St. Louis, Mo., Oct. 14, 2010 -- Thirty-two Missouri nonprofits received nearly $5 million in grants recently awarded by the Missouri Foundation for Health (MFH). Funding assists organizations that work to improve the health of thousands of Missourians, especially the uninsured and underserved. Grants support nonprofits’ programs in obesity prevention; health literacy; mental health and substance abuse; tobacco prevention and cessation; and women’s health.
Eleven grants totaling more than $2.9 million were made through MFH’s Healthy & Active Communities (H&AC) funding program. H&AC supports programs that encourage healthy lifestyles by improving physical activity and providing access to nutritious foods. Grants were awarded to:
City of Cape Girardeau, $253,702. With grant funding, the southeast Missouri city is increasing its bikability and promoting a Complete Streets policy making roadways safer for all users.
City of Elsberry, $126,795. The St. Louis metro area community is using funding to increase physical activity by developing a city park and adding walking and biking trails and programs.
City of Ferguson, $294,950. With grant funding, the St. Louis-area community is promoting healthy and active living by creating a more walkable and bikable environment through revised land use policies.
City of Kirksville, $295,727. Grant funding helps the northeast Missouri city improve its walkability and bikability in the main business district; educate drivers about safely sharing the road; and promote a Complete Streets policy.
City of Ozark, $192,425. The Springfield-area community is using grant funding to improve a pedestrian pathway system and bike trails, offer healthy lifestyle education, and provide recreational programming.
Freeman Health System, Joplin, $300,000. The southwest Missouri organization is using grant funding to increase the availability of nutritious foods for patients and families through a farm-to-institution program and hospital policy changes.
Phelps County Community Partnership, Rolla, $300,000. With grant funding, the central Missouri organization aims to reduce obesity by promoting physical activity programs, healthy food choices and policy changes for workplaces and child care facilities.
Polk County Health Center, Bolivar, $299,973. Grant funding helps the center support environmental and policy changes to encourage physical activity and healthy eating in workplaces.
Springfield Urban Agriculture Coalition, $300,000. With grant funding, the organization is increasing accessibility of locally produced food in area neighborhoods and schools, and providing education about urban gardening.
Washington County Health Department, Potosi, $296,313. The southeast Missouri organization is using funding to create safe community walking routes, biking facilities and an activity park.
YMCA of Callaway County, Fulton, $300,000. Funding helps the central Missouri organization increase physical activity through fitness facilities, walking trails, bikable areas, safety courses, exercise clubs and workplace wellness policies.
Nine grants totaling $88,346 come through MFH’s Mental Health & Substance Abuse (MHSA) program. It currently supports nonprofits’ quality improvement activities to integrate mental health and substance abuse treatment services inside their organizations. Grant recipients are:
Bridgeway Behavioral Health Inc., St. Charles, $9,505. Funds help the St. Louis area organization assess its programs’ ability to address co-occurring disorders (mental illness and substance abuse).
Burrell Behavioral Health, Springfield, $10,000. With funding, the organization is expanding its co-occurring disorders treatment and training capabilities.
Community Alternatives Inc., St. Louis, $8,966. With the help of funding, the organization is enhancing its documentation and follow-up activities for co-occurring disorders clients.
Family Counseling Center of Missouri Inc., Columbia, $10,000. Funding helps the central Missouri organization enhance its co-occurring disorder treatment capacity, train staff and produce educational materials for clients and families.
Mark Twain Behavioral Health, Kirksville, $10,000. Funding assists the northeast Missouri organization in training staff and enhancing treatment planning for clients with co-occurring disorders.
Ozarks Medical Center, West Plains, $10,000. With funding, the southern Missouri organization is implementing performance improvement activities for its co-occurring disorders treatment program.
Places for People Inc., St. Louis, $9,900. The organization is using grant funding to enhance screening, tracking and data collection among co-occurring disorders clients.
Preferred Family Healthcare Inc., Kirksville, $10,000. With funding, the northeast Missouri organization is enhancing client assessment and staff training activities.
Southeast Missouri Behavioral Health, Park Hills, $9,975. The organization is using grant funds to incorporate additional quality assurance measures into its treatment planning for co-occurring disorders clients.
MFH’s Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Initiative (TPCI) is a multi-year effort to reduce tobacco use in the state through a variety of funding strategies. MFH awarded a total of $894,339 through seven TPCI grants to:
Hannibal Regional Hospital, Hannibal, $115,252. Funding helps the northeast Missouri hospital provide education and programs to help tobacco users quit.
Jefferson County Health Department Branch Office, Arnold, $115,013. Funds help the St. Louis-area health department expand smoking cessation classes into unserved areas.
March of Dimes Missouri Chapter, St. Louis, $150,000. With the help of funding, the organization is promoting use of the Missouri Quit Line among pregnant women.
SEMO Health Network, New Madrid, $150,000. The southeast Missouri organization is using funding for tobacco education programs and a media campaign to promote tobacco cessation.
Truman State University, Kirksville, $145,411. The northeast Missouri university plans to use grant funding to reduce faculty, staff and student tobacco use through cessation programs, policy change and education.
University of Missouri, Columbia, $142,127. Grant funding helps the university create a comprehensive tobacco control initiative to prevent and reduce tobacco use among students.
YMCA of Greater St. Louis, $76,536. With grant funding, the organization is providing affordable tobacco cessation services for adults.
MFH’s Women’s Health funding program currently supports efforts to reduce violence against women. MFH awarded a grant to:
Missouri Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, Jefferson City, $105,558. With funding, the statewide coalition is using social marketing to promote attitudes and behaviors among teenage boys to help prevent violence against women.
Five grants totaling $908,561 come through MFH’s Health Literacy funding program, which supports programs to enhance Missourians’ understanding of health information and improve communication between consumers and care providers. Grants were awarded to:
Freeman Health System, Joplin, $164,568. Funding helps the southwest Missouri health system introduce health literacy education into rural public schools, higher learning institutions and programs for seniors.
Missouri Bootheel Regional Consortium, Sikeston, $197,005. The southeast Missouri organization is using funding to include men’s health literacy education in its Fatherhood First program.
Missouri State University, Springfield, $163,595. Funding helps the university provide health literacy education for senior citizens, senior center directors and community educators.
Parents as Teachers National Center, St. Louis, $183,398. With funding, the organization is integrating health literacy education into its home-based parent education program.
Saint Louis University, St. Louis, $199,995. With funding, the university is working to increase cultural competency of the health services community; create a group of community educators to teach about health promotion; and expand its patient navigator program to help people understand the health care system.
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 $390 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.