Health Forward Award $554,940 in Applicant Defined Grants

KANSAS CITY, MO – The Health Forward Foundation (Health Forward) approved $554,940 in applicant defined grants to support organizations who strive to eliminate barriers to quality health care and promote healthy lifestyles.

Health Forward awarded the following grants:

$75,000 to Harvesters for its BackSnack Program, a partnership between Harvesters, schools and local corporate, civic and faith networks that provides backpacks to 8,000 children.
$73,839 to Rose Brooks Center for Keeping Kids Safe, a project that is focused on improving infant/child/mother attachments, improving mothers’ and their children’s understanding of healthy relationships, providing domestic violence education, advocacy, case management and therapeutic services.
$70,466 to the Somali Foundation for its East African Health Care Initiative, which provides medical interpretation/translation, transportation and health education.
$50,000 to Kansas Action for Children, Inc for research and education on budget and tax policy issues in the state of Kansas.
$50,000 to the Kansas City Community Center to enhance the development of the Kansas City Municipal Drug Court program.
$50,000 to Mattie Rhodes Center support organizational capacity for a new phone system.
$49,998 to the Child Abuse Prevention Association for its Health Family Connections and Parent and Children Together programs, which stabilize families by decreasing risk factors that perpetuate child abuse and neglect.
$49,733 to Operation Breakthrough for prescription and over-the-counter medications for adult patients through its on-site medical clinic.
$42,170 to Gordon Parks Elementary School to provide individual and group mental health therapy to at-risk children and support early intervention and prevention through the Second Steps anti-violence program.
$25,000 to the Girl Scouts of Northeast Kansas and Northwest Missouri to expand the Fit for Life program to girls ages six through eight throughout the urban core. Fit for Life teaches healthy habits to girls at critical times in their development.
$18,734 to the Coalition of Hispanic Women Against Cancer to provide screenings, education and case management to newly immigrated Hispanic, uninsured/underserved communities in Kansas and Missouri.
In 2008, Health Forward has funded a total of $4 million in Applicant Defined Grants (ADG). Proposals are accepted and reviewed on a regular basis throughout the year. Organizations may begin applying for 2009 ADGSs in November.