Alliance Healthcare Foundation and Imperial Valley Wellness Foundation (San Diego and El Centro, CA)

Alliance Healthcare Foundation (AHF) has transferred 10 percent of its endowment to Imperial Valley Wellness Foundation (IVWF). These funds will be locally held and managed in perpetuity in rural Imperial Valley, California. IVWF focuses on the health and wellness of vulnerable populations with a long-term vision of making the Imperial Valley a better place to live for all.

While AHF has invested more than 1 million dollars in capacity building support, technical assistance, and pass-through grant funding to IVWF since 2017, this contribution allows greater autonomy for the rural community, which faces extreme inequities when compared to the rest of California. Research shows that more than 30 percent of Imperial Valley’s children face food insecurity, despite the region ranking in the top 10 percent for all agricultural sales in the United States. Farms in the region produce two-thirds of the vegetables on dinner tables and in grocery stores in the United States in the winter months.

Encompassing 4,400 square miles between San Diego County and the state of Arizona, Imperial County is the least populous—and most underfunded—county in the state and suffers from a significant lack of resources for its 180,000 residents. Per capita income is only $17,590—50 percent less than the per capita income for all of California, with a poverty rate of 25 percent, and unemployment at 20 percent. Additionally, the air quality is very poor and has caused Imperial Valley to have the highest rates of childhood asthma in the United States.

As a Rural Development Hub, IVWF serves as a connector, convener, and changemaker in Imperial County, California. The organization, serving as both a grantmaker and a trusted intermediary for other funders, bestows grants in the areas of health and wellness, community/civic engagement, and nonprofit capacity building, and also facilitates Learning Exchanges, where individuals and organizations gather to learn, share, and discover ways to work together. AHF’s generous contribution represents an evolution in the partnership between IVWF and AHF, moving from a grantor-grantee relationship to a partnership based on peer-to-peer learning.

Contact: Karen Winston at 858.348.6472 or karen.winston@alliancehf.org.

Archstone Foundation (Long Beach, CA)

In support of its mission to improve the health and well-being of older Californians and their caregivers, Archstone Foundation’s board of directors approved new grants totaling nearly $500,000. These projects will help advance the foundation’s goal to achieve equitable, coordinated care by supporting equity-focused leadership training in the aging field and by increasing nonprofit organizations’ capacity to provide services to older adults.

  • American Society on Aging (ASA)—to support ASA RISE, a cohort-based leadership program for professionals of color in the aging field. Archstone Foundation was a seed funder for the program in 2021 and continues to support this work to promote justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion across a wide range of aging professions. ($210,000 over three years)
  • Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI)—for a planning process to develop a Patient Advisory Council. The council will include older adult community members and will advise AACI on organizational changes to improve access to services, increase quality of care, and better coordinate its programs. ($50,000)
  • California Food is Medicine Coalition—to provide professional development for the registered dietician nutritionists who are part of its eight participating nonprofit organizations. This funding will support its ability to bill Medicare and Medicare Advantage to provide medical nutrition therapy to older adults. ($50,000)
  • ElderHelp of San Diego (co-located with Meals on Wheels San Diego)—to engage a program and service integration specialist to reduce duplication of services and improve care coordination and referrals to more effectively and efficiently support the health and wellness of older adults in San Diego, California. ($50,000)
  • Groceries for Seniors—to implement DonorPerfect, a customer relationship management system, to improve operational efficiency, support data-driven decisions, quicken community responses, and better demonstrate impact. ($30,000)
  • Institute on Aging—to implement and integrate StoriiCare, an electronic health record system, for its Companioa program serving people living with dementia and their caregivers. ($50,000)
  • Vital Access Care Foundation—to enhance the infrastructure and operational capacity of the Asian Pacific Islander Task Force’s Direct Care Network to improve culturally competent and client-centered direct care services for older adults in Southern California’s Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities. ($50,000)

Contact: Laura Rath at lrath@archstone.org.

The Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts (Worcester, MA)

The Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts and Community Servings launched a collaborative effort to expand access to nutritious meals for residents living with diet-related chronic illnesses and food insecurity in Central Massachusetts. The pilot project has started enrolling eligible residents to receive medically tailored groceries at no cost.

During the pilot, which is supported by a $425,000 Synergy Initiative grant from The Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts, Community Servings will ship groceries, as prescribed by its team of registered dietitian nutritionists, directly to participants in Central Massachusetts over a 24-week period. The groceries will consist of ingredients—including produce sourced from Central Massachusetts farms—which participants with health conditions such as diabetes and heart disease can use to prepare nutritious meals.

The medically tailored groceries pilot is a new intervention for Community Servings, which has delivered scratch-made, fully prepared medically tailored meals for the past 35 years. Meals are delivered throughout Massachusetts and Rhode Island from its main kitchen in Jamaica Plain and through its distribution center in Mansfield.

This pilot grant from The Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts to Community Servings follows a $250,000 planning year grant awarded in 2024 through the Synergy Initiative, a grant program that supports projects from planning to pilot stage to full implementation over the course of three to five years. Currently in its sixth round of funding, the Synergy Initiative supports collaborative projects in Central Massachusetts that address health issues with integrated, comprehensive strategies focused on systems change.

Contact: Izzy Nickel at 617.243.9950 or izzy@ballcg.com.

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

The Health Foundation for Western & Central New York will launch a new program and funding opportunity, Accelerate Community Transportation (ACT). This new grant program is in partnership with ITNAmerica and helps community-based organizations eliminate barriers through sustainable volunteer transportation services in western and central New York. ITNAmerica leads a national transportation network grounded in research, policy analysis, technology, and education.

Representatives from community-based organizations that currently offer, or are planning to offer, a volunteer transportation program should learn more about ACT. Special consideration will be given to organizations who focus on reaching people from under-resourced communities, including BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) individuals, people with disabilities, LGBTQIA individuals, and other populations with inequitable access to transportation.

There are 10 two-year grants available. Grantees will receive $15,000 in the first year and $10,000 in the second year. In addition to funding, grant recipients will receive free access to the ITNCountry technology platform and technical support. Participants must operate in one of the 16 western and central New York counties that the Health Foundation serves.

To learn more, click here.

Contact: Kerry Jones Waring at 716.852.3030.

Pottstown Health and Wellness Foundation (Pottstown, PA)

The Pottstown Health and Wellness Foundation awarded $1,027,519 in grants to 40 projects and programs in the Pottstown, Pennsylvania region.

Health related grants include

  • Episcopal Legal Aid Of The Diocese Of Pennsylvania, Inc,—to support Pottstown Legal Aid Clinic.
  • Health Care Access—to support health programs.
  • Hearts Of Humanity Community Development Corporation—to support the winter planter project.
  • Hedwig House, Inc—to address food insecurity and support the social isolation prevention program.
  • Inclusive Clay—for arts access and skill building for intellectually disabled adults, and the Resilient Students Network.
  • Mission Kids Child Advocacy Center—for new, improved equipment to enhance the quality of forensic interviewing.
  • Mission Kids Child Advocacy Center—to support core direct services for child advocacy in Pottstown, Pennsylvania.
  • Mosaic Community Land Trust—to its Community Garden which works to build year round food equity in Pottstown, Pennsylvania.
  • Orion Communities, Inc.—for its bridge case management and financial assistance program.
  • Phoenixville Free Clinic—for comprehensive health care for uninsured individuals in the Greater Pottstown, Pennsylvania area.
  • Pottstown Athletic Club—for its Community Support Center 2025 and beyond.
  • Pottstown Beacon Of Hope—for a paratransit vehicle.
  • Pottstown Children’s Discovery Center—to support Common Ground.
  • Pottstown Cluster of Religious Communities—to support PCRC Food Services.
  • Pottstown FARM—to support Pottstown FARM Programs – SNAP Incentives, Two Bite Club & Partnership with Operation143.
  • Save Our Land, Save Our Towns—to support growing and conserving Pottstown, Pennsylvania’s street trees.
  • Schuylkill River Greenway Association—to support the 2025 Pottstown Outdoor Recreation Hub.
  • TriCounty Active Adult Center—to support Prime Time Health for Older Adults.
  • TriCounty Community Network, Inc.—to support PCA: health equity and resident engagement.

To learn more, click here.

The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation (Owings Mills, MD)

The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation has long been committed to addressing rural poverty, particularly in Hawaiʻi and Northeastern Pennsylvania, where a significant number of people live in rural areas. Based on insights from community leaders, the foundation has focused on increasing the capacity of organizations in rural areas to advance their work and mission and supporting collaboration among them to take advantage of public and private funding opportunities—bringing more resources into their communities.

About 37 percent of Hawaiʻi residents live in rural areas with large Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander populations that face significant and persistent poverty. Over 25 percent of Pennsylvanians live in rural areas, and the 400,000 in Northeastern Pennsylvania reside in a region hit hard by the opioid epidemic and deindustrialization. There is a clear lesson: Leaders in rural communities are deeply committed to their home and know how best to leverage their communities’ strengths and resources to effectively address local needs and create more opportunity. With greater access to funding, infrastructure, and strategic partnerships, they can amplify their impact and realize their vision on a broad scale.

The foundation collaborates with several organizations serving rural communities in Hawaiʻi and Northeastern Pennsylvania, including:

  • The Food Basket—to support Hawaiʻi Island’s food bank, which aims to end hunger in Hawaiʻi County, Hawaiʻi.
  • Commission on Economic Opportunity—to help address critical needs in housing, food security, education, and employment and training in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
  • Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law & Economic Justice—to coordinate collaborative efforts to promote affordable housing, food security, and workers’ rights.
  • Hawaiʻi Community Lending—to help local families navigate the path to homeownership.
  • Hawaiʻi Good Food Alliance—to support the production and distribution of food in Hawaiʻi and the practice of mālama ʻāina (caring for the land), to rebuild thriving community food systems.
  • Hawaiʻi Investment Ready—to advance the resilience and sustainability of Hawaiʻi’s economy through investments in and technical assistance to rural and Indigenous nonprofits and small businesses working to increase access to healthy food and land in their home communities.
  • Hawaiʻi Workforce Funders Collaborative—to increase opportunity and access to quality jobs for Hawai’i’s workforce and strengthen the local economy.
  • Hui Mālama i ke Ala ʻŪlili (huiMAU)—to support restoring and cultivating hundreds of acres of land using Native Hawaiian cultural practices and providing food and educational programs to promote the health and well-being of the surrounding community.
  • Puʻuhonua O Waiʻanae—to provide homes for people without housing and connect people with health care, food, educational and employment opportunities, and a sense of purpose and belonging within a supportive community.
  • Vibrant Hawaiʻi—to help realize a vision of a thriving and resilient Hawaiʻi Island, focusing on housing, economic opportunity, education, employment and training, and community resilience.
  • Waimānalo Health Center—to support providing comprehensive primary and preventive health care services of the highest quality.
  • Wayne County Community Foundation—to increase public and private funding and collaboration among organizations serving rural communities in Pike and Wayne counties in Pennsylvania.

The vibrancy and tenacity of these organizations are a testament to the power of rural communities. The foundation recognizes their ability to lead their own transformation and is committed to supporting collective efforts that enable their residents to thrive.

Contact: 410.654.8500

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