Health Forward Awards $4.4 Million in Safety Net Grants

Date: December 14, 2011
Contact: Jennifer Sykes
Phone: 816-241-7006
KANSAS CITY, MO – The Health Forward Foundation (Health Forward) has awarded 30 non-profit organizations a total of $4.4 million in safety net health care grants. The grants awarded address barriers in access to mental, oral and physical health care and support services in the Greater Kansas City area.

“The Health Forward Foundation is honored to help support these organizations in their efforts to eliminate barriers to quality health for the uninsured and underserved in our service area,” said Steve Roling, President/CEO of the Health Forward Foundation. “The 30 organizations who received Health Forward’s safety net funding work daily to ensure the most vulnerable populations in our communities have access to health, mental health and oral health care.”

Health Forward released its safety net health care request for proposals in June. The Foundation received a total of 85 proposals totaling $12.8 million in requests. The following grants were selected by a team of external reviewers from outside the Health Forward service area and were awarded at the December Health Forward Board of Directors meeting.

Agency Amount Awarded Project Description
Cancer Action $78,000 To provide essential services and support to underserved cancer patients throughout Kansas City.
Catholic Charities of Kansas City- St. Joseph $222,790 For the Community Denture Program, which provides affordable and accessible quality dental care for older and/or disabled adults to treat stages of edentulism by providing pre denture procedures and dentures.
Community Network for Behavioral Healthcare (CommCare) $363,275 To improve access to quality health and mental health services for persons with psychiatric and addiction disorders who encounter police.
Cristo Rey Kansas City $118,000 To provide staff to enroll eligible students in public health insurance, and for a nurse and mental health counselor in Cristo Rey, Holy Cross, Our Lady of Angels and Our Lady of Guadalupe schools.
Curators of the University of Missouri-UMKC $97,263 To implement “Miles of Elder Smiles” program to provide elderly in Johnson County dental care.
Developing Potential $57,706 To provide staff support for its Enhancing Care and Supports for People with Developmental Disabilities Project.
Duchesne Clinic $185,000 To support core operations that enable the clinic to provide services and leverage donated care from our volunteer physicians, community referral partners and medication assistance.
El Centro, Inc. $125,000 To support the Health Without Barriers Program in Wyandotte and Johnson Counties that will provide health navigation to under-/uninsured people.
Harvesters $200,000 To continue to expand food distribution through a network of non-profit agencies to meet the needs of individuals and families.
Health Partnership Clinic of Johnson County $52,974 To provide medical and dental care to low income, uninsured residents in Johnson County.
Hope House $91,787 To provide health-specific advocacy and individual and group therapy for survivors of domestic violence and their children.
Jackson County Free Health Clinic $40,500 To provide for medications and diabetes supplies for the chronic disease management for over 500 patients.
Jewish Vocational Services $37,500 To support the Refugee-Immigrant Health Leadership Circle to improve health outcomes for refugees who come to the United States with complex health conditions and have little or no health care access.
Kansas City Free Health Clinic $450,000 To improve efficiency and access to high quality and culturally proficient medical/dental care, with a particular focus on those with chronic diseases.
KU Endowment Association – Silver City Health Center $150,000 To provide core operating support for the Silver City Health Center.
KU Endowment Association – JayDoc Free Clinic $79,365 To support the JayDoc Free Clinic and Medical-Legal Partnership Clinic, which provides basic health care and legal services to low-income and uninsured residents.
Mattie Rhodes $200,000 To support therapy and case management for our family domestic violence program for uninsured, low-income, Spanish speaking families.
Metropolitan Organization to Counter Sexual Assault $162,480 Increase access to services and the systems response to rape victims promoting health and healing outcomes.
Miles of Smiles $91,000 To provide safety net comprehensive dental care at their schools to 1,800 low-income, school-age children living in Kansas City, Missouri.
Ozanam $175,000 To develop services for sexually exploited youth in Kansas City and the surrounding area.
restart $50,000 To provide health education, benefits and advocacy to homeless men, women, and families with children experiencing disparities in health knowledge and health care access.
Samuel U. Rodgers Health Center $185,000 To support a pediatrician, LPN, and medical assistant to provide direct health care services for uninsured and underinsured low income children and adolescents.
Seton Center Family and Health Services $184,368 To provide transportation, supplies and oral health treatment to adult and children who are uninsured or underserved.
Southwest Boulevard Family Health Care Services $300,000 For core operation support to allow the clinic to enhance its ability to provide comprehensive health care services.
StandUp Blue Springs $104,126 For its Dental for Kids Program, which provides free dental care, case management, dental education and supplies for more than 2,100 children who are uninsured and underserved in the Blue Spring School district.
Sunflower House $70,621 For a Child Assessment Program, which brings together law enforcement, child protection, mental health and medicine to provide a multidisciplinary response to reduce trauma in abused children in Johnson and Wyandotte counties.
Swope Health Services $150,000 To support one full-time dentist and one part-time dental assistant positions, which will allow SHS to maintain its region-side dental program for uninsured and underinsured low-income residents.
Truman Medical Centers $138,245 To provide medically-necessary treatments and prescriptions to uninsured and underserved patients.
Turner House Clinic $50,000 To enable Turner House Children’s Clinic to ensure access to health care for uninsured and medically underserved children in Wyandotte County, Kansas.
West Central Missouri Community Action Agency $190,000 To provide IUDs and other birth control methods, colorectal cancer screening and support of staff and space costs to underinsured, uninsured and low-income women.
The safety net health care grants are the final Foundation Defined Grants (FDGs) awarded by the Foundation in 2011. In total, Health Forward granted $18.5 million in grants during the year and has awarded over $130 million since it began grantmaking in 2005. For more information, visit the Foundation’s website at healthforward.org.