July 10, 2007
Contact: Bev Pfeifer-Harms
Director of Communications
314.345.5500 office

Foundation Awards $5 Million to 22 Organizations

Grants Fund Tobacco Cessation, Mental Health & Diabetes Efforts

St. Louis - Twenty-two Missouri organizations have received a share of $5,015,536 in grants from Missouri Foundation for Health (MFH) to provide improved health care opportunities to residents of the region.
The funding comes through three MFH programs: Tobacco Prevention & Cessation Initiative (TPCI), a multi-phased approach to reducing tobacco use; Co-Occurring Disorders priority area grant, which funds integrated services for individuals dealing with mental health and substance abuse issues; and Better Self-Management of Diabetes (BSMOD) priority area grant, which focuses on helping uninsured/underinsured individuals manage their diabetes.

Those organizations receiving Tobacco Prevention & Cessation Initiative grants are:
Center for Tobacco Policy Research - Saint Louis University, St. Louis, $497,987. The center will evaluate the effectiveness of the initiative and grants, and provide technical assistance to all TPCI grantees. MFH adopted the nine-year, $40 million initiative in 2004, which currently has 39 grantees.
Douglas County Health Department, Ava, $161,388. This grant funds delivery of the Teens Against Tobacco use (TATU) program in eight school districts in Douglas and Ozark counties.
Living Word Apostolic Church, St. Louis, $127,404. Funding enables the church to implement the TATU program in two middle schools, reaching 800 students with an anti-tobacco message and advocating for smoke-free environments.
Marquand-Zion R-6 School District, Marquand, $12,502. Funding enables 40 teens in the southeast Missouri district to be trained through the TATU program as tobacco use prevention teachers of programs presented to elementary school students.
National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse - St. Louis Area, St. Louis, $229,247. Funding allows the organization to train teens in 12 area high schools to become tobacco use prevention teachers to elementary school students through the TATU program.
Putnam County R-1 Schools, Unionville, $19,142. This grant implements the Smokebusters program in north central Missouri, which provides education about the dangers of tobacco to students, parents and community members.
Ozark Center, Joplin, $145,231. Funding enables the organization to implement the TATU program in schools in Jasper and Newton counties, reaching 3,500 students.
Union R-XI School District, Union, $91,971. This grant funds the training of teen mentors using the TATU program who then educate 500 elementary school students in Franklin County about the dangers of tobacco.

Those organizations receiving funding through MFH's Co-Occurring Disorders priority area grant are:
Bridgeway Counseling Services, Inc., St. Charles, $207,358. This grant funds greater access to services for area women with co-occurring disorders.
Burrell Behavioral Health, Springfield, $300,000. Funding expands and enhances an existing integrated dual disorders treatment program for patients in central Missouri.
Community Alternatives, Incorporated, St. Louis, $289,283. Funding increases services to low-income, underserved persons with mental health and substance abuse disorders.
Community Health Plus, St. Louis, $299,654. This grant expands the organization's capacity to provide treatment for people with co-occurring disorders.
Community Treatment Incorporated, Festus, $287,622. Funding allows the organization to develop collaborative integrated services to individuals with co-occurring disorders and living in this community just south of St. Louis.
Crider Center for Mental Health, Wentzville, $300,000. This grant enables the organization to continue providing the "Access to Integrated Treatment" program to individuals in Warren County, as well as area drug court participants.
Family Counseling Center, Inc., Kennett, $300,000. Funding expands the organization's current treatment services program to its new location in West Plains, in south central Missouri.
Family Counseling Center of Missouri, Inc., Columbia, $282,653. Funding enhances the quality of treatment for people with co-occurring disorders who receive services at the Center's Camden County site.
Mark Twain Area Counseling Center, Kirksville, $283,014. This grant allows the northeast Missouri organization to improve access to integrated treatment for adults with mental illness and substance abuse addictions.
Ozarks Medical Center, West Plains, $300,000. Funding establishes a more coordinated system of care and enhances accessibility of services for adults with co-occurring disorders who live in south central Missouri.
Places for People, Inc., St. Louis, $300,000. This grant helps the organization improve its current treatment program, and move toward accreditation as a Co-Occurring Treatment Enhanced Agency.
Preferred Family Healthcare, Inc., Kirksville, $281,080. Funding enables the organization to create a consumer-friendly, integrated treatment program at its Hannibal site in northeast Missouri.
Southeast Missouri Community Treatment Center, Park Hills, $300,000. This grant enables the organization to develop and implement integrated treatment services to persons in east central Missouri dealing with mental illness and substance abuse problems.

As part of its Better Self-Management of Diabetes priority area grant (PAG), MFH approved a $182,248 grant to Washington University School of Medicine to evaluate the effectiveness of the PAG and the grantees' programs. MFH awarded eight grants in 2006 through this PAG.

Established in 2000, MFH is the largest non-governmental funder of community health activities in Missouri. MFH is in its sixth year of grantmaking, having issued more than $230 million in grants and awards to date. It is dedicated to serving the uninsured, underinsured and underserved in 84 Missouri counties and the City of St. Louis.

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