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Funding Announcement

Health Forward awards $4.7 million in Safety Net Grants

Kansas City, MO — Health Forward Foundation is proud to award $4.7 million in grants to 28 nonprofit organizations through our 2019 Safety Net funding.

Funding supports improved access to physical health care and oral health care for those most in need.

Organizations were asked to apply for core support for federally qualified health centers and look-alikes, support for a project, or support for an existing program.

“In the first of a planned three-year commitment, Health Forward is awarding nearly half, $2 million, to provide core support to agencies that provide direct medical and dental services to vulnerable populations,” said Graciela Couchonnal, Ph.D., vice president of programs.

Health Forward received a total of 50 proposals totaling nearly $9.1 million in requests.

The following grants were awarded during the December board of directors meeting:

Core support grants

Agency Award Grant Description
Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas $200,000 To provide medical, dental, and behavioral health services to uninsured and underserved residents in Allen County, Kansas.
Health Care Collaborative of Rural Missouri $200,000 To provide comprehensive health services to more than 2,400 low-income people in Lafayette County, Missouri.
Health Partnership Clinic $280,000 To provide health care services for uninsured, underserved, and low-income residents of Johnson County, Kansas.
KC CARE Health Center $335,000 To provide quality, affordable, and accessible health care to 14,000 uninsured and underserved people in Kansas City.
Rodgers Health $100,000 To transition close to 2,300 patients from Rodgers Health in Lexington, Missouri, to Health Care Collaborative of Rural Missouri, a rural health network providing dental, behavioral health, primary care, and social support services.
Sharon Lee Family Health Care $250,000 To provide accessible, quality, health services with a focus on under-resourced populations. Funds will also support extra services not currently supported through fee-for-service work.
Swope Health $375,000 To provide comprehensive, integrated, primary-care services to low-income, uninsured, and underinsured residents of the greater Kansas City metropolitan area.
Vibrant Health $260,000 To increase access to health services and improve health outcomes for children and adults living in the urban core of Kansas City, Kansas.

Program and project support grants

Agency Award Grant Description
Artists Helping The Homeless $85,000 To help homeless people obtain coordinated care, navigate a path to better health through stable housing, and address issues that led to, or were a result of, homelessness.
Baptist-Trinity Lutheran Legacy Foundation $100,000 To provide short-term, crisis-related assistance in the form of medicine and durable medical equipment to low-income individuals experiencing a urgent medical issue.
Caritas Clinics (Duchesne Clinic) $157,466 To provide a wide array of primary health services, care navigation, and wrap-around support for uninsured, Hispanic residents of Wyandotte County, Kansas.
Cass Community Health Foundation $184,000 To achieve improved oral health outcomes for Medicaid, uninsured, and low-income children in Cass County, Missouri, by providing dental services that are high quality, compassionate, and culturally sensitive.
Community Health Council of Wyandotte County $280,000 To improve access to quality health care and decrease associated costs for underserved communities in Wyandotte County, Kansas, by providing improved care coordination, improved patient/provider relationships, and improved disease management.
El Centro $186,780 To improve access to quality, affordable health care services for the Latino communities of Wyandotte and Johnson counties in Kansas.
Jewish Family Services $85,000 To provide care management to older adults living in their own homes by reducing falls and hospital admissions, and increasing self-efficacy in managing their personal health care needs.
Jewish Vocational Service $53,000 To implement the Refugee-Immigrant Health Access program, which facilitates a coordinated system of health care services for newly arriving refugees. The program works collaboratively with health care providers to advocate for language access and cultural competency.
KU Endowment $50,000 To improve health and patient satisfaction by providing urgent and specialty care. Funding will expand the number of services available to patients and continue to support high quality care using the latest supplies and equipment.
Miles of Smiles $150,000 To support uncompensated care associated with providing a safety net dental home to 3,400 low-income children living in Kansas City, Missouri, through free access to comprehensive, in-school oral health care.
Northland Health Care Access $70,000 To link those most in need to health care, oral health, and women’s health care services.
Oral Health Kansas $60,000 To address a Medicaid dental coverage gap in Greater Kanas City and Allen County, Kansas, by connecting children with intellectual and developmental disabilities to dental homes.
reStart $73,364 To support a case manager who will provide health care navigation and address housing barriers for close to 300 people. Funds will also support a registered nurse who will assess cases and assist in creating health care plans.
Rose Brooks Center $109,418 To provide critical health care services, a long-term medical home, and marketplace navigation for low-income domestic violence survivors as they leave the shelter.
Safehome $45,972 To improve health access, literacy, and better management of chronic conditions for domestic violence survivors.
Saint Luke’s Foundation $250,000 To support an ongoing, care coordination program between safety net clinics, hospital systems, and community-based organizations.
Seton Center $175,000 To achieve better long-term health outcomes; restored oral health; better care through greater access; improved patient satisfaction; and more affordable health care for patients.
Synergy Services $125,000 To provide integrated, youth-focused health care for homeless, runaway, underserved, and at-risk children.
Thrive Allen County $60,000 To improve health care coordination provided to low-income residents of Allen County, Kansas, by expanding reach to those who are home-bound or lacking transportation.
Truman Medical Center Charitable Foundation $400,000 To support operating and salary costs for five, primary care clinic locations, which annually serve as the medical home for more than 34,000 patients in Jackson County, Missouri.

The Safety Net Grants are the final round of foundation defined grants awarded by Health Forward in 2019. Deadlines for our 2020 funding opportunities are available at healthforward.org/deadline. For more information on applying for foundation defined grants, visit healthforward.org.

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