brain Injury Services—$168,617 for CREST: Collaborative Rehabilitation to Enhance Stroke Treatment
  • Change in Action Inc.—$168,261 for behavioral management for traumatic exposure
  • Empowerhouse—$76,004 for interpersonal violence health care partnership program;
  • George Mason University—$257,000 for middle school ACHIEVES (AdvanCing Healthcare Initiatives for undErserVEd Students)
  • George Mason University—$216,678.28 for POISED (Precision Outreach Intervention, Screening, Surveillance and Exercise for Falls Prevention in Diabetes) Prince William
  • George Washington Regional Commission/The Farmers Market.co—$43,089 for fresh food access for community health
  • National Capital Poison Center—$250,000 for web poison control
  • Northern Virginia Family Service—$192,246 for improving nutrition for low-income families;
  • Prince William Area Free Clinic—$48,562 for navigation
  • SCAN of Northern Virginia—$25,000 for safe babies and child abuse prevention
  • Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center—$62,675 for diabetes prevention program
  • Stafford Schools Head Start/VPI/Early Head Start—$19,323 for Stafford children’s insurance outreach program
  • The House, Inc. Student Leadership Center—$207,000 for Project Play
  • Young Invincibles—$100,000 for healthy young America-Northern Virginia campaign

YEAR 3 GRANTS:

  • American Heart Association—$109,375 for CPR Anytime
  • Northern Virginia Family Service—$69,827 for Prince William HealthLink
  • Prince William County Public Schools—$86,236 for coordinated mental health support for at-risk youth
  • Prince William Soccer Inc.—$68,855 for The Courage F.U.N. Project
  • The Arc of Greater Prince William/INSIGHT, Inc. for medical case management

Contact: Kukua Osei-Gyamfi
Phone: 703.523.0621
Email: info@potomachealthfoundation.org

The New York Community Trust (NY)

The New York Community Trust wants New Yorkers to live healthy, independent, and productive lives, and the following grants are intended to do that in New York City and beyond: 

  • Carter Burden Center for the Aging—$110,000 to expand health services at its day program for low-income, chronically ill elders
  • Myrtle Avenue Commercial Revitalization and Development Project LDC—$40,000 to plan events and programs in Brooklyn so seniors can socialize and learn about healthy lifestyles, fitness, and the arts
  • Visiting Neighbors—$60,000 to create a guide that helps families start end-of-life discussions
  • AIDS Community Research Initiative of America (ACRIA)—$100,000 to study the health care needs of older people living with HIV/AIDS
  • Health Research—$314,000 to study and develop treatments for mycobacterium abscessus, a drug-resistant bacterial infection
  • Mount Sinai Hospital—$100,000 to develop an app, website, and online resources so adolescents can be involved in their health care decisions
  • National Center for Law and Economic Justice—$90,000 to encourage public agencies to offer more accessible services to people with vision problems
  • UJA-Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York—$125,000 to help health, mental health, housing, and social service agencies adapt to federal and state health reform

Contact: Amy Wolf
Phone: 212.686.0010
Email: aw@nyct-cfi.org

MetroWest Health Foundation (Framingham, MA)

MetroWest Health Foundation awarded $848,089 in new grants:

  • Advocates, Inc.—$64,976 for integration of behavioral health in a pediatric care team and $10,000 for training and distribution of NaIoxone
  • BayPath Elder Services, Inc.—$18,720 for creating dementia friendly communities
  • BayPath Elder Services, Inc.—$12,650 for upgrades to the Caregiving MetroWest website
  • Bridge of Central Massachusetts, Inc.—$55,611 for specialized training for schools in self-injury prevention
  • Framingham Public Schools—$25,000 for assessment of social and emotional learning strategies
  • Framingham State University—$7,800 for sexual violence education and prevention
  • Charles River Center—$17,850 for purchase of an electronic medical record system
  • Hopkinton Public Schools—$220,328 for reentry and stabilization program for middle school students returning to school post-hospitalization
  • Hudson Public Schools—$217,067 for reentry and stabilization program for middle school students returning to school post-hospitalization
  • Kids Connect, Inc.—$10,000 for core support
  • Riverside Community Care—$19,999 for program to decrease depression in older adults;
  • Spark Kindness, Inc.—$58,452 for parent education services
  • Wayside Youth & Family Support Network—$19,822 for mental health services for LGBTQ youth
  • Wellesley College Centers for Women—$89,814 to implement a depression screening program with Natick’s middle school population

With these grants, the foundation has surpassed $50 million in support of local of health and wellness initiatives.

Contact: Martin Cohen
Phone: 508.879.7625, ext. 14
Email: mcohen@mwhealth.org

Merck Foundation (Kenilworth, NJ)

Merck Foundation (Kenilworth, NJ) announces a new initiative, the Alliance to Advance Patient-Centered Cancer Care, that aims to increase timely access to patient- centered care and reduce disparities in cancer care, especially for vulnerable and underserved populations in the United States. The Alliance will work to strengthen patient-centered care, including patient-provider communication, patient engagement, and patient-centered treatment planning; improve patient outcomes, including satisfaction with care and quality of life; build sustainable partnerships that advance patient-centered care and reduce disparities in access to high-quality cancer care. With $15 million in funding from the foundation over five years, the alliance will support the implementation of multifaceted cancer care programs in selected communities across the country. Through an independent cross-site evaluation, the foundation will evaluate the impact of the alliance and its programs.

Contact: Leslie Hardy
Phone: 908.740.1545

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

The John A. Hartford Foundation (New York, NY) has approved five new grants totaling $4.8 million.

  • Moving and Scaling Home-Based Primary Care into the Mainstream of U.S. Health Care ($1,544,347 for three years), Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine ($939,568 for three years), Home Centered Care Institute ($454,779 for three years) and American Academy of Home Care Medicine ($150,000 for two years). This initiative aims to improve the health of the most frail and vulnerable elders living in the community by increasing access to and the quality of home-based primary care.
  • The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation – Kaiser Health News: The Geriatric Care Reporting Project ($2,472,650 for three years). This partnership will establish a top-tier reporting desk that will build awareness and understanding of geriatric care issues among the public, policymakers, and the health care sector.
  • National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine: Roundtable on Quality Care for People with Advanced Illness ($211,415 for three years). This project will accelerate implementation of recommendations from the 2014 Institute of Medicine report, Dying in America: Improving Quality and Honoring Individual Preferences Near the End of Life. The Health and Medicine Division of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (formerly, Institute of Medicine) will convene the Roundtable on Quality of Care for People with Advanced Illness to advance actions and policy work in areas such as access to palliative and advance care planning.
  • Center for Medicare Advocacy: Reducing Harm to Medicare Beneficiaries – Improving Hospital Observation Status and Other Policies ($500,000 for two years). This project will raise visibility and diminish the negative impact of the “observation status” classification of older hospitalized adults through outreach and education by the Center for Medicare Advocacy. 

Contact: Jack Croft
Phone: 610.687.5495

The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey (Milburn)

Recently awarded five grants totaling $828,032 to improve the delivery of health care to vulnerable, under served children in Newark. Newark Beth Israel Medical Center Foundation received $226,489 to test and refine the first fully integrated pediatric practice in the region at Children’s Hospital of New Jersey. St. James Health, Inc. received $200,000 to establish integrated primary, dental, and behavioral care for children and caregivers using a care team model.

Additional grants aimed at integrating primary and behavioral health care for children include: NJCRI ($146,293), to add pediatric and prenatal services using the agency’s existing Living Well adult model of integrated primary care and behavioral health; Rutgers Community Health Center ($189,750) to establish a pediatric primary care team that includes community health workers to support the healthy development of infants and children living in public housing in East Newark; and Main Street Counseling Center ($65,500), to integrate behavioral health care into the school based health center at Newark’s 13th Avenue School, in partnership with Jewish Renaissance Medical Center.

Contact: Marsha Atkind
Phone: 973.921.1210
Email: matkind@hfnj.org

The Foundation for a Healthy High Point (NC)

The Foundation for a Healthy High Point approved $4,498,654 for grants to local nonprofits:

  • Alcohol and Drug Services of Guilford, Inc.—$200,000 to assist with preventing substance abuse among youth
  • Caring Services, Inc.—$6,400 to assist with the development of a strategic plan
  • Community Clinic of High Point—$84,620 to assist with increasing access to care for uninsured patients
  • Communities in Schools of High Point—$30,628 to assist with providing certified nursing assistant training and certification
  • Family Service of the Piedmont, Inc.—$780,000 to assist with providing integrated primary care services for uninsured and indigent patients
  • Guilford Adult Health, Inc.—$67,250 to assist with providing integrated behavioral health care
  • Guilford Child Development—$56,439 to assist with the expansion of the Nurse-Family Partnership program
  • Guilford County DHHS, Division of Public Health—$175,317 to assist with expanding services of the Family Connects Model
  • High Point Regional Health Foundation—$2,500,000 to assist in enhancing clinical programs at High Point Regional Health
  • High Point University—$250,000 to assist with establishing physical therapy services through a community-based pro bono clinic
  • Mental Health Associates of the Triad—$60,000 to assist with providing mental health services for at-risk populations
  • Macedonia Family Resource Center—$10,000 to assist with the implementation of a community health promotions program
  • NC MedAssist—$30,000 to support a medications distribution program
  • Piedmont Health Services and Sickle Cell Agency—$130,000 to assist with the prevention of teen pregnancy
  • YWCA High Point—$118,000 to assist with the expansion of the Adolescent Parenting Program.

Contact: Tina Markanda
Phone: 336.822.7740

The California Endowment (Los Angeles)

The California Endowment announced a $306,344 grant to the International Rescue Committee in Los Angeles, to help support the health and mental health needs of Syrian refugees who will be resettling in California. The majority of funding will go directly to resettlement agencies accepting the most Syrian refugees to help access health, mental and social services; to help ensure coordination among California’s 22 resettlement agencies; and to support communications strategies that support the refugee resettlement effort.

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Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation (Princeton, NJ)

Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation awarded a $5 million grant to launch the Maine Lung Cancer Prevention and Screening Initiative, a four-year collaboration with Maine health care providers from Maine Medical Center, the Maine General Prevention Center, Maine Health Center for Tobacco Independence, Maine Quality Counts, American Lung Association of the Northeast, American Cancer Society, University of Southern Maine Muskie School of Public Service, Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems and the Maine Public Health Association. As part of the program, Maine General Medical Center in Augusta will hire three community health workers in addition to the five already on staff. The workers will fan out into rural areas and try to connect people to care, and encourage smokers to enter smoking cessation programs. The initiative will educate primary care doctors on the importance of working with patients on smoking cessation programs and getting patients into screenings.

Contact: Patricia M. Doykos
Phone: 609.252.3390

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