HEALTH FOUNDATION AWARDS $1.7 MILLION IN GRANTS
Organizations in Cities Ranging from New Britain to New London Funded

NEW BRITAIN -- The Board of Directors of the Connecticut Health Foundation (CT Health) approved $1.7 million in grant awards during a recent quarterly board meeting.  Grants were awarded in the Foundation's priority areas of children's mental health, children's oral health, racial and ethnic health disparities, and other areas responding to CT Health's mission to improve the health status of all Connecticut residents:

Children's Mental Health

• Bridgeport Hospital Foundation, Child FIRST (Bridgeport) received a two-year $212,938 capacity-building grant to expand and sustain the evidence-based early identification and screening program for infants and young children with social and emotional problems.
• Connecticut Commission on Children (Statewide) received a two-year $150,000 grant to increase public will about the value of "prevention" in an effort to facilitate policies and support for broad-based prevention initiatives for children and youth through an intensive public awareness campaign.

Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities

• Institute of Medicine (Washington, D.C.) received a two-year $100,000 grant as part of a national funding partnership to create a national roundtable on racial and ethnic health disparities.  The round table is designed to stimulate action, further the development of programs and strategies, and foster emerging leadership.
• Northwestern Connecticut Area Health Education Center (Middlebury) received a three-year $62,000 grant to evaluate its Youth Health Service Corps program intended to expose historically under-represented high school students to opportunities in the health professions through service-learning.
• Proyecto El Parto, Inc. (New London) received an 18-month $75,000 grant to provide bilingual labor, delivery, and lactation education and support to Spanish speaking expectant and new mothers. 

Children's Oral Health

• Connecticut Primary Care Association (Statewide) received a two-year $291,755 grant to conduct the Community Health Center Dental Practice Assessment Project to increase access and improve financial stability.
• University of Connecticut School of Dental Medicine (Farmington) received an 18-month $210,490 grant to conduct a study of a prenatal nutritional intervention as a model to help prevent early childhood caries, an infectious gum disease that is transferred from mother to child. 

 Other Health-Related Grants

• 1000 Friends of Connecticut (Statewide), an organization dedicated to growing a healthy economy, received a $10,000 grant to improve public health through the "Smart Growth Education and Communications Campaign," which will focus on local, regional and state transportation and land use policy.
• Asian Family Services (Hartford) received a $10,000 general operating grant to merge their services with Community Renewal Team, an anti-poverty multiservice agency that serves families and people throughout the Connecticut River Valley.
• City of Bridgeport, Department of Health & Social Services (Bridgeport) was awarded $10,000 to develop an evaluation plan for the Mayor's Diabetes Awareness Initiative.
• Community Foundation of Greater New Britain (New Britain) received a one-year $42,000 grant to act as fiscal agent for the Connecticut Health Foundation's 2007 Leadership Fellows Program.
• Connecticut Citizens Research Group, served as fiscal agent for Health Care for All Coalition (West Hartford), received a $17,000 grant to enhance its communications capacity to promote universal healthcare coverage in Connecticut.
• Connecticut Council on Philanthropy (Statewide) received a $20,000 to act as fiscal agent for the Connecticut Health Foundation's support of the Hartford Health Disparities Collaborative, a Mayor's "Healthy Communities Initiative."
• Families United for Children's Mental Health (Statewide) received a $12,500 grant to act as fiscal agent for Danolas Productions to produce a documentary film, Darkest Hours, which provides an in-depth look at the crisis in children's mental health care.
• Grantmakers in Health (Washington, D.C.) received a $5,000 grant to provide partnership support for this nationwide grantmaking association.
• Hartford Food System (Hartford) received a $10,000 grant to support its "Healthy Food Retailer" project, an initiative developed to work with 25 Hartford neighborhood grocery stores to shift shelf space allocated to snacks and soft drinks to healthier items in an effort to improve diet-related health outcomes.
• National Medical Association-Connecticut Affiliate (Washington, D.C.) received a $7,000 capacity-building grant to support physicians of color, and their efforts to maintain and increase the diversity of health care providers in Connecticut.
• New Haven Public Schools (New Haven) received a 26-month $400,000 award to expand and integrate physical activity into academic settings in 18 schools.  Health teams, based on CDC's "Healthy School Model," will be developed at the school level to monitor the intervention and improve health through programs, policies and practices.
• True Colors (Bloomfield) received a two-year $60,000 general operations grant to provide support and advocacy for gay youth in Connecticut.

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 318 grants in 41 cities and towns totaling over $25 million primarily in three priority areas – children's mental health, reducing racial and ethnic health disparities, and oral health.

For additional information about these grants, please contact Maryland Grier, Public Affairs Officer, at 860.224.2200, ext. 32 or at maryland@cthealth.org.