HIF Awards Grants to 11 Montgomery County-serving Nonprofits
The Healthcare Initiative Foundation (HIF) is pleased to announce an investment of more than $400,000 in grant awards to 11 nonprofit partners serving Montgomery County. These investments in our community continue the Foundation’s commitment to health and wellness for Montgomery County residents by increasing access to quality and comprehensive healthcare and health programming.
These FY25 Capacity Building awards are focused on two of HIF’s strategic priorities 1) To support affordable, integrated, culturally responsive health and wellness across the lifespan and 2) To support comprehensive behavioral health services across the lifespan.
Strategic Priority 1: Health & Wellness
The Board of Trustees awarded more than $296,000 to nonprofits advancing health and wellness in the County. These partners will seek to increase the blood supply for sickle cell anemia patients, provide nutritional counseling along with provision of food to clients managing health issues such as diabetes, place-based dental and primary care, eye exams and glasses to children, care coordination and safety services through home care visits, and healthcare workforce trainings and internships. In addition to these recent grant recipients, HIF’s support for the healthcare education pipeline continues through the 5-year $1 million scholarship investment through The Universities at Shady Grove and Montgomery County.
FY25 grant recipient, American Red Cross, details how this investment from HIF is making a difference in Montgomery County, “We are deeply grateful to Healthcare Initiative Foundation. For the past five years, they have invested in the work of the Red Cross to diversify our blood donor base, address health disparities, and expand public health efforts in Montgomery County. With their support, we are seeing significant year-over-year growth that helps us better meet the needs of our neighbors. In addition to funding, HIF has been a valuable partner in making connections across Montgomery County and in leveraging their deep knowledge to increase our impact in communities,” says Curt Luthye, Executive Director, Red Cross of Montgomery, Howard, and Frederick Counties.
Strategic Priority 2: Behavioral Health
Grant recipients under this strategic priority received more than $90,000 to support the increase in opportunities for mental health services to military veterans and families, provide middle and high school students in MCPS protective resources through peer-led groups, and care navigation services for children to receive timely behavioral and mental health services.
Our Minds Matter Chief of Programs, Laura Beth Levitt, highlights the importance of investing in the mental wellness of our adolescent community members. Levitt shares “Thanks to the support of the Healthcare Initiative Foundation, Our Minds Matter has grown to reach 22% more teens in Montgomery County Public Schools in the past year alone. Teens in OMM clubs are sharing life-saving mental health resources and leading the way to new cultures of kindness and well-being.”
The Healthcare Initiative Foundation continues to support a diverse range of organizations and programs in the county. As we continue to watch policy and program changes at the federal, state and local levels, we are continually working to assess how HIF can evolve to meet the ever-changing needs in Montgomery County. HIF’s Board Chair, Robert “Skip” Myers underscores that, “the Board and staff will be working this spring to review our priorities to ensure continued alignment with the needs of our community. As always, we value our partnerships and collaboration with community nonprofits and thank them for their work.”
Congratulations to the FY25 Capacity Building grant awardees!
On Friday, September 27th, the HIF Board of Trustees hosted the Foundation’s 50th Anniversary Celebration at BlackRock Center for the Arts in Germantown. With more than 100 community partners in attendance, the focus of the morning was ’50 years of community impact and partnership.’ The HIF team, in partnership with the team from Leadership Montgomery, cultivated the opportunity for nonprofit partners, government leaders, and community advocates to share ideas for future collaboration and programming.
The breakfast kicked off with opening remarks from HIF’s Board of Trustee and Secretary, Mike Knapp. Knapp’s remarks offered highlights of the history of the Foundation, starting in 1973 with its modest grant of $2,000 grant to the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Fire and Rescue to support the purchase of an ambulance. Knapp concluded his remarks with a welcome to HIF’s incoming President and CEO, Kathy Stevens. Stevens will start her tenure as President and CEO on October 16. 2024.
As a way to highlight examples of successful collaboration and partnership, three Collective Impact Stories were highlighted through video and breakout sessions. Partners from the Healthcare Workforce Education Pipeline (The Universities at Shady Grove and Montgomery College), Food is Medicine (Community FarmShare, AfriThrive, Care 4 Your Health, WUMCO Help, and Mid-County United Ministries), and the Youth Behavioral Health Eco-System (EveryMind and Identity, Inc.) shared their stories of collaboration in pre-recorded zoom conversations and participated in the morning’s breakout sessions with attendees.
The feedback received during the event was clear – more opportunities to thoughtfully and intentionally connect for future collaboration is desired by community partners and leaders. On November 13, 2024, the monthly Community Partner Network meeting (9:30am-10:30am) will focus on follow-up from the event; the lessons learned and suggestions for intentional planning for future collaboration. Click here to registration for this partner meeting.
For those interested in learning more about HIF’s upcoming FY25 grant cycle, including the Capacity Building grant cycle, register for the Annual Grant training on October 10th from 12-1pm. This will be a virtual event. Registration is open.
To view more photos from the event, the 50th Anniversary Celebration presentation slides, and Collective Impact Videos, visit: hifmc.org/50Years.
For the Healthcare Initiative Foundation (HIF), based in Germantown, MD, 2024 has been a year of looking towards the future while reflecting on the past. As we celebrate our 50th Anniversary and the impact of our grantees work, we also are laying the groundwork for a successful future. It is with shared excitement that the HIF Board of Trustees announces our new President and CEO of Healthcare Initiative Foundation, Kathryn E. Stevens!
Kathy, an accomplished and trusted nonprofit leader in Montgomery County, will join HIF in mid-October from her most recent leadership role as the Executive Director of Montgomery Coalition for Adult English Literacy (MCAEL). In addition to her skilled ability to network and build community alliances, Kathy brings nearly twenty years of experience in donor stewardship and grantmaking. While as the Executive Director at MCAEL, Kathy oversaw the annual administration of one million dollars worth of grants to local community nonprofits. HIF Board Chair Skip Myers states, “The Board of Trustees and I are confident that Kathy brings not only the varied skills that the new President and CEO will need to lead the organization but also shares the Foundation’s core values in advancing a healthier Montgomery County.”
Prior to her leadership at MCAEL, Kathy spent her early career working in and with higher education institutions. In her role with a multi-member international nonprofit, she directed a program for over 185 U.S. and Canadian colleges and universities to work collaboratively with member corporations and non-government organizations. Kathy is trained as an attorney and counselor. Kathy has served on a variety of boards and in community leadership roles. She currently is a member of Montgomery Moving Forward’s Leadership Group and serves on the board of the MidCoast Conservancy in Maine. She is a 2011 graduate of Leadership Montgomery.
Kathy shares, “I am honored to be selected as the next President and CEO of the Healthcare Initiative Foundation. Over the years, I have followed the good work of the organization, and I am excited to join such a well-regarded foundation doing important work for the health and wellness of our neighbors. I look forward to working collaboratively with the Board of Trustees, staff, and partners so that together we can continue making an impact in our community.”
The Foundation looks forward to connecting Kathy with our grant partners and the processes in the weeks to come. More information will be shared about upcoming opportunities to connect with HIF’s newest President and CEO in early November.
On February 28, the HIF Board of Trustees awarded $1.116M to 29 nonprofit partners serving Montgomery County with the potential to impact more than 130,000 residents. The grant investments continue the Healthcare Initiative Foundation’s (HIF) longstanding commitment to advance the health and wellness in our community by increasing access to quality and comprehensive healthcare and health programming.
FY24 Capacity Building Scope
The FY24 Capacity Building portfolio marks the first capacity building cycle awarded through the lens of the Foundation’s 2023 Strategic Plan that was launched in July 2023. While maintaining the integrity of the work of the last fifty years of Healthcare Initiative Foundation, the 2023 Strategic Plan focused the vision and mission into three robust strategic goals: To support affordable, integrated, culturally responsive health and wellness systems across the lifespan; To support Comprehensive behavioral health services across the lifespan; and To increase effectiveness of and improve accessibility to health, wellness, and social services, the Foundation supports convenings and collaborations amongst stakeholders that improve and integrate services.
Strategic Priority 1: Health and Wellness
The Board of Trustees awarded $829K to twenty nonprofits. These nonprofits will address food insecurity, placed-based dental and vision care, culturally-appropriate physical healthcare, health service navigation, and healthcare workforce programming. Key to the impact of these investments is ensuring the connectedness and integration of the programs across partners. A wonderful example of addressing the cross-sectoral approach to systemic solutions is the investment of $142K to address food insecurity. HIF awarded Community FarmShare, AfriThrive, and Mid-County United Ministries to increase access to healthy, locally-grown produce as a means of using ‘food as medicine.’
Strategic Priority 2: Behavioral Health
Knowing the critical situation facing the mental wellness of our community, nine nonprofits were awarded $262K to provide services to more than 2,100 residents. Six of the nine programs will lean in to provide essential resources and programs to the youth and adolescents in the County through existing and new partnerships. In addition to the direct program support investments, the Foundation awarded EveryMind a grant to address the troubling issue of the lack of mental health professionals trained to provide on-the-ground support. This forward-thinking program will provide paid internships to three social service students who will be placed within MCPS schools and at the Sheppard Pratt Community Wellness Hub in Germantown. Offering paid internships works to address the hurdle of professionals coming into this field requiring a livable income while simultaneously completing arduous practicums.
Strategic Priority 3: Convenings and Collaboration
New to this year’s Strategic Goal Priorities is the intentional investment in convenings and collaborations that increase the effectiveness and accessibility to health and wellness programs throughout the county. HIF fully recognizes that substantial and valuable programs require connectivity and coalition-building for innovation to bloom. Through this goal, HIF awarded Meals on Wheels of Takoma Park/Silver Spring with grant dollars to allow for the development of a community meeting place for nonprofits to come together in the down county region.
HIF’s Commitment to Priority Zip Codes
Healthcare Initiative Foundation is immensely proud of the commitment of the Board of Trustees and staff to ensure that historically-underinvested communities throughout Montgomery County are receiving placed-based, culturally-competent programming. In the Foundation’s FY21 Capacity cycle, applicants were asked to identify, as best they could, how their HIF-requested dollars would be distributed throughout the county’s zip codes, with priority towards those zip codes with the lowest life expectancy.
This commitment enlightened HIF’s grantmaking and provided insight into the communities impacted the hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic. This grant cycle, 85% of grant requested dollars were going to support high-impact zip codes.
To learn more about HIF’s grantmaking guidelines or grant calendars, visit www.hifmc.org.
Healthcare Initiative Foundation (HIF) is pleased to announce its second-year investment in Manna Food Center’s (Manna) Advanced Purchasing Pilot. Through the Foundation’s FY24 Emerging Needs portfolio, Manna will receive $47,500 to continue this innovative project. In FY23, $50,000 was invested to bring culturally-important fresh produce to historically under-invested communities which were in dire need of fresh, healthy produce. This proof-of-concept investment was a response to the Foundation engaging with community partners throughout 2022 about food insecurity issues related to the lack of fresh produce coming into Montgomery County after COVID emergency funds expired.
The Advanced Purchasing Pilot is molded by the highly successful Farm to Food Bank model. This pilot is designed to be mutually beneficial and sustainable for both the community and local farmers: food providers get culturally-important produce for their residents, farmers get paid a fair rate in advance for their goods and services, and community members receive healthy, farm-to-table produce!
The Gaithersburg C.A.R.E Hub receives produce made available through the FY23 Emerging Needs Advanced Pilot Purchasing grant from HIF.
Manna’s initial 16-week pilot project in the spring and summer of 2023 was a remarkable success. 1,100 residents received more than 18,000 pounds of fresh produce from two local farms! The Gaithersburg C.A.R.E Hub partnered with Farm at Our House (Brookville) to receive more than 8,000 pounds of produce, a 3,924% increase from the previous year. Lewis Orchards (Germantown) provided 10,650 pounds of produce to Kingdom Fellowship AME Church, more than exceeding the Farm to Food Bank goal for this partnership.
According to Manna, “The success of this pilot [in 2023] created a blueprint for replication in year two [2024]. Our intent is to conduct a contract growing project with farms that have different characteristics, such as smaller acreage and disparate labor force in order to see how well the model adapts to farms of differing capacities.”
This project falls under the Foundation’s Food Security Initiatives.
