Health Forward Awards Nearly $8 Million in Mental Health Grants

KANSAS CITY, MO – The Health Forward Foundation (Health Forward) approved $7,936,153 in mental health grants at its May board meeting. The grants were awarded to 36 organizations in the Health Forward service area that improve access to mental health care.

“These organizations share in our dedication to provide mental health services to those who need them most in our community,” said Mary Lou Jaramillo, Chairman of the Health Forward Board of Directors. “We are pleased to award these grants to help individuals of all ages receive the information and treatment they need to overcome their mental illness and go on to lead fulfilling lives in our community.”

Health Forward received 78 grant applications totaling nearly $16 million in requests. All grant applications were reviewed by staff and outside reviewers. Based on their recommendations, the Health Forward board approved the following grants:

$900,000 for a three-year grant to the Municipal Correctional Institution, Swope Health Services, Truman Medical Centers and the Resource Development Institute (RDI) for the Bridge Project, which will deliver intensive services to inmates incarcerated at the Municipal Correctional Institution.
$620,000 for a three-year grant to the Independence School District and KVC Behavioral Healthcare to provide in-home family therapy and assessment for children and families that are enrolled in any program provided by the Independence School District.
$600,000 for a two-year grant to the Friends of Yates’ Joyce H. Williams Center, Rose Brooks, Hope House, SAFEHOME and Synergy Services for the Kansas City Metropolitan Family Violence Coalition’s BridgeSPAN Health Care Advocacy Program. This program works with over 33 area hospitals and clinics to increase access to domestic violence and mental health services.
$564,700 for a two-year grant to Operation Breakthrough to provide mental health support services to children and parents/care givers who suffer from mental illness, post-traumatic stress, depression, low self-esteem, and substance abuse.
$500,000 for a three-year grant to the Resource Development Institute for the Jackson County Safe Family Coalition, which aims to reduce the co-occurrence of child abuse and domestic violence through a coordinated and integrated community response that will provide safety, enhance well-being, and provide stability for children and families.
$394,709 for a two-year grant to ReDiscover for Integrated Dual Disorders Treatment (IDDT) that will ensure that the substance abuse needs of adolescents and adults with mental illness are met and that care is coordinated, responsive and appropriate.
$382,093 for a three-year grant to Rose Brooks Center, Inc. for the expansion of the Outreach Therapy Program, which helps to provide services such as individual therapy, case management and immediate access to resources to improve the lives of the women and children and to break the cycle of domestic violence.
$375,000 for a three-year grant to the Metropolitan Organization to Counter Sexual Assault for Sexual Violence Intervention Through Psycho-Education, which seeks to lessen the negative mental health effects of sexual violence through educational interventions.
$316,312 for a two-year grant to Pathways Community Behavioral Healthcare, Inc. to serve the substance abuse and mental health needs of the adolescent populations and their families residing in both Cass and Lafayette Counties through two innovative programs, Functional Family Therapy (FFT) and the Adolescent Community Reinforcement Approach (ACRA).
$249,000 for a three-year grant to the University of Kansas Center for Research, Inc., and Wyandot Center for Community Behavioral Healthcare who are partnering to address the extensive needs of at-risk children and their parents who have co-occurring disorders and who live in Wyandotte County.
$210,000 for a two-year grant to Tri-County Mental Health Services to expand the Integrated Dual Disorders Treatment (IDDT) services in both mental health and substance abuse programs of the agency.
$198,300 for a three-year grant to the County of Lafayette for S.T.O.P. Domestic Violence Court.
$185,859 for a three-year grant to Niles Home for Children for the Second Chances Program, which provides mental health and social services to clients while at Niles and after they are discharged.
$185,020 to Synergy Services, Inc for the Comprehensive Violence Intervention, Treatment and Prevention Program, which provides therapy, counseling and case management resources to victims of abuse and neglect.
$175,000 to the Curators of the University of Missouri-UMKC, Western Missouri Mental Health Center, TMC Behavioral Health and Mattie Rhodes to improve triage and quality of intervention for recidivist suicidal persons.
$150,200 to the Lexington R-V School District for the Brighter Futures Consortium, an initiative of the six public school districts of Lafayette County that provides mental health services to students during the regular school day.
$150,079 for a two-year grant to the University of Kansas Medical Center Research Institute for the TeleHelper project, which will train health professional students in pediatric depression evaluation and treatment.
$150,000 to the Kansas City Community Center for the Co-occurring Reentry Program (CORE), which provides treatment services to Missouri state offenders classified to two of KCCC’s offender residential facilities.
$148,300 to KVC Behavioral HealthCare, Inc. to help accurately diagnose developmental and neurological conditions in foster care children that have been removed from their families due to abuse and neglect.
$145,862 to SAFEHOME, Inc. for the Clinical Counseling Program, which provides no-cost, confidential counseling support for victims of domestic violence and their families.
$135,000 for a two-year grant to the Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church for a project that seeks to enhance the capacity of African American faith leaders and faith communities as proactive agents in the identification and treatment of depression.
$124,207 to House of Hope, Inc for Project S.H.E., which provides in-shelter services to children, continuing services to women integrating back into their communities after shelter residency, and support services to non-resident victims of domestic or sexual violence and their children.
$112,500 to Sheffield Place for the Therapeutic Services project, which provides mental health services to homeless mothers and their children.
$105,000 to Healthy Families Counseling and Support for outpatient mental health therapy to children, families and adults and in-home mental health services for children/adolescents with severe emotional and behavioral problems.
$101,958 to Sunflower House, Inc. for its Child Assessment Program, which provides a safe, child-friendly place for children, ages 0-17, alleging sexual or physical abuse to tell the most intimate details of their abuse to trained specialists. This effort is coordinated with more than 30 local law enforcement and state child protection agencies to ease the trauma to children reporting abuse.
$100,000 to the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill of Greater Kansas City, ReDiscover and Tri-County Mental Health Services for clinical support and treatment for older adults with depression and living in Jackson County.
$93,426 to Hope House, Inc to provide long-term physical and mental health care for victims of domestic violence.
$90,900 to the Midwest Christian Counseling Center for the Midwest Family Healing Services Program, which serves to provide psychotherapy to indigent and underserved victims of domestic violence and child abuse.
$90,000 to Young Women on the Move! for its program, Improving Mental Wellness of Adolescent Girls in Wyandotte County, which hopes to address the need for mental health services.
$84,845 for a two-year grant to the Mental Health Association of the Heartland for Sabbaths of Hope, a project that enables clergy and other faith leaders to recognize types and symptoms of depression, provide referral and linkage to treatment options, and offer more effective support to congregants suffering from depression.
$83,600 for a two-year grant to Benilde Hall for the enhancement of integrated services for co-existing disorders through the development of Skills Assignment Groups and Process Therapy Groups.
$65,000 to Guadalupe Center for the Dia Por Dia (Day by Day) Outpatient Substance Abuse Treatment Program, which provides bilingual and culturally sensitive individual and group counseling, client education, case management, and community support services.
$50,000 to the Kansas City Quality Improvement Consortium, Inc for Shedding Light on Depression in Multiple Sector Settings, a continuation grant that will provide community training and distribution of materials in the medical, school, faith and multi-cultural sectors.
$50,000 for a three-year grant to Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences for Beyond Depression in the Later Years, which provides training to medical students, preceptors, clergy, parish nurses, aging agencies and community members on geriatric depression and treatment.
$28,283 to the Curators of the University of Missouri-UMKC for the Immigrant Empowerment Program, a collaboration between the Division of Counseling and Educational Psychology at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and the Rose Brooks Center. The program provides refugee and immigrant women and their families mental health, resettlement adjustment, and domestic violence services.
$21,000 to Hope Haven of Cass County to provide victims of domestic violence both on-site and off-site treatment.