Foundation Announces ‘Social Innovation for Missouri’ Funding
New Federal Match Grants Target Social Innovation; MFH One of 11 Selected
St. Louis, Mo., July 22, 2010 -- Missouri Foundation for Health (MFH) has received $2 million in federal matching funds to launch a new grant program, Social Innovation for Missouri (SIM). Grants through this program will target community-based efforts to reduce obesity and tobacco use throughout Missouri. MFH is one of only 11 organizations in the United States receiving these federal funds.
The funding was announced Thursday in Washington, DC, and represents the first-ever federal distribution through the newly created Social Innovation Fund (SIF), a program of the Corporation for National and Community Service, a federal agency that leads President Obama’s United We Serve initiative through Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America programs.
“We are proud to be included among this first, select group of funders from across the country that have been recognized at the national level as innovators in tackling social challenges,” said Dr. James R. Kimmey, MFH president and chief executive officer. “For several years, MFH has been funding programs to help reduce our state’s obesity and tobacco use rates, both of which contribute to a significant number of deaths and health problems for hundreds of thousands of Missourians.
“With this infusion of federal SIF funds, we can expand our efforts in more communities by replicating proven, effective models of prevention on obesity and tobacco control,” he added.
Through the SIF grant’s local matching requirement, the $2 million, two-year allocation will actually generate a total of $8 million in program funding in Missouri. MFH will match the initial $2 million with its own funds. That total of $4 million will then be disbursed through 10-16 grants in targeted, low-income communities across the state to provide obesity and tobacco prevention programs. Those individual grants must then be matched at the community level by local organizations, foundations, businesses or individual investors. The minimum SIM grant request to MFH will be $100,000 per year. Using federal funds, MFH can make these grants throughout the entire state. Because of its bylaws, MFH is usually limited to funding health-focused nonprofits only within its 84-county service area, which covers three-fourths of the state but excludes the Kansas City region and northwest Missouri.
“We are excited to be able to offer all areas of our state the opportunity to improve their communities’ health by replicating the best-practice programs we’ve funded for years in our service region,” Kimmey said. “We can only affect significant change across our state when all communities are engaged in helping their people live healthier.”
MFH’s SIM funding will build on two successful models already implemented through previous funding – “Healthy, Active and Vibrant Communities,” developed by Trailnet, a nonprofit that promotes healthy lifestyles, and “Support for Local Tobacco Policy Change,” developed by Americans for Nonsmokers Rights, a nonprofit that focuses on reducing the use of tobacco products.
MFH anticipates selecting SIM program grantees by early 2011. To help nonprofits better understand SIM and how to apply for this funding, MFH will be making presentations in various communities throughout the state in August and providing information online. To find out more about SIM and the presentations, visit the MFH website at www.mffh.org.
During the national SIF announcement Thursday, all SIF grantees, including MFH, were lauded for their collective track record of success and praised for offering a set of compelling ideas for how to use innovation and evidence to tackle social challenges in a new way.
“This is a collection of extraordinary organizations with an unparalleled body of knowledge and expertise on growing what works,” said Patrick Corvington, the Corporation’s CEO. “they are all driven by the search for bold solutions and recognize that we must use evidence to target limited resources where they will have the greatest impact.”
SIF grantees will address urgent needs across three key issue areas – economic opportunity, healthy futures, and youth development and school support. MFH’s SIM program targets the healthy futures component.
Federal funding for the 11 grantees totals $49 million. The other 10 grantees are: Jobs for the Future, Inc., and New Profit, Inc. (both based in Boston); Local Initiatives Support Corporation, The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation and Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City (all based in New York City); National AIDS Fund and Venture Philanthropy Partners (both based in Washington, DC); Robert Enterprise Development Fund (REDF) (based in San Francisco); Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky (based in Louisville); and United Way of Greater Cincinnati.
Established in 2000, MFH is the largest nongovernmental funder of community health activities in Missouri. MFH is in its eighth year of grantmaking, having issued more than $374 million in grants and awards to date. It is dedicated to improving the health of unserved and underserved residents in 84 Missouri counties and the City of St. Louis.
###