$4.7 Million Allocated to New Projects in 2009

Next round of grants to be announced in July 2010

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Local Funding Partnerships (LFP) joins the resources of a national foundation with local grantmakers and nonprofit organizations, so better health can take root in our communities. Together we support ambitious new community solutions that meet people where health starts—not just in hospitals or clinics, but where they live, learn, work and play.

Congratulations to these innovative community organizations and coalitions. We look forward to partnering with you and your local funders.

Peaceful Pathways - awards are announced thoughout the year.

Heal the Streets
Oakland, CA

• $200,000 to Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
• Funding Partners: The California Wellness Foundation

Heal the Streets creates a ten-month fellowship program to train young adults of color (ages 15-18) to develop and promote smart policy solutions that decrease violence and increase opportunities in Oakland, CA. They use a network of community leaders as mentors and a curriculum that supports personal development of leadership qualities and teaches research, reporting and advocacy skills.

These young people will learn to lead outcomes-based advocacy projects that will inform local and statewide violence prevention strategies. Through this project, tomorrow's leaders will learn how to collaborate with ally organizations to create real change in their neighborhoods. Learn More >

Temporary LockDown
Chicago, IL

• $200,000 to Storycatchers Theatre
• Funding Partners: Woods Fund of Chicago,The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation

Building on the success of the Storycatchers Theatre program for incarcerated girls, the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice requested a new gender-specific program to serve boys at the Illinois Youth Center in Chicago. This juvenile prison is the last stop before the boys return home and a critical juncture in preparing to make positive life choices.

Through creating original musical theatre productions, Temporary LockDown helps incarcerated adolescents understand and reduce violent behaviors. The theatre project increases self-esteem; develops communications, conflict resolution and leadership skills; and serves as a gateway to therapy. Learn More >

Coalition for Gender Equity in Schools
Brooklyn, NY

• $200,000 to Girls for Gender Equity Inc. (GGE)
• Funding Partners: New York Women's Foundation, Brooklyn Community Foundation

The Coalition for Gender Equity in Schools is a partnership of youth, parents, school staff and community-based organizations working to end gender-based violence and sexual harassment in New York City public schools. Project objectives include developing youth leadership and empowering young women and men to recognize sexual assault and advocate for themselves in reporting harassment. In addition to increasing uniform enforcement of existing sexual harassment policies, project leaders will advocate for more comprehensive policies-working together with Title IX to eliminate sexual harassment in school environments. Learn More >

LFP Annual Grantmaking - awards announced in July 2009.

Children's Mental Health Initiative
Fargo, ND

• $395,000 to South Eastern North Dakota Community Action Agency (SENDCAA)
• Funding Partners: Dakota Medical Foundation

Serving Fargo, ND and neighboring rural counties in North Dakota and Minnesota, this children's mental health initiative provides screening, early intervention and prevention services, along with community education and resources. While waiting to see their pediatrician, parents of children ages 6 months to 5 years will be offered a new hand-held, user-friendly electronic device to answer the well-proven Ages and Stages Questionnaire-SE. Elevated scores on this diagnostic tool indicate possible socio-emotional difficulties or developmental concerns. These children will be referred for further evaluation, consultation and care.. Learn More >

Common Justice
New York, NY

• $495,000 to Vera Institute of Justice, Inc.
• Funding Partners: Blue Ridge Foundation New York, The Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Foundation, The Jacob and Valeria Langeloth Foundation

Common Justice introduces a new approach to violent crime: working closely with those harmed by crime to support their recovery, connecting under-served young men of color and other crime victims to health and social services, preventing further violence, and enhancing all parties’ experience of justice. The Brooklyn district attorney, judges and public defenders refer young adults into this program as an alternative to incarceration. The project engages 16–24-year-olds responsible for serious, violent crimes—together with those they have harmed—and convenes a facilitated dialogue to determine appropriate sanctions in place of a prison sentence. Learn More >

Comprehensive Healthcare Re-entry Program
Colorado Springs, CO

• $475,000 to SET Family Medical Clinics
  
• Funding Partners: Catholic Health Initiatives

This project represents a partnership of three faith-based health clinics that rely on volunteer staff, a substance abuse treatment provider and community-service organizations to help individuals newly released from prison to successfully reintegrate into the community. Together the partners will provide basic medical and mental health care and medications, employment readiness, life skills and counseling related to family and personal relations. A licensed case manager meets with incarcerated individuals prior to their release, then coordinates services including a corps of volunteer peer counselors.
Learn More >

The Family Place
Manchester, NH

• $500,000 to Families in Transition
  
• Funding Partners: Endowment for Health, Cogswell Benevolent Trust, The New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, Norwin S. and Elizabeth N. Bean Foundation

Services for homeless families usually separate treatment for mental health and substance abuse concerns and focus on adults rather than children. The Family Place provides intensive family-centered interventions with integrated treatment for mothers with co-occurring mental illness and substance abuse issues, therapeutic daycare and afterschool services for children, and training in parenting skills and child development. This new holistic approach includes training teachers, health care and social services providers in the same therapeutic model. Learn More >

The Family Success Partnership
Marlborough, MA

• $500,000 to Assabet Valley Collaborative
• Funding Partners: MetroWest Community Health Care Foundation, C.F. Adams Charitable Trust, Greater Worcester Community Foundation, Sudbury Foundation

In MetroWest Massachusetts the schools, state and social service agencies, policy experts and families are working together to care for children whose mental health needs are beyond the scope of the school but do not fit the criteria for state services. By overcoming fragmented systems of care, the partners have expanded their capacity to offer a range of support including individualized and family therapy and transportation to appointments. Preventive efforts promote success in school and deter delinquency, including a peer education program to help parents advocate for appropriate mental health services. Learn More >

Helping Families Raise Healthy Children
Pittsburgh, PA

• $500,000 to Community Care Behavioral Health Organization
• Funding Partners: Highmark Foundation, The Fine Foundation, FISA Foundation, The Jewish Healthcare Foundation of Pittsburgh, The Pittsburgh Foundation, UPMC Health Plan

Many families in Allegheny County, PA, are known to suffer from both parental depression and early child developmental delays, but local systems of care identify and treat these conditions separately. Now staff from 36 agencies will be cross-trained to identify "dual risk" families, including those where parental depression may be a reaction to their children's overwhelming special needs. Trusted providers including physical, occupational and speech therapists, pediatricians, nurses, and social workers as well as the staff of early education programs such as Head Start will offer consistent advice and support in a single family therapeutic care model. Learn More >

Immigrants Seeking Safety
Raleigh, NC

• $500,000 to The Family Violence Prevention Center, Inc. dba Interact
  
• Funding Partners: Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation, Triangle Community Foundation, United Way of the Greater Triangle, Inc., Z.Smith Reynolds Foundation, Inc.

A new influx of Latino and South Asian immigrants to North Carolina and a high incidence of intimate partner violence prompted nine organizations to collaborate in creating a comprehensive, culturally appropriate crisis intervention model. They will provide culturally specific intake, assessments, safety planning, crisis counseling, case management and educational opportunities for mothers and children. Several organizations are co-located in a new building with the area's key violence intervention and prevention agency including health services, legal aid, the police department domestic violence unit, child abuse prevention and KIRAN, a group serving the South Asian community. Learn More >

Pathways to Wellness: Integrating Refugee Health and Well-Being
Seattle, WA

• $434,218 to Luthern Community Services Northwest
• Funding Partners: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Medina Foundation, Office of Refugee and Immigrant Assistance

Seattle is the U.S. entry point for thousands of refugees who have suffered significant violence, deprivation and loss. Pathways to Wellness provides early identification of adult post traumatic stress disorders by adding a culturally appropriate mental health screening to the required physical examination at King County Health Department. Individuals may be referred to community health and resettlement services that have been underutilized because behavioral health concerns were not recognized until they were acute. Staff speaks 40 languages and reflects the communities served including immigrants from Burma, Bhutan, Somalia, Iraq and the former Soviet Union. Learn More >

Project HEALTH: Harnessing Education, Advocacy & Leadership for Transgender Health
San Francisco, CA

• $450,000 to Lyon-Martin Health Services
  
• Funding Partners: The California Endowment and Tides Foundation, Cisco Foundation

In partnership with the Transgender Law Center, a neighborhood clinic with well-established services for transgender people will grow a network of health professionals who provide culturally sensitive and medically competent care, empower community representatives to advocate for better health care and help ensure the implementation of new state policy that guarantees public and private coverage for transgender individuals. The project will establish a formal clinical rotation in transgender health for medical students and offer training for staff at selected clinics and for physician assistant and nursing students. Learn More >

Seniors on a Mission
Jacksonville, FL

• $150,000 to Barnabas International, Inc.
• Funding Partners: Salvation Army, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, Ida M. Stevens Foundation, Jesse Ball duPont Fund, Riverside Hospital Foundation

Seniors on a Mission engages live-alone senior citizens in meaningful, team-oriented volunteerism at local nonprofit organizations. The project reduces the social isolation that can lead to depression and medical problems in older persons by providing safe, convenient transportation to accessible, comfortable places to work; a nutritious meal; and coordination with the needs of area nonprofits. The seniors' pro bono services have been enthusiastically received for projects such as bar-coding new elementary textbooks, labeling thousands of fundraising letters, and repairing items donated to a clothing bank. Learn More >

Coming Home Connection
Santa Fe, NM

• $150,000 to Coming Home Connection, Inc.
  
• Funding Partner: Con Alma Health Foundation, Daniels Fund, McCune Charitable Foundation, Messengers of Healing Winds Foundation

Through the Coming Home Connection, low-income children and adults with severe chronic or terminal illness receive free, in-home, long-term care provided by trained volunteers. Up to 24 hours per day personal and bedside care provides respite for family members and fills gaps when no coverage is available from Medicaid, Medicare, insurance and hospice. Program expansion from Santa Fe to additional rural northern New Mexico counties includes outreach to veterans who may become volunteers or clients. Half of the volunteers in the pilot project were health professionals including nurses, nursing students, physical therapists, massage therapists and personal trainers. Learn More >