HEALTH FOUNDATION AWARDS NEARLY $400,000 IN GRANTS

State and Local Institutions Target Children, Youth and Elderly Health Issues

NEW BRITAIN -- June 23, 2006 -- The Board of Directors of the Connecticut Health Foundation (CT Health) approved nearly $400,000 in grant awards during its quarterly board meeting earlier this week.Grants were awarded in the Foundation’s priority areas of children’s mental health, children’s oral health, racial and ethnic health disparities, and to other organizations responding to CT Health’s mission to improve the health status of all Connecticut residents:

Oral Health

• Connecticut Department of Public Health (Statewide) received a one-year $60,000 grant to conduct a data collection project on the oral health status of 9,100 pre-and elementary school children, which will be used to inform programmatic interventions and policy development to better serve the oral health needs of the children.
• Generations Family Health Center (Willimantic) received a one-year $50,000 grant to expand its continuum of care to include pediatric dentistry in Windham County, which currently offers no specialty pediatric oral health services.
• University of Connecticut Health Center (Farmington) received a $67,366 grant over 18 months to train general dentists located in six community health centers across the state to increase their effectiveness in providing pediatric dental care to children.

Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities

• Connecticut Association of Directors of Health (Hartford) was awarded a one-year grant of $116,600 to pre-test a “Social Determinants of Health Equity Index” instrument, which will illuminate the conditions that perpetuate health inequities at the local level, and inform the planning and advocacy efforts of a community’s health needs.

Other Health-Related Grants

• Center for Conflict Transformation, Inc. (Hartford) was awarded $15,000 to establish a Racial Justice Leadership Initiative in Hartford.
  
• Center for Medicare Advocacy (Willimantic) received a $25,000 grant to lead a statewide advocacy coalition of senior citizens and people with disabilities who are concerned about the new federal prescription drug program, Medicare Part D.
  
• Connecticut Center for a New Economy (Hartford) received a $10,000 grant to translate a 30-minute documentary about the effects of financial barriers to health care into Spanish, and develop and expand its educational outreach program.
  
• Danbury Youth Services, Inc. (Danbury), received a $5,000 award to support the Teaching and Reaching Excellence Together Program (TARGET), an after school substance abuse prevention program for youth ages 6 to 13.
  
• La Casa De Puerto Rico, Inc. (Hartford), a community-based organization whose mission is to further the social, economic, and political well-being of the Puerto Rican community, received $10,000 to support operating expenses.
  
• One World Progressive Institute, Inc. (Hamden), a community-based education and youth development organization, received a $10,000 grant to support general operations.
  
• Phillips Metropolitan Christian Methodist Episcopalian Church (Hartford) received a $10,000 technical assistance grant to develop a strategic plan and program to pilot a “church without walls,” as part of its Faith & Family Initiative.
  
• Council on Foundations (Washington, D.C.) received $15,590 to support its nationwide grantmaking association activities.
  
• Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (Washington, D.C.) received $2,500 to support its nationwide grantmaking association activities.

The Connecticut Health Foundation (CT Health) is the state's largest independent, non-profit grantmaking foundation dedicated to improving the health of the people of Connecticut through systemic change, program innovation and health policy analysis. Since it was established in July of 1999, CT Health has awarded 299 plus grants in 40 cities and towns totaling more than $23 million in three priority areas – children's mental health, racial and ethnic health disparities, and oral health.

To schedule an interview with the co-authors, please contact Maryland Grier, Public Affairs Officer, at 860-224-2200, ext. 32, or maryland@cthealth.org.