Well Being Trust (Oakland, CA)

Providence St. Joseph Health (PSJH), a faith-based nonprofit parent organization to a diverse family of 50 hospitals, 829 clinics, and hundreds of programs and services offered across the Western United States, and Well Being Trust, a new national foundation focused on innovation and improvement for mental health and wellness outcomes in the United States, jointly announced the first round of $10 million in grants and contracts to mental health and wellness initiatives that will help vulnerable Californians. Selected initiatives are far-reaching, supporting preschoolers to seniors, the homeless, and those struggling with addiction.

Providence St. Joseph Health has committed $30 million in total to mental health and wellness across the state, with the initial $10 million signifying the first round of grants fulfilling the promise. PSJH’s partner in administering the grants is Well Being Trust, which is dedicated to advancing mental, social and spiritual health in the nation and partners with other health systems and philanthropies to identify and implement strategies that address critical mental health challenges; promote resilience in children; teens and families; and lead to human and community well-being. Part of Providence’s $30 million California commitment will continue to support the Trust’s efforts in the state, which focus on creating a data and technology platform, monitoring and evaluation, communications and engagement, and community and coalition building.

In selecting the California slate of grants, Well Being Trust worked with Providence St. Joseph Health and community partners to identify the most significant areas of need and the programs that would have the greatest impact. The first round of grants is, in part, focused on new and existing Providence St. Joseph Health programs that are working in communities across the state to address health and wellness challenges such as mental health, addiction, and homelessness. Some of these initiatives include:

Northern California

  • Committee on the Shelterless – Sonoma County Coordinated Health, Wellness, and Housing Initiative—The grant will support a pilot program serving nearly 1,000 people who are homeless, many of whom struggle with mental health and or substance use disorders.
  • Addressing Mental Health, Addictions and Homelessness—In collaboration with Napa County Health and Human Services and other partners, the program will expand tele-psychiatry available in the emergency department and hospital, add CARE Network staff to facilitate access to mental health and substance abuse interventions, and establish new mental health crisis stabilization services, detoxification services, respite care, and housing.
  • Humboldt County Mental Health and Wellness Initiative—This initiative will address the issue of co-occurring mental health and substance abuse by: (1) creating Waterfront Recovery Services, the first and only dual-diagnosis, medical detoxification, and residential treatment facility in the county; and (2) establishing Humboldt ACH, a rural Accountable Community for Health. It is administered by St. Joseph Health’s Humboldt County Mental Health and Wellness Initiative.

Southern California

  • School-Based Adolescent Mental Health System —This will equip teachers, parents, and high school students within the Anaheim Union High School District in Orange County with the tools to address mental health issues, including the train-the-trainer and peer-to-peer models.
  • Outpatient Crisis Stabilization—This Los Angeles County, California-focused initiative will support the start-up phase of the Providence Outpatient Center for Crisis Stabilization at Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center.
  • Safety Net Integration Program—Strengthening the support system for disadvantaged and vulnerable populations in the San Fernando Valley, this initiative increases vulnerable populations’ access to health and wellness services at Providence Holy Cross, Mission Hills.
  • Mental Health Community Partnership—The Community Mental Health Partnership initiative addresses homelessness and substance abuse by contracting with community agencies to expand services led by Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, California.
  • Mental Health Navigation—Licensed clinical social workers at Providence Saint John’s Health Center will provide a coordinated, culturally, and linguistically appropriate case management approach for Medi-Cal and Medicare patients who need to connect with mental health providers in the community.

View a complete list of programs across California that will be supported by these grants.

Contact: Nisha Morris
Phone: 714.414.3232
Email: nisha.morris@stjoe.org

Sisters of Charity Foundation of South Carolina (Columbia, SC)

The Sisters of Charity Foundation of South Carolina awarded its Community Enrichment grants for 2017. The foundation’s mission to address poverty in all of its forms is reflected in its decision-making around Community Enrichment grants. These grants are designed to provide financial support to organizations whose services go beyond meeting fundamental needs and will help lift people out of poverty. The following organizations received funding:

  • Anderson Interfaith Ministries (AIM)—to support AIM’s workforce and education programs which will help clients gain the skills necessary to move from poverty to a livable wage.
  • City of Rock Hill—to support two core programs, The Housing Development Corporation of Rock Hill’s rental assistance program and The Catawba Area Coalition for the Homeless to support hiring two part-time staff to continue the implementation of the city’s 10 Year Plan to Respond to Homelessness through direct services and program management.
  • CommunityWorks—to support respond to growing community need for affordable financial products and services and alternatives to predatory lending.
  • Compass of Carolina—to support the Domestic Violence Starts Small program.
  • EdVenture—to support EdVenture’s Future Leaders program, designed to impact underserved students in sixth through eighth grades and inspire them to develop life and leadership skills to achieve their education, career, and life goals. 
  • Florence Crittenton Programs of South Carolina—to support the residential program that provides low-income young women ages 10-21 with safe housing, medical care, academic education, counseling, childbirth and parenting education, and job readiness skills.
  • Foothills Family resources—to help move those living in poverty throughout Northern Greenville County, South Carolina from crisis to self-sufficiency.
  • Hope Center for Children—to support Hope Center for Children’s transitional living program (TLP) which serves teens and young adults ages 16 to 22, including young parents, who are homeless or at-risk of homelessness.
  • Indian Waters Council, Boy Scouts of America—to support Scoutreach and AmeriCorps: A Partnership for Social Capital which provides affordable leaders to build partnerships, lead programs, and train new volunteers.
  • Know2—to support bGEN (be-gin), a business incubator and entrepreneurship initiative started by the Economic Development Team at KNOW2. 
  • Middle Tyger Community Center—to support Middle Tyger Community Center’s programming that is designed to break the cycle of generational poverty and improve the quality of life for the Spartanburg community.
  • Midlands Housing Alliance (Transitions)—to support the Transitions’ Youth Program, which serves homeless individuals 18-24 years of age.
  • Miss Ruby’s Kids—to support Miss Ruby’s Kids’ Parent-Child Home Program.
  • New Directions of Horry County—to support its Back to Work/Back to Life program helping homeless men, women, and families with children in Horry County, South Carolina break free from the cycle of poverty and homelessness by helping them regain their financial footing, self-confidence, and self-worth and learn to live independently.
  • Palmetto Place Children’s Shelter—to support the Palmetto Place Unaccompanied Youth program which provides shelter and services to teens who have been forced to leave their families and to teens who have never had a family support system.
  • Teach My People—to support its mission to teach students from the Waccamaw schools in Georgetown County, South Carolina to overcome academic, economic, and social challenges through Christ-centered programs that promote spiritual, educational, and emotional health.
  • Sustainability Institute—to support the Energy Conservation Corps program which addresses two critical needs rehabilitation of existing, low-income homes in order to significantly reduce unaffordable energy costs for families and workforce training for underserved populations that is focused on supplying certified workers for a burgeoning energy efficiency industry in South Carolina.
  • Turning Leaf Project—to support efforts to serve adult men who are recently released from incarceration returning to Charleston, Berkeley, and Dorchester, South Carolina counties. This funding will support services that include cognitive behavioral therapy classes, an in-house training class (screen printing), transitional employment, case management, job coaching, and permanent job placement.
  • United Ministries—to support the United Ministries-Interfaith Hospitality Network community which is deeply committed to assisting congregations to help homeless families with children find home and hope in Greenville, South Carolina and the Upstate.
  • United Way of the Piedmont—to support the United Way of the Piedmont’s scalable transportation-to-work pilot program in Spartanburg County, South Carolina.
  • Village Group’s Plantersville Summer Academy—to support the Plantersville Summer Academy which provides remedial education and academic enrichment in largely low-income, single-parent families with students in first through ninth grades.
  • WINGS—to support WINGS for Kids, a proven education program that teaches economically disadvantaged kids skills to improve behavior, decisionmaking, and healthy relationship building.

Read more in-depth information about these grants.

Contact: Langley Shealy
Phone: 803.254.0230, x19
Email: lshealey@sistersofcharitysc.com

Palm Healthcare Foundation (West Palm Beach, FL)

Palm Healthcare Foundation, Inc. is expanding its community-driven, place-based funding approach, Healthier Together. Lake Worth, the site of the new Healthier Lake Worth program, which will receive a total of 1 million dollars over the next five years from Palm Healthcare Foundation, Inc. to focus on behavioral health.

Palm Healthcare Foundation uses this localized grantmaking strategy to solve Palm Beach County, Florida’s most complex health care issues, neighborhood by neighborhood. Currently, the foundation funds four Healthier Together programs. Healthier Lake Worth will be the fifth.

Contact: Debbie Abrams
Phone: 855.706.0202
Email: debbie@thebuzzagency.net

Mat-Su Health Foundation (Wasilla, AK)

The Mat-Su Health Foundation recently awarded grants totaling $625,000 to five organizations working to improve the health and wellness of the community. The following grant awards were made under the foundation’s Healthy Impact grant program:

  • Chickaloon Village Traditional Council—for the Ya Ne Dah Ah School Multi-Use/Daycare Expansion project ($300,000).
  • Covenant House Alaska—a match over years two and three of a three-year national award from the Annie E. Casey Foundation for the continuation of education, employability skills, and training for at-risk youth in the Mat-Su ($60,000).
  • Kids Kupboard—to expand its physical space and operations serving meals to children throughout the Mat-Su Borough ($60,000).
  • Native Village of Eklutna—for the purchase of a mobile x-ray machine for their new clinic, which serves all – Native and non-Native, including many Mat-Su residents ($100,000).
  • Valley Interfaith Action— to fund operations ($105,000 over three years).

Healthy Impact grant applications are accepted two times annually; the next opening date will be announced soon. The Mat-Su Health Foundation also offers a Target Wellness grant program for projects less than $15,000, and it is open year-round.

Contact: Robin Minard
Phone: 907.352.2892
Email: rmindard@healthymatsu.org

Lifetime Arts (New Rochelle, NY)

Ten NYC senior service organizations have each been awarded a grant of $7,500 to plan and implement Creative Aging projects as part of the Catalyzing Creativity initiative, a pioneering program designed to improve the quality of life of older New Yorkers through arts education programming. Designed and administered by Lifetime Arts, the 18 month long project is generously funded by The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation’s Healthy Aging Program with additional support from the New York State Council on the Arts and Aroha Philanthropies.

Supported by professional development and program design guidance from Lifetime Arts as well as the seed grants, at least 30 artists’ residencies will engage older adults in participatory, skill-building workshop series—in all arts disciplines.

  • Bay Ridge Center
  • DOROT
  • Greenwich House
  • HANAC
  • India Home
  • Mosholu Montefiore Community Center
  • New York Foundation for Senior Citizens
  • Riverdale YM & YWHA
  • SAGE
  • Spring Creek Senior Partners

Contact: Maura O’Malley
Phone: 914.355.2304
Email: momalley@lifetimearts.org

Independence Blue Cross Foundation (Philadelphia, PA)

The Independence Blue Cross Foundation announced nearly $1.7 million in funding to support its Building Healthier Communities and Bolstering the Health Care Workforce programs. The grants are aimed at supporting nursing education and improving the health and wellness of more than 10,000 residents across southeastern Pennsylvania, including seniors, children, and diverse under served populations.

Twenty-one nursing schools are the recipients of Nurses for Tomorrow grants, including first time grantee, Penn State Abington. These grants are awarded as part of the Bolstering the Health Care Workforce program and fund scholarships for undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral nursing students. To date, the foundation has awarded nearly $9 million in nursing scholarship grants.

In this latest cycle of Building Healthier Communities grant funding, the foundation supported 16 organizations:

  • Bhutanese American Organization—empowers the Bhutanese population through employment and education development and cultural integration support.
  • Cambodian Association of Greater Philadelphia—supports Cambodian refugees and families through health services, advocacy, and cultural education.
  • Center for Grieving Children—provides grieving children with the tools to heal, grow, and cope with the loss of a loved one.
  • Fund for Philadelphia, Inc.— healthy youth initiative focused on improving quality of life through activity.
  • Good Samaritan Shelter—services homeless individuals with emergency shelter and transitional housing.
  • Jewish Relief Agency—provides monthly food distribution services to minority families facing food and economic insecurity and mental health disabilities.
  • Meals On Wheels of Chester County, Inc.—delivers meals to individuals who are homebound.
  • Mercy Neighborhood Ministries of Philadelphia, Inc.—addresses the cycle of poverty by providing early youth and adult education and development, and healthy aging programs.
  • Nationalities Service Center of Philadelphia—strengthens opportunities for success for immigrants and refugees through client-centered services.
  • People’s Emergency Centers—advances opportunities for families through housing, job and life skills training, education, financial education, and planning.
  • Philabundance—addresses hunger, particularly children and seniors, through food cupboards, shelters, emergency kitchens, and more.
  • Smith Memorial Playground—provides a free safe space for children to interact and play together.
  • Supportive Older Women’s Network—addresses isolation in older adults through health education and opportunities for socialization.
  • Turning Points for Children—serves youth and families with family support services.
  • Veteran’s Multi-Service Center, Inc.—provides comprehensive resources to veterans.
  • YMCA of Greater Brandywine—engages community members in activities that develop values and confidence, improve health, and unite community members.

Contact: Ruth Stoolman
Phone: 215.241.4807
Email: newsrom@ibx.com

The Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts (Worcester, MA)

The Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts has awarded grants for four Health Care and Health Promotion Synergy Initiative projects. These are three- to five-year projects that move from a planning year to a pilot year to full implementation.

  • Partnership for Refugee Wellness (Implementation)—to integrate case management services for refugees in Worcester, Massachusetts through partnerships with local community health centers participating in the UMass Memorial Medicaid Accountable Care Organization ($40,000 to Ascentria Community Services).
  • ReImagine North of Main (Implementation, Year 2)—to improve the quality of life in a section of Fitchburg, Massachusetts through economic development and community engagement to transform the area into one where both current and future residents and businesses want to live, work, play, and invest ($394,734 to the Montachusett Opportunity Council).
  • Worcester Healthy Environments and Resiliency in Schools (HEARS) (Implementation, Year 2)—to provide students in the Worcester Public Schools with improved access to care, improved mental health resources, and safer school environments ($392,517 to the Worcester Public Schools).
  • Worcester Regional Food Hub (Implementation, Year 1)—to improve the regional food system by strengthening sustainable agriculture and promoting healthy eating ($500,075 to the Regional Environmental Council of Central Massachusetts in partnership with the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce).

The Health Foundation also awarded a Health Care and Health Promotion Synergy Initiative implementation grant to the A Better Life project.

  • A Better Life: Helping Families Find Their Way (Implementation, Year 5)—to break the intergenerational cycle of poverty and reliance on public housing by providing comprehensive wraparound services that promote self-sufficiency, with a goal of broad replication of this model through state and federal policy changes ($205,000 to the Worcester Housing Authority).

Contact: Amie Shei, Ph.D.
Phone: 508.438.0009, x2
Email: ashei@hfcm.org

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

The Health Foundation for Western and Central New York has awarded new grants totaling $566,570 during the first half of 2017. The foundation’s grant making activities reflect its commitment to improving health outcomes for two of the most vulnerable and under served populations in the region—older adults and children zero to five years old who are impacted by poverty—while also building capacity in organizations to improve health outcomes in the community.

The foundation awarded the following grants:

Young Children Impacted by Poverty: All young children impacted by poverty are physically, socially, and emotionally healthy as they enter kindergarten.

  • Bison Children’s Scholarship Fund, Inc.— for scholarships that will allow students in the Buffalo, New York to attend a Catholic Diocesan school ($44,798).
  • Child Development Council of Central NY—to support all Cavity Free Kids training and expansion activities in Cortland, Tompkins, Onondaga, Madison, Herkimer, and Oneida, New York counties ($14,000 as part of a $60,000 grant).
  • March of Dimes Foundation—to build a replicable, sustainable model for the Women’s Health Education Navigation program ($112,500 as part of a $225,000 grant).
  • Niagara University—to provide funding for the family resource coordinator position at Help Me Grow western New York ($59,000).
  • Oswego County Health Department—for the Growing Great Kids curriculum and training, as well as smart phones to stay connected with enrolled families (up to $15,000).
  • Research Foundation for the State University of New York at Buffalo—to conduct a comprehensive community trauma resource scan that will survey services and programs in western New York and engage women and children who have experienced trauma (up to $9,200).
  • United Way of Central New York, Inc.— for the Early Childhood Alliance to attend the 8th Annual Help Me Grow National Forum ($7,000).
  • Wyoming County Community Hospital—to develop a strong, high-quality women’s health program, including midwifery services ($5,000 as part of a $25,000 grant).

Vulnerable Older Adults: All vulnerable older adults lead a dignified, independent, high quality life in their community.

  • Dale Association—to provide four courses of the Aging Mastery Program throughout 2017 ($5,000 as part of a $10,000 grant).
  • Erie County Medical Center— to deepen its work with The Conversation Project ($10,000 as part of a $40,000 grant).
  • P2 Collaborative of Western New York—to support the development of a sustainable advanced care planning regional collaborative that will identify, support, expand, and measure the effectiveness of organizations and programs that are designed to increase the level of end-of-life planning for people living in western New York ($10,000 as part of a $35,475 grant).
  • The Center for Hospice and Palliative Care, Inc.— to further investigate the clinical and economic outcomes of its collaborative model, Home Connections ($5,000 of a $10,000 grant).

Community Health Capacity: Communities are able to meet the health needs of the most vulnerable.

  • Alzheimer’s Association CNY Chapter—to expand on the capacity building plan that was developed as a part of the Ready or Not program ($4,200).
  • Aurora of Central New York, Inc.—to assist with the costs of training and start-up associated with the care coordinator position ($4,200).
  • Buffalo Prenatal-Perinatal Network—to support a staff retreat focused on the continued rollout of the Get Set program ($8,250).
  • Center for Creative Leadership—to develop an evaluation that will examine the impact that the Fellows team projects may have on the populations the Health Foundation serves ($15,255 as part of a $30,510 grant).
  • Healthy Community Alliance—to support the continued development and programing of the Fellows Action Network (up to $176,300).
  • Healthy Community Alliance—to support bridge funding for the Academy Place Apartments ($8,000 as part of a $10,000 grant).
  • Menorah Campus, Inc.— for the Town Square for Aging for strategic planning and consultation ($5,000).
  • Northern Oswego County Health Services, Inc.— to support the development of the Upstate Community Health Collaborative IPA ($50,000).
  • NY Funders Alliance—to design and implement a plenary session panel focused on human-centered design and participatory budgeting at the 2017 NY Funders Alliance Conference ($10,000).
  • Syracuse Community Health Center—to engage Brown & Weinraub, PLLC to provide health care consulting services on behalf of Syracuse Community Health Center, Inc. ($30,270).
  • The Mental Health Association of Erie County—to implement an action plan to transform Western New York into a Trauma Informed Community through training and policy development ($3,000 as part of a $10,000 grant).

The following grantees were awarded up to $2,000 as part of the Health Foundation’s PEDALS (Positive Emotional Development and Learning Skills) initiative in central New York:

  • Huntington Family Centers
  • Salvation Army – Cab House Commons Day Care Center

Contact: Meredith Carswell-Sheline
Phone: 716.852.3030, x112
Email: mcsheline@hfwcny.org

The California Endowment (Los Angeles, CA)

The California Endowment reaffirmed its “Fight for All” initiative, a $25 million fund initially created in December. The fund is designed to ensure the voices of those who gained access to health care through California’s Medi-Cal expansion have been heard. In addition to resisting the exclusion of millions of people from health coverage, the Fight for All fund aims to fight exclusion or bias of any kind that is based on gender identity, religion, race, or any other form of discrimination.

To date, several million dollars from the fund have been used to support local and online community organizing, and to amplify voices via advocacy, outdoor advertising, and media. The endowment will continue to support residents and organizations representing those with the most at stake in defending coverage and seeing progress toward health and justice for all. 

Contact: Jeff Okey
Phone: 213.928.8622
Email: jokey@calendow.org

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