Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Foundation (Detroit, MI)
The Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Foundation recently awarded community matching grants to:
- Allies in Recovery, Inc.—to address the health needs of homeless women through case management. ($10,000)
- Covenant House Michigan—to address mental health and substance abuse disorders among young adults experiencing homelessness by providing intensive mental health care, life skills development, and support. ($40,000)
- Grand Rapids African American Health Institute—to address mental health, physical health, and nutrition among African American families with children ages 8-13 years old. ($15,000)
- Great Lakes Recovery Center—to support ongoing efforts to eliminate accessibility barriers to treatment, increase capacity, and explore ways to strengthen sustained recovery. ($80,370)
- Migrant Legal Aid, Inc.—to improve the health of migrant and immigrant food workers through the provision of COVID-19 education, pesticide safety education, and occupational injury/illness education. ($40,000)
- Oakland University—to focus on physical functioning, wellness, and physical activity levels of Black women impacted by breast cancer. ($37,500)
- Washtenaw Area Council for Children—to implement an educational program on child sexual abuse program. ($40,000)
Contact: Elba Huerta at foundation@bcbsm.com.
The Cannon Foundation (Concord, NC)
The Cannon Foundation approved $1,448,169 in grants across the state to nonprofit organizations advancing efforts in higher education, health care, human services, and other areas. The foundation awarded grants to support many issues, including food insecurities, affordable housing, and rural health. In addition, organizations throughout North Carolina received grants that focus on vulnerable populations and communities. Since its inception, The Cannon Foundation has distributed grant awards in excess of $317.5 million.
Contact: Gene Cochrane at 704.786.8216 or gcochrane@cannonfoundation.org.
Dogwood Health Trust (Asheville, NC)
Dogwood Health Trust announced a new investment in affordable housing in Burke County, North Carolina. A grant made to Northwestern Housing Enterprises will help Northwestern Housing Enterprises transform the site of the Historic Valdese Weavers Mill into a 60-unit rental housing development along Main Street in downtown Valdese, North Carolina.
The proposed $12.3 million renovation project will create affordable rental housing for 60 families. Northwestern Housing Enterprises expects to begin construction this summer with an anticipated completion of early 2024. Dogwood is contributing $2 million towards the project; the remaining costs will be funded through the Low Income Tax Credit and state and federal historic/mill tax credit equity.
Contact: Erica Allison at 828.358.4867 or media@formationpr.com.
Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation (Indianapolis, IN)
The Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation awarded an additional $1.2 million in Prevention Matters grants for Marion County K-12 schools already participating in the initiative. These funds will minimize the impacts of COVID-19 by supporting schools for one additional year as they develop plans to sustain their prevention programs once the grant funds have been fully expended.
The foundation launched Prevention Matters in 2018 to help Marion County schools identify, implement, and sustain proven substance use prevention programs. These programs equip students with skills that not only help them avoid drugs and alcohol, but also help boost academic achievement, attendance, classroom behavior, and social and emotional well-being.
For a complete list of participating schools, click here.
Ethel and James Flinn Foundation (Detroit, MI)
The Ethel and James Flinn Foundation gave a two-year, $200,000 grant to The Detroit Public Safety Foundation (DPSF) for the Detroit Police Department’s collaborative effort to better support citizens experiencing mental health challenges. The Flinn Foundation is the first private donor to officially support the collaborative effort between Detroit Police Department (DPD), Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Network (DWIHN), and the City of Detroit’s Housing and Revitalization Department. This Behavioral Health Co-Response Pilot Program was created to improve police and community relationships while addressing the mental health needs of citizens of Detroit, Michigan.
The partnership includes DWIHN training Detroit Police Officers, 911 call takers, and homeless outreach workers in Crisis Intervention Team, which helps deescalate situations involving those who are mentally ill or are experiencing a mental or emotional crisis. In addition, DWIHN is embedding behavioral health specialists in the 911 call center, homeless outreach teams, and police response units. Together, these specialists will help connect individuals with mental health challenges to relevant support services.
This three-pronged approach is a comprehensive response to an important issue impacting safety and incarceration rates as well as providing institutional mental health support for those in need. The Detroit Public Safety Foundation is working with the Detroit Police Department and City of Detroit to help secure additional funding from private donors to advance the program.
To learn more about the Detroit Public Safety Foundation, click here.
Contact: Carter Drewry at 434.989.2262 or cdrewry@detroitpublicsafety.org.
John A. Hartford Foundation (New York, NY)
The John A. Hartford Foundation (JAHF) has approved funding for six grants totaling $5,863,764 to spread age-friendly care, support family caregivers, and increase access to serious illness care.
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Yale University—to support the Geriatric Emergency Department Collaborative (GEDC) to expand its education, practice support, and evaluation activities. JAHF partners with the West Health Institute to support the GEDC. ($1.6 million for two years)
- The Age-Friendly Institute—to support a three-year initiative to increase consumer understanding and drive demand for age-friendly care. This project will create a digital hub and partnerships with stakeholders involved in the movements to make health systems, public health systems, cities, universities, and employers more age-friendly. ($1.5 million for three years)
- Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center—to implement a demonstration in three health systems to increase the uptake and use of shared electronic health record access by family caregivers of older adults, evaluate its effects, and disseminate best practices to promote national adoption. ($1,476,784 for three years)
- Health Careers Futures—to implement an updated version of the Teaching Nursing Home model in three regions of Pennsylvania to demonstrate how enhanced partnerships between academic nursing schools and skilled nursing facilities can improve quality and cost outcomes. The Jewish Healthcare Foundation co-funds this initiative. ($594,110 for two years)
- Convergence Center for Policy Resolution—to assess the perspectives, values, and vision of key and diverse stakeholders, develop areas of agreement and create an implementation and dissemination plan for public support of consensus-based recommendations to reimagine the care of older adults in nursing homes and the range of settings they call home. The SCAN Foundation co-funds this project. ($453,777 for 15 months)
- FAIR Health—to develop, test, and plan dissemination of shared decision-making tools to help older adults and their family caregivers understand cost information for treatment options based on clinical evidence while balancing risks and outcomes aligned with their preferences and values. ($233,022 for 18 months)
Contact: Clare Churchouse at 212.832.7788 or clare.churchouse@johnahartford.org.
New York State Health Foundation (New York, NY)
The New York State Health Foundation (NYSHealth) selected five organizations across New York for grant awards totaling $1 million to engage patients of color as partners in their health care at both the systems and individual levels.
Patients, particularly people of color, are often marginalized rather than placed at the center of the health care system. Although all patients should be valued as partners, patients of color can face unique obstacles, including racism, bias, mistrust, and gaps in communication between patients and physicians. Engaging patients of color to ensure their priorities, preferences, and experiences guide efforts to develop a more equitable health system is an important first step toward racial health equity.
These awards will support projects across New York State that give patients of color a meaningful role in their health care and work toward a more equitable health care system.
To learn more about grant recipients and their projects, click here.
Contact: info@nyshealth.org
Pottstown Area Health & Wellness Foundation (Pottstown, PA)
The Pottstown Area Health & Wellness Foundation awarded $13,152 to Pottstown area schools as part of the Medical University of South Carolina’s Boeing Center for Children’s Wellness (BCCW) School-Based Wellness Initiative.
This year’s three advanced-award winners were:
- West-Mont Christian Academy—Overall winner ($1,400)
- West Vincent Elementary (OJR)—Physical Activity ($900)
- East Vincent (OJR)—Rookie of the Year ($600)
This is the seventh year that Pottstown area schools have participated in the wellness initiative. This year, the initiative was successfully implemented in a total of 29 schools across six school districts and reached more than 21,000 area students. The money awarded to schools help fund the schools’ wellness committees to continue to fund wellness activities in the coming school year.
These schools and districts have implemented activities to further the efforts to create a culture of wellness in schools, including this year’s checklist challenge face mask contest, in which students from across the area submitted over 200 custom face mask designs that promoted social and emotional learning, good nutrition, and active lifestyles.
The MUSC BCCW School-Based Wellness Initiative engages schools and districts in creating a culture of wellness by utilizing the School Wellness Checklist, which serves as a guide to choose evidence-based wellness strategies and resources that meet the needs of a school community. Schools earn points based on the number of strategies and activities that they implement, and are awarded funds based on the number of points that they earn.
To learn more, click here.
Contact: John Robertson at 540.817.8219 or jrobertson@pottstownfoundation.org.