Blue Shield of California Foundation (San Francisco, CA)

Through 14 grants in the first quarter of 2023, Blue Shield of California Foundation is fueling organizations across the state with $3.4 million toward building the coalitions, networks, and systems changes that will make California the healthiest state and end domestic violence.

The foundation invests in multisector collaboration, in which community organizations of many kinds come together to work on a shared goal. This quarter, $1.34 million is supporting these collaboratives across California; some of this funding will launch a toolkit that showcases best practices for forming and sustaining them. The coalition in Contra Costa County, California is one of several multisector collaboratives working together on domestic violence prevention in their communities. While they are dispersed around the state, these organizations have many equity and prevention priorities in common, and in the coming year they will be developing shared goals for policy advocacy at the state level.

A key priority for the foundation in 2023 is supporting the implementation of a new state law that requires local homelessness prevention plans to include the unique needs of domestic violence survivors. An important group of local advocates who can ensure effective implementation of such policies is the Domestic Violence Housing Opportunities Mean Everything cohort, which the foundation supports through a grant to Women’s Foundation California ($650,000 over two years).

Another grant designed to strengthen economic security and mobility for Californians will go to the Abundant Birth Project ($200,000 over one year), a guaranteed income program for pregnant people. This project comes from Expecting Justice, a Black-led collaborative working to improve maternal and infant health in Black and Pacific Islander communities in San Francisco, California.

In addition, the foundation supports the expansion of the Culturally Responsive Domestic Violence Network, which organizes culturally responsive service providers in California and advocates for policies, resources, and systems changes that meet the needs of domestic violence survivors of color. Through a grant to the Jenesse Center ($500,000 over 30 months), the foundation is extending its support for the network, which will grow to include 25 organizations.

It also continues to explore the role of home visiting services in preventing domestic violence. A grant to the California Children and Families Foundation ($125,000 over one year) will support development of a policy proposal for a Medi-Cal benefit that could spread home-visiting programs to more families with young children in communities of color with low incomes.

The foundation also is helping to launch a health equity reporting collaborative with support through a grant to the Center for Health Journalism at the University of Southern California ($336,000 over 17 months).

For a complete list of current grants, click here.

Caring for Denver Foundation (Denver, CO)

In 2023, Caring for Denver Foundation approved 39 grants totaling more than $12.1 million to community-based nonprofit organizations within the city and county of Denver, Colorado in the Youth focus area.

  • 5280 High School—for the AltitudeYR program, an afterschool and weekend recovery program designed to serve the most at-risk students at 5280 High School and the surrounding area.
  • Boys & Girls Clubs Metro Denver—to support the Mental Health Program which provides professionals who implement preventative interventions and weave social-emotional learning into all activities.
  • Cleo Parker Robinson Dance—for the integration of a trauma-informed, therapeutic arts-based approach into its internship program delivered in partnership with Eugene S. Farley, Jr. Health Policy Center.
  • Colorado Postpartum Support International—for The Birth Squad, a community-based, bilingual perinatal mental health intervention that serves as an immediate entry point into supportive care for mothers and birthers.
  • Commún—for community-directed case management that increases access to trauma resources and support for youth and their families, increases access to mental health supports, and reduces mental health challenges in Southwest Denver, Colorado youth.
  • DC21—to increase access to professional and diverse mental health providers, increase capacity to provide culturally relevant and trauma-informed mental health services to BIPOC students, and create systems that support students in developing a restorative approach.
  • Denver Family Institute—to increase access to strength-based and client-centered care for Denver, Colorado’s youth and shape the field of mental health to be more inclusive and affirming of LGBTQ+ youth and their families.
  • Youth 2023 Grants 2 Denver Scholarship Foundation—to improve mental health and youth resiliency of BIPOC and/or low-income students in grades 9-11 through targeted and trauma-informed mental health and social-emotional curriculum, as well as support to advisors serving as youth allies.
  • Developmental FX—to expand the mental health support offered to youth and provide training and support for staff so that they will be able to better identify and address the mental health needs of the children, families, and early childhood educators served.
  • Dream Center Denver—to improve the well-being of youth and their families in Denver, Colorado’s low-income housing by providing community-based mental health and substance misuse support.
  • DSST Public Schools Foundation—for the Healing As Liberation Youth Leadership Project, a youth-led program that empowers youth to build peer support networks, address personal and communal traumas, and improve their mental health and emotional resilience.
  • Firefly Autism—to expand mental health therapy approaches in Applied Behavior Analysis workforce training and provide mental health therapy for youth with autism or parents whose mental health needs exceed what can be managed through the Acceptance and Commitment Training intervention.
  • From the Heart Enterprises (fiscal sponsor The Hadanou Collective)—for group and individual support for youth that will address substance and mental/behavioral health issues.
  • GALS Denver—to incorporate tiered mental health services for students directly related to their needs through its Collaborative Student Prosperity team.
  • Hands2TheFuture—to support a coordinator to provide mental health therapy and education to address challenges that prevent immigrants and refugees from completing their education.
  • Judi’s House/JAG Institute—to deliver grief workshops tailored to developmental levels of youth in grades 1-12, in-person peer-based grief counseling for middle school youth, grief-focused training for school personnel, and virtual workshops for adults caring for a grieving child.
  • Kids Above Everything—for the Big H.O.M.I.E.S (Helping Our Men Inspire Each-Other’s Success) afterschool and summer program that engages youth in out-of-school time spaces and provides mental health and trauma supports to prevent youth violence for Black youth.
  • Lincoln Hills Cares—for a yearly cohort of high-risk, low-income, and youth of color with support that is wellness-based, trauma-informed, and led by trusted community organizations in order to build resiliency, improve mental health, and reduce substance misuse.
  • Maria Droste Counseling Center—for expansion and enhancement of the Children First program, in-school mental health support for children and youth at 17 Denver schools.
  • Movement 5280—to provide “right now” mental health counseling and arts programs to homeless youth who have aged out of foster care and other at-risk young people lacking guidance as they transition to adulthood.
  • Movimiento Poder—to support low-income Latinx youth with the mental health, resilience, and related skills to enable them to effectively cope with the challenges of economic, social, and cultural inequality.
  • My Skin Global (fiscal sponsor AYA Foundation)—to support low-income Latinx youth with the mental health, resilience, and related skills to enable them to effectively cope with the challenges of economic, social, and cultural inequality.
  • National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association—for the Friends DO Make A Difference program that strengthens the mental health and wellness of Asian American/Pacific Islander youth and parents.
  • RedLine—to connect students from under-resourced schools in Denver, Colorado with an art therapist and wellness professional to encourage creative self-expression, enhance social-emotional learning, and improve mental health.
  • Rise Above Colorado—to support an initiative to help Denver, Colorado youth prepare for life after high school through skill-building and enhancing protective factors that support improved behavioral health outcomes.
  • The ROCK Center—to continue to provide a comprehensive social-emotional learning curriculum and practices for students, parents, and school staff at Joe Shoemaker Elementary School in Southeast Denver, Colorado in alignment with identified needs of the community.
  • Savio—to expand the use of Trauma Systems Therapy to support Denver, Colorado families by providing the intensive home visitation model to children experiencing trauma.
  • Servicios de La Raza—for culturally responsive mental health and substance misuse services for Latino/Latinx youth.
  • Star Girlz Empowerment Inc.—to provide psycho-social education and treatment to Black and Latino/a adolescent youth and their families, helping high-risk youth address issues such as anger, anxiety, grief, trauma, substance misuse, and bullying.
  • Tennyson Center for Children—to provide on-site and community-based, integrated substance treatment programming for youth who will be able to concurrently access mental health and treatment services under one roof.
  • Thriving Families—for the WiseWellness program which provides inclusive, supportive, two-generation mental health services for underserved and underrepresented pregnant or postpartum women and teens.
  • Tigray Community Center—to provide a healing space for Tigrayan youth to understand and work through their emotions and trauma; build strong relationships with themselves, their families, and their communities; and gain healthy coping mechanisms and resources.
  • University of Denver—for University of Denver’s Family Support Clinic to provide support groups for caregivers of youth affected by severe and persistent mental illness to promote psychological well-being and caregiving effectiveness.
  • Upstream Education Inc.—to expand its Tier 1 Mental Health and Social Emotional Learning program to 40 Denver schools.
  • Urban Peak—to support new staff positions that increase on-site staff training, social-emotional services, clinical case management, and staff support that help to fill service and treatment gaps.
  • VPAC—for weekly healing circles addressing the mental health needs of youth participating in Rock da’ Mic dance performances and individual therapy support for youth with needs beyond the scope of the healing circles.
  • WellPower—support for teens and young adults who are experiencing first or early episode psychosis.
  • Words to Power—to strengthen youth’s awareness and use of culturally relevant coping strategies and reduce feelings of isolation through poetry workshops and open mic events in schools with more than 85 percent Indigenous students.
  • Young People in Recovery—for a series of trauma-informed group therapy sessions that take into account the key developmental needs of adolescents that help shape healthy youth and prevent substance misuse and other mental health concerns.

The Duke Endowment (Charlotte, NC)

The Duke Endowment awarded UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy Regional Associate Dean Mollie Scott a $705,000 grant to support the implementation of pharmacist-provided hormonal contraception across North Carolina.

Unintended pregnancies are a significant public health concern that increase health care costs, medical complications, mental health concerns, and negatively impact women and families. This project seeks to decrease unintended pregnancies by increasing access to effective contraceptives. According to Power to Decide, more than 635,000 women in North Carolina live in contraception deserts and do not have adequate access to contraception services. Having pharmacists provide hormonal contraception opens up an additional door for access to care.

The UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy is poised to provide training for rural pharmacists, build relationships with reproductive health partners at the local level, connect them with national contraception leaders, and support them with models of clinical service reimbursement to ensure sustainability. This approach will help develop a state-wide network of pharmacists who improve maternal and fetal health at significant cost savings.

Participating pharmacists will be selected based upon existing relationships with the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, preceptors and/or by recommendation of strategic partners. This project is in partnership with the Mountain Area Health Education Center, the University of Utah College of Pharmacy, and Points True North Consulting.

Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts (New York)

The Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts (FORE) announced grants totaling $2,246,377 to 15 community-based organizations in urban and rural areas across the country. The funds will support community-driven initiatives to reduce overdoses and engage community members in treatment and recovery. The following organizations were awarded funding over two years:

  • Amistades Inc.—to promote accurate understanding of opioid use disorder and expand prevention and treatment efforts in communities impacted by the opioid-fentanyl crisis along the United States-Mexico border. ($150,000)
  • Baltimore Safe Haven—to launch the DC Safe Haven Mobile Outreach program, a harm reduction and treatment initiative serving LGBT communities of color in the District of Columbia. ($150,000)
  • The Center for African American Recovery Development—to partner with local leaders in three urban areas in Memphis, Tennessee, Mobile, Alabama, and New Orleans, Louisiana and one rural area in Orangeburg County, South Carolina to develop new recovery programs serving predominantly Black communities. ($150,000 )
  • Chicago Recovering Communities Coalition—to enable the organization to enhance its capacity to deliver prevention, treatment, and recovery services to a predominately Black and Hispanic population. ($146,708)
  • Coweta FORCE—to create a Parent Elected Peer Advocate program in Coweta County, Georgia that will support parents with opioid use disorder involved in Juvenile and Family Court proceedings. ($149,997)
  • Faces and Voices of Recovery Upstate—to enhance its ability to provide harm reduction training and recovery supports to individuals with substance use disorders across an eight-county region. ($150,000)
  • Formerly Incarcerated Transitions Clinic Program—to support harm reduction education and substance use treatment for justice-involved individuals in New Orleans, Louisiana. ($149,996)
  • Holler Harm Reduction—to provide post-overdose follow up and services to people who use drugs to prevent further overdose deaths in rural South-Central Appalachia. ($150,000)
  • Intercambios Puerto Rico Inc.—to expand community outreach and prevention efforts in Eastern Puerto Rico and provide more people with clinical services, including medications for opioid use disorder. ($149,996)
  • Justice Access Support and Solutions for Health—to expand treatment of opioid use disorder, including medications, counseling, and social services, at its health clinic, Casa de Salud. ($150,000)
  • Maggie’s Place—to expand services for homeless, pregnant, and parenting women with opioid use disorder in Phoenix, Arizona. ($149,728)
  • The Martinsburg Initiative—to expand efforts to promote healthy development and resilience among youth and their families in Berkeley County, West Virginia. ($149,952)
  • Mountain Top Cares Coalition—to expand its ability to connect people in rural Greene County, New York to addiction treatment and other health care and social services. ($150,000)
  • My Father’s House Nashville—to expand services for fathers with opioid use disorder who are making the transition from incarceration or homelessness to treatment and are at increased risk of drug overdose. ($150,000)
  • Simply Hope Family Outreach Inc.—to reach more young people and adults and to launch new services in a region of Idaho experiencing high rates of drug overdose and suicide. ($150,000)

Contact: Myrna Manners at 718.986.7255 or mmanners@mannersdotson.com.

The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust (New York, NY)

The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust has given a $6 million grant to Holy Rosary Healthcare, part of Intermountain Health, to support the construction of a new comprehensive cancer center serving eastern Montana.

The 12,000-square-foot center will provide radiation, medical, and surgical oncology services to cancer patients in rural Eastern Montana. The project will eliminate distance and access barriers to care for the people living in the region. This will be the only comprehensive cancer center within a 125-mile radius.

The new center will be built on the Holy Rosary campus in Miles City, Montana connected to the hospital and all its services. It includes adding the region’s only permanent medical linear accelerator, which delivers radiation treatments quickly and accurately. Construction is expected to be completed in late 2024.

In addition, the Trust announced a $10 million grant to the World Health Organization (WHO) to support the advancement of the Global Diabetes Compact and to help countries around the world reach targets for diabetes care and support. The new grant will enable WHO to:

  • Strengthen the Compact’s overall capacity through global leadership and strategic communications
  • Develop technical guidance to assist Member States in achieving global care targets by 2030
  • Pilot a standardized tool to forecast demand for insulin and other essential noncommunicable disease (NCD) health products

Ultimately, the funding will help WHO strengthen low-resource health systems and scale integrated solutions for a range of NCDs, including diabetes.

Contact: Carey Meyers at 347.409.3588 or cmeyers@helmsleytrust.org.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (Princeton, NJ)

With a $500,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), a partnership between the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine (CWRU), Greater Cleveland Food Bank, and Better Health Partnership’s Community Pathways HUB that created a pilot program called Nourishing Beginnings (NB) will expand to study its execution and effectiveness.

The partners also want to learn how the program that combines a community health worker (CHW) with direct food access interventions may impact related issues such as prenatal visits, diet quality, stress, depression, and reports of discrimination.

NB links low-income pregnant women in Cuyahoga County receiving support from a CHW through the HUB with direct access to healthy food in one of two ways: a tailored food box from the GCFB delivered to their home every other week or cash for groceries along with personalized navigation to retail locations offering healthy foods in their neighborhoods, developed by CWRU’s Prevention Research Center for Healthy Neighborhoods. Participants also receive help with needed kitchen items, easy-to-understand recipes, and nutrition information during and after pregnancy.

The grant was one of only two RWJF awarded nationally through its 2022 Systems for Action: Systems and Services Research to Build a Culture of Health Call for Proposals.

Natrona Collective Health Trust (Casper, WY)

The Natrona Collective Health Trust awarded 35 grants to area nonprofits totaling more than $2 million in its 2023 spring grant cycle.

General operating grants are awarded to nonprofits that provide programs and services to Natrona County residents in the areas of early childhood development, the prevention and mitigation of adverse childhood experiences, the creation of and support for positive childhood experiences, and the provision of mental/behavioral health services. Recipients of this two-year grant opportunity include:

  • Brain Injury Advocates ($20,000)
  • CASA of Natrona County ($20,000)
  • Casper Boxing Club ($20,000)
  • Casper Housing Authority CARES ($60,000)
  • Children’s Advocacy Project, Inc. ($80,000)
  • Climb Wyoming ($80,000)
  • Community Action Partnership of Natrona County ($60,000)
  • Hope House ($40,000)
  • Learning Junction Children’s Center, Inc. ($40,000)
  • Mercer Family Resource Center ($80,000)
  • Mother Seton Housing, Inc. ($40,000)
  • Wyoming Food for Thought Project ($80,000)
  • Wyoming Housing Network ($60,000)

The Trust also offered grants designed to support a better community through the advocacy of policies and systems change to increase family resiliency, social inclusion, and civic engagement. The multiyear advocacy grants recipients include:

  • Casper Pride ($80,000)
  • Child Development Services ($80,000)
  • Equality State Policy Center Healthy Wyoming ($40,000)
  • Wyoming Community Foundation ($60,000)
  • Wyoming Equality ($20,000)

The Trust also introduced boost grants to assist Natrona County nonprofits in strengthening their internal capacity and infrastructure through staff and board training, marketing, and technology enhancements. The recipients of these one-time awards include:

  • CASA of Natrona County ($3,265)
  • Casper Soccer Club, Inc. ($3,180)
  • Central Wyoming Hospice and Transitions ($15,000)
  • Central Wyoming Senior Services ($8,549)
  • Citizens for a Civic Auditorium, dba The Lyric ($5,313)
  • Impact Wyoming ($6,000)
  • Interfaith of Natrona County ($10,000)
  • I-REACH 2, Inc. ($15,000)
  • Iris Club House ($7,000)
  • Jason’s Friends Foundation ($7,750)
  • Joshua’s Storehouse ($2,484)
  • Montessori School of Casper ($5,000)
  • Natrona County Meals On Wheels ($15,000)
  • Self Help Center ($7,000)
  • Special Olympics ($14,100)
  • Wyoming Counseling Association ($10,000)
  • Wyoming Housing Network ($15,000)

Obici Healthcare Foundation (Suffolk, VA)

Obici Healthcare Foundation awarded $2,480,310 in grants and program support to nonprofit organizations serving Western Tidewater, Virginia, and Gates County, North Carolina. The following organizations received grants:

  • Catchafire—to provide access to cohort members for a fourth year. ($110,000)
  • Children’s Health Investment Program of South Hampton Roads—to provide services for children through age six and expectant mothers in the focus areas of health improvement, school readiness, and self-sufficiency and support Moms Matter, which provides follow-up care to women who are diagnosed with hypertension during postpartum. ($750,000)
  • The Children’s Center—to provide children ages birth to five living in Western Tidewater, Virginia with early childhood services and programs, such as high-quality childcare, Early Head Start, Early Intervention, and Pediatric Therapy. ($58,810)
  • City of Suffolk Department of Parks & Recreation—to refurbish tennis and pickleball courts at Lake Meade Park and rebuild tennis courts at Bennett’s Creek Park. ($50,000)
  • Fundraising Capacity Building Partnership Program—Albemarle Area United Way and Blakey Weaver Counseling Center will receive consulting services and implementation support from The Curtis Group, a national philanthropic fundraising strategist and local capacity building partner. ($229,000)
  • Sentara Foundation—to support the Nightingale GPS Fund which will be used to add a state-of-the-art, next generation GPS navigation system, ensuring the fastest and safest response time possible through Western Tidewater and across Hampton Roads, Virginia. ($50,000)
  • T2 Fitness Foundation—to support the multi-year T2 Fresh Start Initiative, a free 12-week comprehensive wellness program for Black women who have heart disease, hypertension, and/or diabetes. ($935,325)
  • USTA Mid-Atlantic Foundation—to support a partner network that will assess opportunities to collectively increase access to tennis throughout Suffolk. ($5,000)
  • Western Tidewater Health Department, Nurse Family Partnership—to protect the health of and promote the well-being of people in Western Tidewater, Virginia and provide services including clinic, vital records, community health, emergency preparedness, environmental, and population health services. ($732,175)
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