January 12, 2022
Contact: Jennifer Sykes
Phone: (816) 241-7006
Kansas City, MO — Health Forward Foundation is proud to award $6.75 million in grants to 30 nonprofit organizations through our Safety Net funding.
Funding supports improved access to physical health care and oral health care for all communities in our service area.
“Since Health Forward’s inception, ensuring access to affordable and high-quality care has been one of our highest priorities” said Angie Williams, Health Forward Foundation Director of Community Investment and Impact. “These organizations work every day to provide services that are equitable, inclusive, and culturally competent.”
Health Forward received 55 proposals totaling nearly $9.7 million in requests.
Later this month, Health Forward will adopt a new purpose statement and announce updated strategies. We will not accept unsolicited applications for Safety Net funding in 2022. Each grant in this final round will last for 18 months and conclude by June 30, 2023.
The following grants were awarded:
| Agency | Award | Grant Description |
| Artists Helping The Homeless | $127,500 | To improve health care coordination, efficiency, and outcomes for 2,000 people without housing in Kansas City. |
| BlaqOut | $127,500 | To facilitate improved health care and access to preventive HIV medication for people in the Black queer and transgender community. |
| Caritas Clinics (Duchesne Clinic) | $235,500 | To provide a wide array of primary health services, care navigation, and wrap-around support for close to 1,400 residents of Wyandotte Co. |
| Cass Community Health Foundation | $283,500 | To achieve improved oral health outcomes for children in Cass Co. by providing dental services that are high quality, compassionate, and culturally sensitive. |
| Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas | $300,000 | To provide medical, dental, and behavioral health services to close to 7,800 residents of Allen Co. |
| Community Health Council of Wyandotte County | $330,000 | To improve access to quality health care and decrease associated costs for communities in Wyandotte Co. by improving care coordination, patient/provider relationships, and disease management. |
| El Centro | $297,000 | To improve access to culturally competent, quality, affordable health care services for Latino communities in Wyandotte and Johnson counties. |
| Family Health Care | $300,000 | To provide quality medical care to Wyandotte Co. residents and surrounding communities. |
| Health Care Collaborative of Rural Missouri | $300,000 | To provide a full spectrum of medical, dental, and behavioral services for residents of Lafayette Co., including treatment for patients experiencing opioid use disorder. |
| Health Partnership Clinic | $378,000 | To provide health care services for residents of Johnson Co. |
| Hope Family Care Center | $112,500 | To provide primary and preventive medical care, including chronic disease management and telehealth services, for residents living in the East Side community of Kansas City, Missouri. |
| Jewish Family Services | $112,500 | To provide care management to older adults, improve their health outcomes, and offer support as they safely age in place in their own homes and communities. |
| Jewish Vocational Service | $150,000 | 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. |
| KC CARE Health Center | $450,000 | To provide quality, affordable, and accessible health care to 16,000 people in Kansas City. |
| KU Endowment | $67,500 | To improve health and patient satisfaction by providing urgent and specialty care at the JayDoc clinic. Funding will expand the services available to patients and continue to support high-quality care. |
| Level Up Kids | $210,000 | To provide free dental care for 3,900 school-age children in the Northland area of Kansas City, Missouri. |
| Mercy and Truth Medical Missions | $161,250 | To achieve optimal health for residents of Wyandotte and Johnson counties by providing high-quality, accessible, patient-centered health care, including prevention, treatment, and monitoring. |
| Mid-America Regional Council Community Services Corporation | $330,000 | To improve patient health outcomes and reduce costs for hospital systems by collaborating with KC CARE Health Center to expand the Care Coordination program, which supports community health workers in serving 2,750 patients. |
| Migrant Farmworkers Assistance Fund | $135,000 | To provide intensive health care case management for migrant and seasonal farmworkers in rural Lafayette Co. |
| Missouri Coalition for Oral Health | $67,500 | To integrate teledentistry into existing health services in Lafayette Co. and increase oral health access for all community members. |
| Northland Health Care Access | $97,500 | To support a critical care program that links patients to primary, behavioral, and oral care. |
| Oral Health Kansas | $82,500 | To increase access, improve quality, and reduce costs of dental care in Kansas by supporting technical assistance, education, and consumer and provider resources. |
| Rodgers Health | $240,000 | To provide continued support for Rodgers Health dental, behavioral health, primary care, and social support services. |
| Rose Brooks Center | $135,000 | To provide domestic violence survivors with critical health care services, a long-term medical home, and resources as they transition out of the center. |
| Seton Center | $288,750 | 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. |
| Swope Health | $506,250 | To provide comprehensive, integrated, primary-care services for more than 40,000 residents of Greater Kansas City. |
| Synergy Services | $172,500 | To provide integrated, youth-focused health care for runaway and under-resourced children. |
| Thrive Allen County | $146,250 | To improve health care coordination for residents of Allen Co. |
| University Health Foundation (Formerly Truman Medical Center Charitable Foundation) | $255,000 | To provide essential primary care services, including patient care coordination, transitions across hospitals and clinics, and navigation to meet patients’ social determinant of health needs. Funding will also support the Center for COVID-19 Recovery. |
| Vibrant Health | $351,000 | To provide primary medical, oral, and behavioral health services, with integrated language, financial and transportation assistance for Wyandotte Co. residents. |