The Healthcare Initiative Foundation Awards $740,550 in the FY20 Capacity Building Grant Cycle to #24 Nonprofit Organizations. Projected to Impact Nearly 70,000 individuals.

Montgomery County, MD – May 15, 2020 – The Healthcare Initiative Foundation (HIF) awarded $740,550 in FY20 Capacity Building grants to support 24 organizations in Montgomery County, MD working to provide high-quality, comprehensive, and sustainable healthcare.  HIF’s grant priorities include: behavioral health access across the lifespan; access to quality and comprehensive health and wellness services; sustainable business models and integrated service delivery for systemic transformation (placed-based initiatives and collective impact models); and the growth of a highly skilled and culturally competent healthcare workforce. These grants are projected to impact more than 70,000 Montgomery County residents.

In 2019, the Foundation made a commitment to more responsibly invest in communities that have historically been underinvested in by stakeholders. In FY20, sixty percent of the total HIF award, or $443,767, is going towards programming aimed at Montgomery County’s historically underinvested in zip codes.  Fifty-four percent of our FY20 Capacity Building investment is going towards supporting sustainable service delivery systems and safety-net services across the lifespan.

Support Behavioral Health for Adults and Children: Total funding award in this priority area is $163,500 with #720 individuals to be served.

  • EveryMind – $63,000 Provides a full-time therapist to offer onsite behavioral health therapy at Daly Elementary School to serve #50 youth and their guardians. The therapist will provide day and evening hours at Daly ES and will accept referrals from Holy Cross Health Center. In addition to the therapy sessions, the program will serve #25-50 family members and at least #10 youth through psychoeducational groups.
  • Ayuda – $19,000 Provides wrap-around support services and trauma informed behavioral health services for the immigrant community who have experienced domestic violence and human trafficking.  The program will serve #35 and will include referrals to local partners for essential services like food and clothing.
  • Greater Washington Jewish Coalition Against Domestic Abuse (JCADA) – $11,500 Builds capacity for their 3-pronged approach to education and advocacy around power-based violence. Their youth educational and prevention programming will serve #500.
  • Mary’s Center for Maternal and Child Care, Inc. (MC) – $50,000 Offers behavioral health services for pregnant mothers in coordination with existing prenatal services at the clinic. The program will conduct care coordination for #70 clients and also provide behavioral health interventions for #30 of these clients.  #20 staff members will receive training on maternal mental health.
  • Warrior Canine Connection – $20,000 Provides Mission Based Trauma Recovery (MBTR) to Veterans in partnership with the Cohens Veterans Clinic in Silver Spring, MD.  This innovative program uses a professional instructor to train the program participants, who are Veterans, in service dog training modalities using the animals (dogs) who will be a service animal for another Veteran. The program will serve #65 residents, #45 veterans and #20 family members, in an effort to decrease Post-Traumatic Stress (PTS) symptoms.

Support Sustainable Service Delivery Systems and Safety-net Services Across the Lifespan: Total funding award in this priority area is $401,000 with #7,184 being served.

  • American Diversity Group – $32,000 Provides dental screenings, basic treatments, and necessary referrals to #180 students and parents at Daly, Gaithersburg, & Clopper Mill Elementary Schools.  Additionally, the program will provide dental screenings and procedures to #250 at 2 dental and 4 health fairs in Montgomery County.
  • CaringMatters – $25,000 Provides resource coordination for #144 patients receiving care at the Adventist Healthcare Aquilino Cancer Center. #115 of participants will receive access to non-medical community resources through a Resource Specialist. The Coordinator will be the point person for referrals to Hope Connections for the onsite support groups for newly diagnosed patients and to Volunteer Helping Hands for in-home support of those who are seriously ill.
  • Columbia Lighthouse for the Blind – $50,000 Provides eye exams to #770 people (#720 adults at #7 safety-net clinics and #50 youth in Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS), who are low income or uninsured, for diabetic retinopathy in adults and eye education to all. #50 youth from Daly and Clopper Mill Elementary Schools will receive an on-site eye exam. #40 students will receive 2 sets of eye-glasses. This support enables clinics to meet HEDIS standards for patients with diabetes and state law requirements for 5% of students failing vision screenings to receive a follow-up exam. This school vision expansion pilot is in partnership with Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Children’s Opportunity Fund (COF), MCPS, and HIF. 
  • Crittenton Services of Greater Washington – $20,000 Expands the SNEAKERS program to Seneca Valley and Clarksburg High Schools to serve #30. Their programs are 26 weeks of health, sex, and relationship education.
  • Family Services, Inc. (FSI) – $50,000 Coordinates access to care and resources to reduce risk and disparities to #332 persons, of which #270 are clients (#150 new, #120 existing). New and existing clients will receive ongoing care and assessment as a part of the Thriving Germantown collaboration. Trauma-informed training will be provided to #150 MCPS staff and faculty in Germantown area schools. FSI also convenes the #20 community partners of the collective impact work to evaluate the effect of the multigenerational, cross-sectoral work.
  • Maryland Foundation of Dentistry (MFD)- $10,000 Provides navigation and connects individuals with disabilities with necessary dental hygiene and intensive treatments to #100 Montgomery County residents.  Working with over 500 local pro bono dentist MFD is able to offer these dental services free of charge. #90 patients will be brought up to ‘good standard of dental care.’
  • Mobile Medical Care – $34,000 Partners with the 340B Drug Pricing Program to provide 1,000 prescriptions to #400 patients. Through this effort #300 patients with diabetes will have greater access to a more expansive selection of insulin prescriptions at more affordable rates tailored to the patient’s needs. Along with improving quality of care, this is an innovative business strategy. The program will become financially sustainable, offset financial barriers to patients, as well as, earn revenue for the clinic. 
  • Nourish Now – $20,000 Expands existing Nourish Neighborhood program to #10 sites in Montgomery County to serve #160 households and #500 individuals. The food recovery program delivers 3 days of healthy meals once a month to households with a focus on improving food insecurity and promoting the ‘Family Meal.’   
  • Prevention of Blindness Society of Metropolitan Washington – $40,000 Provides comprehensive on-site eye exams to #400 Montgomery County students in 8 participating schools that have failed the school vision screen. #360 of students who complete the exam will receive 2 pairs of glasses at no cost to the family. This expansion pilot is in partnership with Montgomery County HHS, Children’s Opportunity Fund, MCPS, and HIF. 
  • The American Heart Association – $50,000 Implements programming at 3 Montgomery County safety-net clinics (4 sites) for #3,764 patients to improve outcomes related to blood pressure using a bilingual nurse navigator. The nurse navigator will offer education classes to develop standards of practice for quality assurance at the clinics. These protocols will be institutionalized after the first year for the model to be expanded to all Montgomery County safety-net clinics.
  • The Tree House Child Advocacy Center of Montgomery County, Inc – $50,000 Supports #200 child abuse victims by providing direct medical care through their Board-certified Child Abuse Pediatrician. The program also supports the training of #7 Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANE) nurses at Adventist Healthcare Shady Grove Hospital to standardize exam and screening practices to improve health and behavioral health outcomes and assist with possible criminal investigations.
  • Vietnamese American Services, Inc – $20,000 #500 seniors will receive support through the Vietnamese Adult Medical Day Center.  Services at the Center include medical care provided by a Registered Nurse on staff, appointment scheduling, transportation assistance, and culturally appropriate meals and activities.  #400 seniors will be enrolled in health insurance while #150 will receive support in accessing health care services and #15 will be referred to Mobile Medical Care for specialized health care services.

Promote Sustainable Integrated Business Models for Safety-net Services Across the Lifespan: Total funding awarded in this priority area is $77,050 with #150 being served.

  • Jewish Social Service Agency (JSSA) – $45,000 Continues the operation of the Partners in Care model with their #7 community partners at Homecrest House while expanding the programming and services to a new location in Silver Spring at Springvale Terrace. Providing #100 residents with care coordination with the goal of enabling residents to remain in their homes.
  • Manna Food Center – $32,050 Provides healthy food access to #150 Montgomery County seniors by offering no-cost Lyft rides to Manna’s new food market location in Silver Spring. The program also increases access to SNAP benefits to #36 seniors by providing assistance with the application process and a partnership with the Jewish Council for the Aging (JCA) to offer navigation services. 

Promote the development of a culturally competent healthcare workforce: Total funding awarded in this priority area is $50,000 with #26 being served.

  • Leadership Montgomery – $50,000 Offers the opportunity for #20 Montgomery County nonprofit health and wellness professionals to go through Phase 1 of the two-day/16-hour Racial Equity Institute (REI) workshop. Additionally, #6 professionals from 2 Montgomery County nonprofit organizations will have the opportunity to complete the 8-month Racial Equity Action Leadership (REAL) training. 

Support Sustainable Service Delivery Systems and Safety-net Services Across the Lifespan: Total funding awarded for this priority area is $49,000 with #61,340 being served.

  • Institute for Public Health Innovation – $28,000 Continues the development of #35 new Local School Wellness Councils in MCPS for #60,000 students in a total of #135 schools by March 2021 with the goal of implementation in all #207 schools. The project will also offer trauma-informed training for #100 MCPS staff (Administrative and School Wellness Coordinators) to infuse these learnings into their school wellness plans. This support provides match funding to secure the Trinity Health Community Transformation multi-year grant.
  • Montgomery County Food Council – $13,000 Supports the ongoing work of the Food Security Council Advisory Board (FSCAB) which provides outreach, resources, and training to residents experiencing food insecurity to become resource navigators and leaders in their communities as well as develop a report with recommendations and action items to reach #500 community members. Through community action advocacy events a total of #1170 residents to be engaged in solutions for food insecurity.
  • Nonprofit Montgomery – $5,000 Montgomery Moving Forward expands their relationship with Holy Cross Health and Shady Grove Hospital and 3 nonprofit healthcare or human service organizations in East County to reach #200 parents.  The program will educate these healthcare partner providers about the Early Childcare Education (ECE) toolkit and will encourage them to disseminate the ECE Employer toolkit to parents and caregivers.
  • Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments – $3,000 Supports the development of a ‘Racial Equity’ report by the Virginia Commonwealth University Center on Society and Health that expands on the ‘Uneven Opportunities’ report. The data will focus on how race impacts health and life expectancy in our region.  HIF funds will support this work for Montgomery County.  The ten regional Public Health leaders from will come together for a Racial Equity Leadership Series to operationalize this equity work in their communities. 

HIF supports organizations, within our geographic and focus area, thatimprove the quality and delivery of healthcare, expand the availability of comprehensive healthcare, build appropriate capacity in the healthcare network, and grow the healthcare workforce for Montgomery County residents. To learn more, please visit our website at www.hifmc.org and like us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/hifmc.

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If you would like more information about this topic or the Healthcare Initiative Foundation’s grant priorities, please contact Jess Fuchs at [email protected] or 240-499-2827.