The Health Foundation for Western and Central New York has made program investments and grant awards totaling more than $2.2 million for the last half of 2018.
The Foundation’s grant making activities reflects its commitment to improving health outcomes for two of the most vulnerable and underserved populations in our regions – older adults and children birth to age five who are impacted by poverty, while also building capacity in organizations to improve health outcomes in our community.
The Foundation awarded the following program investments and grants:
Older Adults
Lifespan of Greater Rochester, Inc.: $15,000 to sponsor the 2019 National Lifespan Conference at the “Champion of Respite” level.
Syracuse University: $31,110 to support Syracuse University in leading ‘Early Identification of Cognitive Impairment,’ a community based early identification and referral pilot project in partnership with Syracuse Community Connections, focus Greater Syracuse and Onondaga County Department of Aging Services.
University of Georgia Research Foundation: $149,980 for a study titled ‘Building Evidence for Respite’. This study will gauge how often caregivers across western and central New York are using respite services and will examine whether caregivers’ social supports networks relate to their access to and desire for respite care.
Young Children Impacted by Poverty
Community Connections of New York: $163,000 for project management, Results Based Accountability and quality improvement training, and evaluation of the Innovations in Children’s Health & Well-Being initiative.
The YMCA Buffalo Niagara: $184,000 to pilot the Early Learning Readiness Program, an early literacy intervention developed by the Y-USA.
Community Health Capacity
The Children’s Agenda: $154,000 to support the execution of a statewide and regional (within the 16 counties of the Health Foundation for Western and Central New York) advocacy effort titled Kids Can’t Wait, which will support an advocacy effort to support improved reimbursement rates for Medicaid therapeutic early intervention services.
8th District Dental for CHOMPERS!: $65,000 to provide continued support for Cavity Free Kids curriculum materials and toothbrushing supplies to CFK grantees. Funding will support hubs in both regions from January 2019 through December 2021.
Co-Creating Well-Being: Supporting Children and Families Through Trauma: $372,000 for the execution of Phase Two of the Co-Creating Well-Being initiative. Phase Two will use human-centered design tools and techniques to engage community members and providers. The information gathered will be utilized in the design and delivery of future funding..
Fellows Action Network: $313,700 to support organizational capacity and foster greater ability for the Fellows to pursue community goals through advocacy, networking and mutual support.
Health Leadership Fellows: $13,500 to support a curriculum design review and revision of the Health Leadership Fellows program, to be conducted from December 2018 through May 2019.
Pinnacle Community Services: $50,000 to provide funding for the CRIB project, a Maternity Group Home in Niagara County for runaway and homeless girls and young women aged 16-21.
Schuyler Center for Analysis & Advocacy, Inc.: $254,000 to strengthen statewide policy that supports prevention, screening, referral and treatment of maternal depression in New York.
SNAPCAP of Western New York, Inc.: $250,000 to support establishment of the SNAPCAP Independent Practice Association.
Grants under $10,000
Alzheimer’s Association of WNY: $1,500 to support the December 11, 2018 event “Hope on the Horizon”, featuring Dr. Keith Fargo, a national expert on Alzheimer’s disease.
Association of Health Care Journalists: $10,000 to support six journalists from the western and central New York region to attend Health Journalism 2019 in Baltimore, MD.
Children’s Consortium: $10,000 to support the Nurturing Parenting Program, a family-centered initiative designed to build nurturing parenting skills as an alternative to abuse and neglecting parenting and child-rearing practices.
Community Concern of WNY, Inc.: $10,000 to fund the Bonadio Group to provide Community Concern of WNY with consulting services related to OMIG compliance.
Community Connections of Western New York: $5,729 to serve as the fiscal agent for the Western New York Asset Mapping and Nonprofit Community Engagement project. This work is an initiative of the Western New York Nonprofit Support Group, a collaborative comprised of foundations and consultants in Western New York.
Community Foundation for Herkimer & Oneida Counties: $3,000 to develop a proposal to identify an organization and/or individual to help advance a statewide policy agenda around childhood lead poisoning prevention.
Mercy Hospital Foundation: $5,728 to participate in the Age Friendly Health Systems Action Community. Participating teams will implement the 4Ms, have early data on key measures that demonstrate evidence of benefit and be national leaders as the first public cohort of organizations on their way to becoming Age Friendly Health Systems
Parent Network of WNY: $3,000 to support the Wildly Engaged Classrooms Conference, which is a one-day conference for providers and families to address the needs of children 0-5 with special needs.
Population Health Collaborative: $3,391 to support staff to attend the “Champions for Change: Leading a Backbone Organization for Collective Impact” conference and training.
Rural Outreach Center: $10,000 for Baby ROC, a social/emotional pilot for the ROC modeled after the Rural Outreach Center’s successful ROC U for adults. The pilot is focused on the development of a multi-session series for rural parents and children that teaches early learning readiness and literacy skills.
Syracuse Jewish Family Service, Inc. $7,500 to support a symposium that incorporates a design thinking process with attendees to help them gain insight into how expressive and creative arts can offset factors that increase risk for triggers of decline in older adults.
Syracuse Jewish Family Service, Inc.: $10,000 to launch Mind Aerobics, a research-based suite of programs developed to provide older adults with comprehensive mental workouts that can help maintain or improve cognitive functioning, as well as improve social engagement and reduce depression.
Western New York Nonprofit Support Group: $1,000 to engage the services of International Deliverables, LLC to provide professional services in facilitating a Creative Problem Solving workshop, which is a visioning and planning session for the future Western New York Nonprofit Support Group. Other Foundations collaborating on this initiative include The Western New York Foundation, The Peter and Elizabeth C. Tower Foundation and The John R. Oishei Foundation.
Western New York Public Health Alliance: $1,000 to co-sponsor the “Brain Health: Dementia & Alzheimer’s Symposium”. The event will include information on the latest information on clinical diagnosis, care and treatment as well as caregiver guidance and support. The Western New York Public Health Alliance, the Alzheimer’s Association, the New York State Public Health Association and the New York State Department of Health are co-sponsors of the symposium.
