Austin-Bailey Health and Wellness Foundation (Cleveland, OH)

The trustees of the Austin-Bailey Health and Wellness Foundation have approved grants totaling $161,000 to 17 nonprofit organizations. The foundation supports programs that promote the physical and mental well-being of the people residing in Holmes, Stark, Tuscarawas, and Wayne counties in Ohio.

It also provides $43,000 in scholarships to students engaged in health-related studies at Aultman College, Kent State University Stark, Kent State University Tuscarawas, Malone University, Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, Stark State College, University of Akron Wayne College, University of Mount Union, and Walsh University.

Those receiving grants include:

  • Access Health Stark County—for its health worker’s salary. ($10,000)
  • Chapel Hill Community—for a bladder scanner. ($6,000)
  • Early Pregnancy Loss Association—for miscarriage kits, supplies, and training. ($4,500)
  • EN-RICH-MENT—for operating support. ($10,000)
  • Faith in Action—to provide various services for seniors. ($10,000)
  • Girls on the Run—to support participants. ($1,300)
  • Golden Key Center—for preschool hearing screenings. ($3,000)
  • Heartland Education Community—for its health initiative for students and staff. ($2,500)
  • Horizons of Tuscarawas and Carroll Counties—for sensory room items for autistic children. ($800)
  • ICAN Housing—to purchase a van for multi-purpose use. ($10,000)
  • Louisville Public Library—for nutrition outreach/cooking classes. ($5,000)
  • Malone University—for equipment for the exercise science department. ($20,000)
  • Margaret B. Shipley Child Health Clinic—to support operating expenses and a pediatrician salary. ($30,000)
  • NAMI Wayne and Holmes—to support its art therapy program. ($4,900)
  • Total Living Center—to purchase chairs, tables, and shelving. ($10,000)
  • Vantage Aging—to purchase a new delivery vehicle. ($13,000)
  • Viola Startzman Clinic—to support operating costs and a nurse practitioner. ($20,000)

The foundation has two grant cycles each year and welcomes grant requests that are health and wellness related. It is suggested that nonprofit organizations call the foundation office first to discuss their project or program. The deadline for submitting grants for the next cycle is May 27, 2025.

The Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Foundation (Detroit, MI)

The Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Foundation recently awarded 31 community matching grants to:

  • A Glimpse of Africa—to support African immigrant and refugee families through Community Health Workers. ($20,000)
  • CARE House of Oakland County—to support training advocates for children in foster care who are at the center of child abuse and neglect cases. ($30,000)
  • Caring Connection—to provide a Nursing intervention for persons with disabilities. ($30,000)
  • Cedar Tree—to engage Michigan’s Upper Peninsula’s physicians to understand and utilize palliative care. ($10,000)
  • Communication Access Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing—to provide trauma and addiction recovery services for the deaf and limited hearing abilities. ($5,000)
  • Disability Network Wayne County—for the “Living Well” program for seniors and people with disabilities that will include nutrition, physical activity, and engaging in stress-reducing activities. ($15,000)
  • Donations With Love Foundation Inc.—to provide support and training with strategies to reduce the impact of the overall opioid crisis. ($5,000)
  • Dutton Farm—to provide financial literacy training for adults with intellectual disabilities. ($25,000)
  • First Steps Kent—to facilitate parents knowing what resources are available and to educate physicians, clinicians, and community social workers. ($30,000)
  • Friends Of Children-Detroit—to provide long-term mentoring for mental health support among youth and their families. ($20,000)
  • Harlee and Harper Women’s Association—for The Power of a Mom program designed to address longstanding maternal health disparities in the Detroit community. ($5,000)
  • Haven Homes of Detroit—to support direct care staff of Haven Home’s 4-step program that specializes in effective case management. ($20,000)
  • Hospice of Michigan, Inc.—to support a program for pediatric bereavement to reduce anxiety, depression, and isolation. ($25,000)
  • Lakeshore Children’s Advocacy Center—to expand trauma counseling services for child abuse victims and nonoffending family members. ($40,000)
  • Life Directions—for its Peer Motivation program to provide an opportunity for multi-year behavioral health improvement. ($20,000)
  • LINC Up Nonprofit Housing Corporation/Coeffective—to provide resource navigation for families with newborns. ($20,000)
  • Methodist Children’s Home Society—to expand crisis mental health services to be open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. ($30,000)
  • Michigan Organization on Adolescent Sexual Health—to empower youth by providing essential education and creating safe, inclusive environments for LGBTQIA+ youth. ($10,000)
  • Michigan State Medical Society Foundation—for the 28th Annual Conference on Bioethics: Professional Boundaries and Ethical Dilemmas. ($36,000)
  • Northern Lights Child Advocacy Center—to provide services for children who have been victims of abuse, neglect, and human trafficking. ($40,000)
  • Otsego County Commission on Aging—to improve the quality of life, physical functioning, and physical fitness among seniors. ($4,500)
  • Otsego Ski Patrol Inc.— $1,400 to enhance emergency response and effectiveness of quick access to functional equipment. ($1,400)
  • Partridge Creek Farm Inc.—to decrease food insecurity and reduce health disparities through increased access to healthy food and health literacy. ($38,000)
  • Ripple Effects Community Inclusion Center—to address behavioral health disparities and provide support for children who have experienced trauma. ($25,000)
  • Shelter of Flint, Inc.—to provide support for children and adults to help them cope and recover from the trauma of homelessness. ($5,000)
  • South Oakland Shelter/Lighthouse MI—to provide access to quality behavioral and physical health care for young people who are experiencing a housing crisis. ($39,500)
  • The Serenity House of Flint/Serenity House Communities—to provide recovery support services for individuals in recovery from substance abuse disorders. ($20,000)
  • University of Michigan—for LGBTQIA+ care within orthopedic surgery. ($39,500)
  • Wayne State University School of Medicine—to establish a foundational base needed to critically assess, analyze, and advance the understanding of community violence. ($42,000)
  • Women’s Resource Center of Northern Michigan—to provide health equity for child survivors of abuse, neglect, and human trafficking. ($40,000)
  • Zaman International—to support the expansion of patient access to multilingual community health workers. ($20,000)

It also awarded 17 grants to four initiatives: Advancing Maternal Health Equity, Food and Nutrition Insecurity, Exhale: Supporting Family Caregivers of Older Adults, and Leadership In Mental Health Equity:

  • Brilliant Detroit—to support a mental resiliency platform focused on providing mental health programming. ($150,000)
  • Cody Rouge Community Action Alliance—to develop a holistic, accessible system for connecting residents to mental health services. ($150,000)
  • Dairy Council of Michigan Inc.—to provide technical assistance for food pantry grant recipients. ($55,000)
  • Detroit Association of Black Organizations—to increase mental health access and wellness. ($150,000)
  • Genesis Harbor: Genesis Hope—to increase capacity to connect seniors to mental health care. ($150,000)
  • Grand Rapids African American Health Institute—to improve access, community, and equity to prenatal care for both baby and birthing individuals. ($45,000)
  • LAHC – Leaders Advancing & Helping Communities—to provide expectant immigrant families with vital pre/postpartum resources. ($45,000)
  • Metro Solutions—to diversify the maternal health workforce and decrease maternal deaths. ($30,000)
  • Strategic Community Solutions—to provide support for respite opportunities for family caregivers of older adults. ($226,400)
  • Teen Hype Youth Development—to expand services and support to close the opportunity gap for mental health services for youth. ($150,000)
  • University of Michigan—to increase access and improve health outcomes for birthing people with opioid use disorders. ($45,000)
  • Upper Peninsula Health Care Solutions—to improve the quality of care for pregnant Medicaid beneficiaries with substance use disorder. ($35,000)
  • Wayne State University—to increase access to mental health screening and interventions while connecting pregnant people and parents to resources. ($35,000)
  • Willow Tree Family Center—to provide health education and support to low-income, underserved, and marginalized parents. ($45,000)
  • The Yunion—to serve middle and high-school participants and their parents/guardians with a mental health intervention. ($150,000)
  • YWCA of Kalamazoo—to develop a doula program aimed at making prenatal, birth, and postpartum doula services available. ($30,000)

Contact: Elba Huerta at foundation@bcbsm.com.

Blue Shield of California Foundation (San Francisco, CA)

With a unanimous vote, trustees of Blue Shield of California Foundation approved $3.5 million in grants to support the Californians most affected by health inequities and domestic violence. An additional $800,000 in rapid-response grants, to help with wildfire recovery and defend the health, safety, and economic security of California communities, brings the total grantmaking in the first quarter to $4.3 million.

Highlights include:

  • AfroLA—to support local journalism about domestic violence prevention in Black communities. AfroLA is known for its data-driven, solutions-oriented coverage of systemic issues. ($200,000 over three years)
  • Department of Health Care Services—to improve some of its community assessments. ($250,000)
  • LA wildfire funds, including California Community Foundation’s Wildfire Recovery Fund and Pasadena Community Foundation’s Eaton Fire Relief and Recovery Fund—to support recovering from the displacement and destruction of the Palisades and Eaton fires in Southern California. ($100,000)
  • TransLatin@ Coalition. ($165,000)
  • Women’s Foundation California— to support the Housing Opportunities Mean Everything cohort, first launched in 2019 to help frontline domestic violence organizations advance systemic solutions at the intersection of domestic violence and homelessness. The new grant will allow the cohort to advance policy and narrative change, as well as research and knowledge sharing for the field. ($475,000)

For a complete list of current grants and more information on the foundation’s grantmaking, click here.

Contact: Rachael Kagan at 510.227.7665.

Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts (New York, NY)

The Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts (FORE) awarded grants totaling $2.1 million to four organizations dedicated to strengthening the behavioral health workforce and addressing critical gaps in substance use disorder care. The funded initiatives expand the work supported under FORE’s Innovation Challenge program and will focus on expanding peer support networks, culturally grounded treatment models, and novel approaches to workforce development and training to better serve populations at high risk.

  • The Agency for Substance Abuse Prevention (ASAP)—to expand its Faith-Based Support Specialist training in partnership with state health departments and faith-based organizations. The two-day training program equips faith leaders with the knowledge and tools to better support individuals with substance use disorders and connect them to local resources. ASAP will continue offering the training in Alabama while initiating expansion into new states. ($400,000)
  • The Bowen Center for Health Workforce Research at Indiana University School of Medicine—to develop a national framework for training, credentialing, and sustaining the behavioral health and substance use paraprofessional workforce. Through a 50-state survey, key informant interviews, and labor market analysis, the initiative will provide actionable recommendations for standardizing education, regulations, and reimbursement models across states. ($592,338)
  • The Center for Indigenous Health at Johns Hopkins University—to tailor the Lakota Equine-Assisted Therapy program for Indigenous adolescents and young adults at risk for or in recovery from opioid use disorder. Up to 30 youth from the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe in South Dakota will participate in weeklong camps that integrate equine therapy with traditional healing practices, such as drumming and storytelling. The project will evaluate its impact on mental health, resilience, and cultural engagement while assessing the financial feasibility of scaling the program to other indigenous communities. ($563,632)
  • HELP USA, Inc.—to implement a counselor and peer support program for unhoused individuals with opioid use disorder living in HELP-operated transitional housing. The initiative will train staff and shelter residents to facilitate access to treatment, harm reduction, and recovery supports. Credentialed staff will run support groups in New York City’s Wards Island shelters, while shelter residents who will be trained as recovery peers will provide one-on-one support. Peer mentors will receive stipends for their contributions, helping to create a sustainable, lived-experience-driven support system. ($598,726)

Contact: Myrna Manners at 718.986.7255 or mmanners@mannersdotson.com.

John A. Hartford Foundation (New York, NY)

The John A. Hartford Foundation board of trustees approved new grants totaling $2,532,783 to improve the lives of older adults by fostering social connections, reframing aging, and analyzing policies impacting the older population.

  • Gerontological Society of America (GSA): National Center to Reframe Aging—to support the National Center to Reframe Aging, which works to counter the pervasive unproductive beliefs about aging that are barriers to improving the care of older people in the United States. In this next phase, the National Center will solidify its position as the nation’s go-to hub for advancing proven communication strategies about aging, strengthen the National Center’s infrastructure for sustainability, create new partnerships, and expand its communications. The National Center is co-funded by the Archstone Foundation, RRF Foundation for Aging, and The SCAN Foundation. ($1,156,500 for three years)
  • KKF: Older Adults at Risk: The Future of Medicaid and the Older Americans Act—to conduct a series of analyses to assess the implications of potential changes to Medicaid and the Older Americans Act, using the most current national and state-level data, with emphasis on how the oldest and most vulnerable populations would be affected. Analyses will include a focus on topics related to nursing home resident characteristics and staffing levels, trends in national and state-level funding for Older Americans Act-supported programs and services, and the intersection of potential funding reductions and other policy changes for older adults across Medicaid and the Older Americans Act. KFF will disseminate findings to a wide audience of journalists, federal and state policymakers, researchers, and interest groups. ($250,000 for two years)
  • USAging: Fostering Social Connection for Older Adults and Caregivers in Communities—to improve the health of older adults and their caregivers through replication of evidence-based social connection programs in communities. Socially isolated older adults face an increased risk of early mortality, comparable to that of smoking and obesity. Promoting social connection is a critical part of age-friendly care that focuses on “What Matters” to older adults and their caregivers. Funding will support a seed grant pilot program, technical assistance to grantees, and capacity building for the Aging Network and community organizations. The outcomes will include results from eight community seed grants and a final report identifying a plan for broader replication of effective programs in alignment with the age-friendly ecosystem. ($1,126,283 for two years)

Contact: Clare Churchouse at 212.324.7480 or clare.churchouse@johnahartford.org.

The Healing Trust (Washington, DC)

The Healing Trust welcomed its eighth cohort of 10 nonprofit Executive Directors and CEOs to its yearlong leadership program designed to combat executive isolation. Participants were selected through a competitive application process for the program which utilizes the Circle Process to develop a network of peer support and shared learning. The Circle Process is a facilitation style and dialog process that draws on Indigenous traditions to build trust and share perspectives.

The 2025 cohort includes: Joel Bigelow, Endure Athletics; Melissa Branchau, Community Helpers of Rutherford County; John Durnell, Loaves & Fishes; Rasheedat Fetuga, Gideon’s Army; Drew Freeman, Safe Haven Family Shelter; Stacia Freeman, EPIC Girl; Kara James, The FIND Design; Tasha Kennard, Thistle Farms; Amy Shurden, St. Lukes Community House; and Shannon Wagner, Nashville Conflict Resolution Center.

The Healing Trust has offered leadership programs since 2012 as part of its work beyond grantmaking. Additionally, The Healing Trust awards grant funding to nonprofits located in five counties of Middle Tennessee that are focused on eliminating health disparities.

To learn more, click here.

Contact: Abby Hyman at abby.hyman@healingtrust.org.

Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey (Millburn, NJ)

The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey (HFNJ) awarded $534,762 in grants to five New Jersey nonprofit organizations in its first quarter of giving in 2025. All five of the awards are renewal grants of projects previously funded by HFNJ and reflect its commitment to deepening its ties with grantees through year-after-year funding.

Several of the projects funded this quarter share a theme of strengthening the capacity of nonprofit organizations to address critical needs in the community.

  • Family Connections—this is a final grant to the Pride + program which provides peer support and therapy for young people and their families in schools throughout Newark and Essex County, New Jersey. ($141,582)
  • Ironbound Community Corporation—to help build a strong financial base by expanding its Development Department, including bringing on a grant writer to help it pursue new funding opportunities. ($100,000)
  • JCC of Central New Jersey—to fund the expansion of its Inclusion Support Services Department, which works to ensure that children with physical, emotional, and mental disabilities can be fully included in all programming and thrive. This grant will fund a third year of the Inclusion & Support Services Coordinator, who delivers hands-on support for children and specialized consultations with teachers and counselors. It will also add a new position for a part-time Administrative Coordinator. ($78,180)
  • Moving Traditions—to continue the MetroWest Student Teacher Wellness and Inclusion Training Program, which engages 20-30 teens who serve as student teachers/madrichim at Hebrew schools to develop their capacities to enhance the mental health of the hundreds of young people they will serve. The workshops include skill development to promote personal wellness and resiliency; peer-to-peer teen mental health first aid training; and opportunities to build their knowledge and skills around cultivating healthy cultures. ($85,000)
  • New Jersey Citizen Action—to support a continued targeted education and outreach project designed to help families access and retain affordable health care—whether through NJ Family Care (Medicaid) or other options. Since the end of the COVID-era policy of automatic continuous coverage for NJ Family Care, NJ Citizen Action has helped individuals and families work through the redetermination process that requires annual approval to retain medical insurance coverage. ($130,000)

Contact: Kevin McManemin at KMcManemin@hfnj.org.

Washington Square Health Foundation (Chicago, IL)

The Washington Square Health Foundation, at its February 2025 Grant Committee Meeting, awarded a total of approximately $330,000 in grants to promote and maintain access to adequate health care for all people in the Chicagoland area regardless of race, sex, creed, or financial need.

Grant highlights from the February 2025 Grant Committee Meeting include:

  • La Rabida Children’s Hospital—to expand and renovate the inpatient unit to improve care for children with complex medical needs by integrating advanced technology.
  • Lawndale Christian Health Center—to provide the opportunity of care for seniors to age in place and support the operation of one of the first eight Program for All Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) organizations in Illinois.
  • Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago—to develop a program to enhance pediatric emergency readiness of multiple area hospitals through simulation training for health care providers which employs a multi-modal approach providing training of critical knowledge and skills.
  • Keshet—to build a new inclusive community center offering activities such as arts, sports, social gatherings, and vocational training. This new center will allow for expanded enrollment, innovation, and engagement for people with disabilities and special needs across all ages.
  • Sinai Chicago—to purchase a Neonate Cooling Bed for their Level 3 NICU unit, as part of their initiative to transform and modernize clinical spaces and expand care for mothers and newborns.
  • Chicago Hearing Society—to upgrade audiology testing equipment to increase precision in fitting hearing aids and improving patient satisfaction for patients of all ages.
  • Erie Family Health Center—to integrate behavioral health care into a new community-driven health center that will provide holistic healthcare and supportive services in West Garfield Park.
  • Cornerstone Community Outreach—to build out a fully-outfitted medical exam room within a homeless shelter which will provide more access, consistency, and stability for both clients and providers.
  • Easter Seals Metropolitan Chicago—to purchase ‘Augmentative and Alternative Communication’ boards, enabling all students, including non-verbal students, to communicate with peers and teachers while promoting physical activity.
  • PCC Community Wellness Center—to purchase a Panoramic X-ray unit for important diagnostic scans for children and teens.
  • Centro San Bonifacio—to improve patient diabetes management, care and health outcomes collaborating with a Cook County health center in a Belmont Cragin neighborhood-based community program initiative.
  • Chicago Women’s Health Center—to provide ultrasound services on-site aimed at reducing the burden of external referrals and improving access to gynecological and reproductive care.
  • The Chicago Lighthouse For People Who Are Blind Or Visually Impaired—to employ a mixed-methods research approach combining qualitative and quantitative research to develop, pilot test, and evaluate an integrated Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and mindfulness curriculum for adjustment to vision loss.

Contact: Catherine Kapella at 312.664.6488 or kapella@wshf.org.

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