A set of grant awards announced Tuesday will give $3 million worth of assistance to local organizations promoting health in the community.
The Williamsburg Health Foundation’s Board of Trustees voted to approve 18 awards to groups working on a broad range of health issues. The largest single grant for $590,000 is designated to promote health in Williamsburg-James City County Schools with the School Health Initiative Program.
“The SHIP program is a multi-faced program that is trying to instill good healthy choices in children, both in terms of eating healthy food and leading an active lifestyle,” said Jeanne Zeidler, foundation president.
Through after-school programs and developing healthier — though still appealing — school lunches, SHIP aims to help children make informed choices that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. The grant from WHF will allow for instructors and advisers for the after-school clubs, as well as integration specialists who work in the classroom to mix nutrition information with standards of learning.
While Zeidler said the foundation will always play a role in working to cure illness and chronic diseases, she would like to see them reach the community at a younger age and help members avoid health problems by incorporating wellness into their daily lives.
“We think long-term about the future of our community,” she said. “It’s really working with those child that will ensure for us a healthy future.”
In a news release, Board Chair Doug Myers said the best way to prevent health issues later in life is to influence young people’s everyday school experiences.
“School is second only to the home for creating healthy, life-long habits,” he said.
Other grants in this round – many organizations will receive additional funding for other programs in a second slew of awards in the fall – went to local clinics and medication access programs. Totaling $1.5 million, they will go to serving the uninsured or underinsured in the Greater Williamsburg area.
Zeidler encouraged support for such clinics in the release, saying the new insurance marketplace “only negligible revenue to local clinics and does not hold any immediate promise for more.”
The full list of grant recipients by category:
Behavioral Health Treatment and Intervention
- Child and Family Connection, $38,000 for multicultural counseling and outreach program for the Greater Williamsburg Area
- Colonial Community Corrections, $28,500 for Better Ways: A Therapeutic & Transitional Substance Abuse Program
- Colonial Behavioral Health, $290,000 for Greater Williamsburg Child Assessment Center
Community Health
- The Arc of Greater Williamsburg, $20,000 for Stay Fit for the Future
- Williamsburg-James City County Public Schools, $590,000 for School Health Initiative Program
Education
- Literacy for Life at the Rita Welsh Adult Learning Center, $70,000 for Health Education and Literacy
Food, Agricultural and Nutrition
- FISH, Inc., $12,500 for Health Priorities in Action
Healthcare
- Angels of Mercy Medical Mission, $113,000 for Chronic Care Collaborative
- Colonial Behavioral Health, $127,000 for Chronic Care Collaborative
- Gloucester-Mathews Free Clinic, $260,000 for Chronic Care Collaborative
- Lackey Free Clinic, $420,000 for Chronic Care Collaborative
- Olde Towne Medical Center, $250,000 for Chronic Care Collaborative
- Rx Partnership, $30,000 for Chronic Care Collaborative
- Virginia Health Care Foundation, $380,000 for Greater Williamsburg Medication Assistance Program
Human Services
- F.R.E.E. Foundation for Rehabilitation Equipment & Endowment, $50,000 for a geographic expansion to serve Greater Williamsburg
- Peninsula Agency on Aging, $128,000 for S.H.A.R.P. (Senior Health Assistance Resource Project)
- Williamsburg Area Faith in Action, $22,000 for medical transportation
Community Health
- Community Health Solutions, $40,000 for Chronic Care Collaborative facilitation
For more information, visit the WHF website.
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