The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) allocated $5.62 million dollars for matching grants through the Local Funding Partnerships program in 2008. The following are 11 awards made for July 1, 2008 - only seven percent out of 138 strong applications received. Congratulations to these innovative community agencies, their coalition partners and their funding partners.

California, San Francisco
$499,993 to The University Corporation, San Francisco State
Funding Partners include: The Tides Foundation/Out-of-Home Youth Fund, The Anonymous Fund of the Jewish Community Endowment Fund, Johnson Family Foundation, Lewy Gay Values Fund at Horizons Foundation, Morris Family Foundation, Mount Zion Health Fund, Ray & Dagmar Dolby Family Fund

According to compelling new research, when a young person self-identifiesas lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) the acceptance of parents or caregivers is critical to the child’s wellbeing. LGBT adolescents who are rejected by their families are at higher risk for serious mental health concerns including depression, suicide, and substance abuse.

They are also at higher risk for victimization at home, school and in community settings. In partnership with San Francisco General Hospital, project leaders will develop new culturally appropriate family education materials and interventions to increase family support for LGBT youth, especially among ethnically diverse families. Learn more about the Family Acceptance Project.

Colorado, Denver
$478,504 to Mental Health America of Colorado
Funding Partners include: The Colorado Health Foundation

In this highly collaborative initiative, individuals experiencing a mental health crisis anywhere in the seven counties of metropolitan Denver will receive urgent psychiatric care and follow-up services. A shared call center and information system will help coordinate existing community-based behavioral health services and three crisis centers will replace the current inappropriate use of jails and emergency rooms.

Leaders from hospitals, consumer groups, criminal justice, behavioral health care providers, government, business, insurance companies, philanthropy and other groups worked together for two years to plan this ambitious new system. Learn more about the Metro Denver Crisis Triage Project.

Colorado, Steamboat Springs
$500,000 to Northwest Colorado Visiting Nurse Association
Funding Partners include: Daniels Fund, The Colorado Trust

Wellness programs focusing on exercise, nutrition, chronic disease management and social support can help seniors remain safe and independent in their own homes. But seniors in rural Colorado’s sparsely populated ranching and mining communities cannot easily attend such activities.

Visiting nurses, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, the State Unit on Aging and the Consortium for Older Adult Wellness are partnering with health providers and community colleges to help isolated seniors stay healthy while remaining in their familiar frontier environment. If successful, this project will serve a rural naturally occurring retirement region. Learn more about the Aging Well project.

Connecticut, Fairfield
$488,000 to The Jewish Home for the Elderly, Inc.
Funding Partners include: Fairfield County Community Foundation, Commerce Bank, The Daphine Seybolt Culpepper Memorial Foundation, Inc., The George A. and Gracie L. Long Foundation, The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, Inc., The Inner-City Foundation for Charity & Education, Merrill and Lillian Farber Philanthropic Fund, Near & Far Aid Association, Southwestern Connecticut Agency on Aging

To reduce elder abuse in Greater Bridgeport, CT, a nursing home arranges for emergency shelter for frail seniors who need care that a traditional domestic violence shelter cannot provide. In collaboration with several community agencies, the long-term care facility will offer comprehensive medical, psychological and social assessment.

Also offered are legal services, court advocacy, case management and help with arranging safe alternatives to abusive living situations. Project staff will reach out to educate police, physicians, senior centers, hospitals and other key groups to recognize and report more cases of elder abuse. Learn more about The Center for Elder Abuse Prevention.

District of Columbia
$499,539 to Unity Health Care, Inc.
Funding Partners include: The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, Consumer Health Foundation, Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation, The William S. Abell Foundation

Upon their release from federal prisons or local jails, ex-offenders who return to Washington, D.C. will receive initial primary care at a new drop-in center that also offers programs such as substance abuse treatment, mental health counseling, employment, and housing assistance.

Case managers will help individuals take advantage of the on-site health and social services to promote successful reintegration with family and community. The coalition includes the organization that already provides medical services in the D.C. jails and the D.C. Department of Health, the U.S. Dept. of Justice’s Court Services, and the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Learn more about the Community Correctional Healthcare Model: Reentry Center.

Florida, Fort Lauderdale
$433,455 to North Broward Hospital District d/b/a Broward Health
Funding Partners include: Health Foundation of South Florida, First Hand Foundation

Kinship care is the fastest growing form of home placement for children whose parents cannot care for them due to illness, incarceration or family social factors. Informal custodial arrangements between family members keep children connected to their kin and community, but they often do so without the financial, legal and health benefits available within the foster care system.

This partnership between a community social service agency, legal aid and a county health system employs nurses as health navigators to assure that the health care needs of both children and their adult caregivers are addressed. Learn more about Kinship Cares.

Kansas, Wichita
$396,500 to Breakthrough Club of Sedgwick County
Funding Partners include: United Methodist Health Ministry Fund, Cargill Cares, Wichita Community Foundation

The side effects of severe mental illness and psychotropic medications often include weight gain, poor eating habits and other factors that foster poor health. Now low-income adults and teens with severe mental illness can receive customized exercise and nutrition instruction at a gym next door to the community mental health center or at a new exercise room at a popular social and vocational center for persons with mental illness.

Mental health staff and consumers will be trained and certified as wellness coaches. Fitness instructors and health club staff will learn about the special health needs of people with mental illness. Learn more about Health Education and Leadership (HEAL).

Maryland, Baltimore
$499,673 to Historic East Baltimore Community Action Coalition, Inc.
Funding Partners include: Jacob and Hilda Blaustein Foundation, The Abell Foundation, The Annie E. Casey Foundation, Leonard & Helen R. Stulman Charitable Foundation

Disconnected youth—16–22 year-olds who are not in school and unemployed—will receive comprehensive mental health services in a non-traditional setting: a job readiness program in urban East Baltimore. The YO (Youth Opportunity) Center will train staff to overcome pervasive stigma about mental illness, to identify signs of mental health concerns and to refer members to receive treatment on site.

All newly enrolled youth will participate in mental health screening and receive care from a social worker or psychiatrist within the Center’s family atmosphere. Peer leaders will help combat stigma and increase dialogue on mental health issues. Learn more about the Healthy Minds at Work project.

Missouri, Kansas City
$498,554 to V.N.A. Corporation dba Visiting Nurse Association
Funding Partners include: The REACH Healthcare Foundation, Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City

Kansas City firefighters and emergency medical technicians report that thousands of 911 calls per year are for non-urgent situations. Emergency responders arrive to find someone who wants help up from a fall or a ride to the hospital, but who really needs many health and social services. In this new partnership, firefighters can make a direct referral from the home to the Visiting Nurse Association to schedule a health assessment and case management. The coalition serves a metro area across two states spanning urban, suburban, and rural areas with people of diverse incomes, races and languages. Learn more about the Citizen Assist Program (CAP).

Oregon, Salem
$500,000 to Catholic Community Services of the Mid Willamette Valley and Central Coast
Funding Partners include: Meyer Memorial Trust, Catholic Charities, Catholic Community Services Foundation, The Tokarski Family, United Way

Using a new home-based model of care, several agencies will coordinateservices for foster children with serious emotional and behavioral challenges. A key component enables foster children to remain in their own rural communities by placing them in houses owned by a family service agency. Even if the foster parents are replaced, the children maintain residence in their “forever home.”

Staying connected to their neighborhoods, teachers, local relatives and professional support improves a child’s chances for success in school and in life. The program provides ongoing services to foster parents and children and to fragile families whose children are still at home. Learn more about the Family Lifelines.

South Dakota, Rapid City
$330,284 to Catholic Social Services
Funding Partners include: Bush Foundation, Catholic Social Services Board of Directors

With an innovative, culturally-specific prevention curriculum and community activities, South Dakota children in grades 2-5 on the Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservations will learn how to live a healthy lifestyle based on their Lakota tradition and values. Lakota educators and elders adapted best-practice models to address the needs of students in reservation schools. The students will learn how their traditional Lakota values such as respect, generosity, fortitude, wisdom and bravery can help them make healthy decisions, resist peer pressure, abstain from substance abuse and avoid violence. Project staff will also work with other community providers, parents and leaders to offer youth and family events to reinforce the classroom-based curriculum. Learn more about the Lakota Circles of Hope project.

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