Catholic Health Initiatives Tops $50 Million in Grants to Create Healthy Communities

Catholic Health Initiatives, one of the nation’s largest faith-based health systems, has now provided more than $50 million in grants to help create healthier communities through its Mission and Ministry Fund, an internal grant program created when the organization was formed in 1996.

This year alone, the program awarded 40 grants totaling more than $8.6 million for improving the health of communities in the U.S. and around the world. Two-thirds of the grants from the Mission and Ministry Fund are devoted to violence prevention initiatives as part of CHI’s ongoing national campaign, “United Against Violence.”

Together, the grants awarded in early July constitute the largest annual grant award since the Mission and Ministry Fund was established. In its 18 years of existence, the Mission & Ministry Fund has awarded 409 grants totaling $55.5 million.

This year’s grants will benefit a diverse set of initiatives and communities, ranging from grade school students in Roseburg, Ore., who lack access to dental care to the elderly in rural areas around Mokama, India.

Mission and Ministry Fund grants support innovative projects designed to improve the health of a community, often by serving disadvantaged individuals and populations.

Applications may be submitted by CHI’s affiliated organizations, participating congregations and strategic partner organizations. All supported initiatives must meet an identified community need, invite collaboration with community partners and be replicable in other communities.

The 2014 Mission and Ministry Fund grants include:

Domestic Project Grants

Alegent Creighton Health, Omaha, Neb.
Telepsychiatry for Rural Communities, $455,251 over two years

Centura Health At Home, Denver, Colo
Healthy Living Colorado, $1,320,554 over three years

Faithful Fools Street Ministry, San Francisco, Calif.
Institute for Street Level Learning, $183,900 over three years

Franciscan Foundation, Tacoma, Wash.
Community Building Mental Health, $182,000 over three years

Good Samaritan Hospital Foundation, Cincinnati, Ohio
HOPE Program, $200,000 over two years

KentuckyOne Health, Louisville, Ky.
Health Connections Initiative, $1,535,561 over three years

Mercy Foundation, Roseburg, Ore.
Rural Action–Dental Health Initiative, $174,802 over three years

Mercy Medical Center, Des Moines, Iowa
Childhood Obesity Prevention Program, $172,779 over three years

Mercy Medical Center, Des Moines, Iowa
Mental Health Crisis Stabilization Center, $221,187 over two years

Nebraska and Southwest Iowa Network, Omaha, Neb.
Plan for Behavioral Health Services Across the Network, $130,100

Saint Francis Medical Center, Grand Island, Neb.
Community Health Workers Intervention Program, $324,856 over three years

St. Vincent Infirmary, Little Rock, Ark.
Health Connections Initiative, $1,040,474 over three years

International Project Grants

Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, Nazareth, Ky.
Nazareth Hospital, Mokama, India, $151,641 over three years

St. Anthony Health Foundation, Lakewood, Colo.
Alma Mater Hospital, Haiti: Developing a Sister Hospital Relationship, $140,000

Violence Prevention Design and Start-Up Grants, Year 1

Flaget Memorial Hospital, Bardstown, Ky., $15,600

Jewish Hospital Shelbyville, Shelbyville, Ky., $15,750

Saint Elizabeth Foundation, Lincoln, Neb., $58,952

Saint Joseph Berea, Berea, Ky., $15,750

Saint Joseph Martin, Martin, Ky., $15,750

Saint Joseph Mount Sterling, Mount Sterling, Ky., $16,200

St. Anthony Hospital, Pendleton, Ore., $15,000

St. Anthony Summit Medical Center and CHI Colorado Foundation dba Summit Medical Center Health Foundation, Frisco, Colo. $84,200

St. Luke’s Sugar Land Hospital, Sugar Land, Texas, $14,000

St. Luke’s The Woodlands Hospital, The Woodlands, Texas, $15,550

Violence Prevention Design and Start-Up Grants, Year 2

CHI Colorado Foundation and Centura Health South State Region, Colorado Springs, Colo., $164,546

Violence Prevention Design and Start-Up Grants, Year 2 Extensions

Carrington Health Center, Carrington, N.D., $10,000

Lisbon Area Health Services, Lisbon, N.D., $10,000

Mercy Hospital, Devils Lake, N.D., $10,000

Mercy Hospital, Valley City, N.D., $10,000

Mercy Medical Center, Williston, N.D., $10,000

Oakes Community Hospital, Oakes, N.D., $10,000

St. Joseph’s Hospital and Health Center, Dickinson, N.D., $10,000

Violence Prevention Implementation Grants

Franciscan Foundation, Tacoma, Wash., $467,000 over three years

Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls, Little Falls, Minn., $273,851 over three years

Memorial Health Care System, Chattanooga Tenn., $88,398 over three years

St. Francis Healthcare Campus, Breckenridge, Minn., $284,463 over three years

St. Joseph Regional Health Care Network, Reading, Pa., $250,000 over three years

St. Joseph’s Area Health Services, Park Rapids, Minn., $175,454

St. Mary’s Community Hospital, Nebraska City, Neb., $235,488 over three years

Unity Family Health/St. Gabriel’s Hospital, Little Falls, Minn., $120,776 over three years

About Catholic Health Initiatives

Catholic Health Initiatives, a nonprofit, faith-based health system formed in 1996 through the consolidation of four Catholic health systems, expresses its mission each day by creating and nurturing healthy communities in the hundreds of sites across the nation where it provides care. One of the nation’s largest health systems, Englewood, Colo.-based CHI operates in 18 states and comprises 93 hospitals, including four academic medical centers and teaching hospitals: 24 critical access facilities; community health services organizations; accredited nursing colleges; home-health agencies; and other facilities that span the inpatient and outpatient continuum of care. In fiscal year 2013, CHI provided $762 million in charity care and community benefit, including services for the poor, free clinics, education and research.