As they approach the end of their grant periods, these Local Initiative Funding Partners projects offer a snapshot of their accomplishments and future plans. Read their one-page reports and their dramatic stories.

Baltimore Substance Abuse Systems, Inc. in Baltimore, MD
Threshold to Recovery
Threshold to Recovery is a network of three community centers that help Baltimore City residents with current or past drug addiction stay in recovery and rebuild their lives. Our centers offer welcoming environments and holistic services during the day, night and weekends, and provide a peer-led alternative to the culture of drug use and violence. (Graduate Report)

"Beany began using alcohol and marijuana at age 13 and …soon became a 'chemist,' learning how to cut the heroin with quinine and other additives to make the drug go further and to make more money."(Graduate Story)

Brookline Community Mental Health Center, Inc. in Brookline, MA
Brookline Resilient Youth Team (BRYT)
Based in a large urban high school this program serves adolescents and their families during critical periods of re-entry into school after psychiatric or medical hospitalization, incidents of substance abuse or incarceration. Providing case management, outreach, support, and a specialized "home-base" classroom, the program works to prevent relapse and school failure. In this model of cost-effective program delivery, mental health coordinators counsel the teens in school and help their families negotiate the network of available community services. (Graduate Report)

"It took several moments for Suzanne Donnellan, a school psychologist at Brookline High School, to recognize the poised, excited young woman who ran up to her in the hallway." (Graduate Story)

Christ Community Health Services, Inc. in Memphis, TN
Memphis Healthy Churches
Memphis Healthy Churches focuses on the five most deadly and preventable diseases affecting the African American community: cancer, cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes and HIV/AIDS. Currently the program provides education and case management in 81 African American churches in the greater Memphis area including East Arkansas and Northern Mississippi.  Trained health representatives work actively with their pastors to promote lifestyle changes and healthy behaviors in their congregations. (Graduate Report)

"The only thing thing we would have to cut out is the fried chicken,” stated Sister Faith. “I can deal with the salads and fruit, but I don’t know if I can give up my fried chicken,” remarked Pastor John." (Graduate Story)

Das Deutsch Center for Special Needs Children in Middlefield, OH
Love, Faith and Family - Amish Genetic Disease Education and Care
The mission of this project is to enhance the quality of life for special needs children with metabolic and inherited disorders through early diagnosis and treatment, research, and education. The DDC clinic is a unique community-based initiative that evolved from the desire of local Amish families to find answers for their children with genetic disorders.  The clinic provides genetic disease education and care in the local Amish community. (Graduate Report)

"John, Ada, Sam, Mary, and David --- all typical adorable babies born to different parents at different times, but sharing common symptoms from the same rare and life-threatening disease. These children were all treated at a nationally prominent hospital, to no avail. Their disease is so rare that many gastroenterologists have never seen an actual case." (Graduate Story)

Franciscan Hospital for Children, Inc. in Brighton, MA
Children's Wellness Initiative
Half of all cases of mental illness start before age 14 and for most people it takes 10 years before they start to receive treatment.  The Children’s Wellness Initiative tackles this problem by providing mental health care where children are: at school.  In this program every child who needs help receives it. It provide mental health care to 20% of the children in five Boston Public Schools without waiting lists. (Graduate Report)

"As I entered the office, a tearful young brown-haired boy sat looking down at his feet, next to the school nurse and principal. The principal had sweat on his brow. The nurse takes me aside and tells me, 'Carlos wants to kill himself.'" (Graduate Story)

La Fondita de Jesus, Inc. in San Juan, PR
San Juan Health Partnership for the Homeless
San Juan Health Partnership for the Homeless is an alliance between nonprofit, public and private foundations and corporations in Puerto Rico who seek to guarantee timely access to quality, adequate, and comprehensive healthcare to at least 500 persons experiencing homelessness in the city of San Juan. (Graduate Report)

MicheLee Puppets, Inc. in Orlando, FL
EXTREME Health Challenge
MicheLee Puppets created EXTREME Health Challenge in response to the epidemic rise in childhood obesity and related health problems.  This live theatrical production features wacky puppet characters who, along with students, learn the answers to questions regarding nutrition and physical activity. Through the use of puppetry, students are empowered to Take The Challenge to lead a healthy life. (Graduate Report)

"As the fourth and fifth grade students filed into the school cafeteria that morning, excited whispers created a buzz throughout the room.  The place was transformed into a television sound stage complete with bright lights and a flashy set, just like their parents’ favorite TV game shows." (Graduate Story)

Minnesota State University, Mankato in Mankato, MN
Minnesota Community Health Worker Project
Minnesota’s Community Health Worker (CHW) Project is a statewide initiative whose mission is to reduce cultural and linguistic barriers to health care, improve quality and cost effectiveness of care, and increase the number of healthcare workers from diverse backgrounds or underserved communities.  Community Health Workers come from the communities they serve, working at the grassroots level building trust and vital relationships which make them effective culture brokers between their own communities and systems of care. (Graduate Report)

Monadnock Family Services in Keene, NH
In SHAPE
In SHAPE is a wellness program for individuals with  mental illness. The goal of the project is to improve physical health and quality of life, reduce the risk of preventable diseases, and enhance the life expectancy of individuals with severe mental illnesses. (Graduate Report)

"A large man came through the office door, 6’1”, red faced, round bellied, eyes on the floor ahead of him. I took out my folder of forms and invited Bob to sit down. While I wrote his date of birth and address, the shy eyes lifted, and the quivering voice said, 'My doctor told me I’m going to die if I don’t get my blood sugar under control.'” (Graduate Story)

National Nursing Centers Consortium, Inc. in Philadelphia, PA
Students Run Philly Style
Students Run Philly Style is the only program in Philadelphia that offers marathon training to help young people succeed in life.  We do this by connecting students with adult mentors who help them imagine and accomplish goals beyond their dreams, including the completion of a marathon. (Graduate Report)

First Story:
"Khalil talked about his runs with his new buddies ... putting his miles in on the trails in Fairmount Park week after week. 'I would never imagine getting up early Saturday mornings, when I used to be on the corners every Fridaynight.'" (Graduate Story)

Second Story:
"The kid who really didn’t want to come to the Leadership Summit was 15-year-old James. As James stumbled off the bus, you could see the fear in his deep blue eyes, like a boy lost at sea." (Graduate Story)

Penobscot Community Health Center in Bangor, ME
PCHC's Community Clinic Project
To meet the mental health and substance abuse treatment needs of people at risk of losing their housing and of those already without homes, Penobscot Community Health Care assembled a new team of psychiatric and medical professionals to bring these services initially
to three shelters and a soup kitchen. (Graduate Report)

"Phil spent most of his days looking for a 'magic switch,' as he called it. He believed that if he found this switch and turned it on, the world would be rid of its problems." (Graduate Story)

Triangle Family Services, Inc. in Raleigh, NC
Hope for Children: Overcoming the Devastating Effects of Witnessing Family Violence
Hope for Children exists to heal the pain and stop the cycle of domestic violence in the lives of our children. It is a joint project of three of Wake County’s oldest and most respected non-profit agencies: Triangle Family Services, Interact, and SAFEchild. Hope for Children takes a two-pronged approach:  providing the best treatment available to heal the children hurt by domestic violence and developing a county-wide system that works effectively, cooperatively, and efficiently to make this service available. (Graduate Report)

University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, AR
Building Community Bridges: A Continuing Care Program in Pulaski County Arkansas
Building Bridges helps families affected by maternal addiction break the cycles of welfare dependence, substance dependence, and family abuse through innovative, integrated services and community supports to improve their health and self-sufficiency. (Graduate Report)

"... she began using alcohol and marijuana at age 11. 'I then start using other drugs and by 13 I was making money from older men - doing things no 13 year old should even know about.'"(Graduate Story)

Vera Institute of Justice, Inc. in New York, NY
The Guardianship Project
Each year, New York City’s guardianship system serves thousands of city residents who are elderly, developmentally disabled, mentally ill, or are otherwise unable to care for themselves. The Guardianship Project employs a range of professionals—from social workers to accountants and attorneys—who work as a team. Their mission is to provide as much self-determination and independence to their clients as possible, and avoid unnecessary and costly nursing home admissions, hospital stays and institutionalizations. (Graduate Report)

"Jean is a 78-year-old woman who has lived in Brooklyn her entire life and in her current apartment since she was 10 years old. She’s a fiercely independent woman who is known throughout her tight-knit Brooklyn neighborhood from the volunteer work she has done throughout her life. "(Graduate Story)

Youth ALIVE! in Oakland, CA
Caught in the Crossfire, Los Angeles
Caught in the Crossfire is a hospital peer intervention program that reduces re-injury, arrest and retaliatory violence.  It is the prescription violently injured youth need to stay safe and healthy. Without intervention, youth recovering from violence are discharged to the same violent environment—with pressure to get revenge and few positive alternatives to turn their lives around. (Graduate Report)

"One moment later, Sherman’s blood flowed onto the carpet of the apartment, as he lay, waiting to die, with a bullet in his spine. As his life passed before him, he promised himself that if he lived, he would not seek revenge, but would try to stop the circle of violence." (Graduate Story)

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