HARTFORD, CONN. – July 3, 2012 The Connecticut Health Foundation (CT Health) Board of Directors recently awarded $160,000 to three of the state’s leading media sources to report on health policy, advocacy and other health care issues. These organizations include: the Connecticut Public Broadcasting, Inc, The Connecticut Health I-Team Outreach Project, and The Connecticut News Project (The CTMirror).
“The Connecticut Health Foundation recognizes the gap in health news, and that philanthropy could play an important role in ensuring that the state’s residents get in-depth, credible news to make informed decisions about their health and those making policy decisions about health,” says Patricia Baker, president & CEO.
Connecticut Health I-Team (New Haven), which provides original, in-depth journalism on issues of health, safety, and medical coverage that focuses on systemic problems within the health care system, was awarded a one-year $10,000 grant. This grant specifically supports expansion of coverage on health disparities, creation of stories, podcasts and videos in Spanish and English to boost public engagement on health disparities, and bolster their educational training programs for aspiring journalists interested in coverage of health care.
Connecticut News Project, (Hartford) an online health reporting publication, received a one-year $100,000 grant to support a full-time health reporter in Connecticut and a part-time health reporter in Washington, D.C. for its online news source, CTMirror, regarding state policy, budgets and administration.
Connecticut Public Broadcasting, Inc. (Hartford) was awarded an 18-month $50,000 grant to support its WNPR’s Public Will Project to air in-depth feature stories that examine the issues of racial and ethnic health disparities from a variety of perspectives, including community, business, education, and health care, as well as hold four live Where We Live events.
OTHER GRANTS AWARDED
New Haven Legal Assistance Association was awarded a one-year $100,000 grant to support its Collaborative Legal Services health policy and advocacy work. The Collaborative focuses on preserving and improving public health care programs that provide health coverage for low-income residents, particularly Medicaid and HUSKY. Members of the collaborative include: Connecticut Legal Services, Greater Hartford Legal Aid and the Legal Assistance Resource Center of Connecticut.
Planned Parenthood of Southern New England (New Haven) was awarded a one-year $50,000 grant to support the hiring of clinic assistants to enroll clients in Medicaid at their most racially and ethnically diverse clinics. PPSNE is able to implement this program through leveraging the Connecticut Medicaid Family Planning Expansion.
True Colors, Inc (Hartford), the nonprofit organization in Connecticut dedicated to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth and families, was awarded a $5,000 grant to increase the number of culturally-competent providers. True Colors has partnered with the Connecticut Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics to produce two teleconferences for medical providers regarding the health care needs of LGBT youth.
About the Connecticut Health Foundation
The Connecticut Health Foundation (CT Health) is the state’s largest independent health philanthropy dedicated to improving lives by changing health systems. Since it was established in July 1999, the foundation has supported innovative grant-making, public health policy research, technical assistance and convening to achieve its mission – to improve the health of the people of Connecticut.
Over the past 12 years, CT Health has awarded grants totaling more than $47 million in 45 cities and towns throughout the state in three priority areas:
- Improving access to children’s mental health services
- Reducing racial and ethnic health disparities
- Expanding access to and use of children’s oral health services
For more information about the foundation, please visit www.cthealth.org or contact Senior Communications Officer Maryland Grier at Maryland@cthealth.org or 860.724.1580, ext. 21.
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