Several Greater Hartford Nonprofits Tally Healthcare Grants

HARTFORD/EAST HARTFORD, CT — A Hartford-based foundation has awarded $1.442 million in grants to several Greater Hartford organizations dedicated to community healthcare.

The Connecticut Health Foundation, a nonprofit giving organization specializing in healthcare causes, doled out several grants throughout the state to improve and enhance healthcare and access to it.

In total, 39 grants were awarded to organizations throughout Connecticut, including several in Hartford and one in East Hartford.

The following organizations received funding to help their causes:

• Charter Oak Health Center, Hartford, $150,000.

This funding is for the final year of a three-year pilot program for community health workers to improve outcomes for children with asthma in the Greater Hartford area.

The community health workers provide interventions to decrease emergency department visits and school absenteeism due to asthma.

The workers visit the homes of families to identify asthma triggers in the home and provide education on treatment.

• Connecticut News Project, Hartford, $225,000 (3 years)

The Connecticut News Project is the parent organization of The Connecticut Mirror, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization.

This three-year grant will support coverage of health issues, policy, affordability, equity, and other health-related topics.

"The Connecticut Health Foundation provides grants to media organizations because news reporting on health care provides insights, informs debates, and ensures that critical topics reach broad audiences," reads the foundation's announcement.

"The funding is awarded with an understanding that the journalism will be independent, and the grant will play no role in editorial decisions about health coverage."

• CT Community Nonprofit Alliance, Hartford, $30,000

The CT Community Nonprofit Alliance will use this grant funding for the second year of its Alliance Advocacy Leadership Development Cohort.

The program gathers professionals from the health and human services sectors and provides them with advocacy training on policy issues that impact the communities they serve.

• Hartford Deportation Defense, Hartford, $50,000

Hartford Deportation Defense will advocate for HUSKY expansion to all income-eligible families in Connecticut regardless of their immigration status.

Advocacy efforts will include education, training and outreach to new immigrant populations in Hartford that have not been active in the HUSKY 4 Immigrants campaign.

• Health Equity Solutions, Hartford, $35,000

This funding will support Health Equity Solutions in growing its Health Equity for the "People by the People" coalition.

The coalition will educate participants on medical debt as a critical health equity issue.

Participants will also receive advocacy training and be offered resources to advocate for policies related to medical debt, financial assistance, and other barriers within the healthcare system.

• Urban Alliance, East Hartford, $35,000.

Funding will support a study that collects data on the barriers related to accessing health insurance and health care that disproportionately affect households of color with incomes just above the Medicaid eligibility threshold.

• Funds to advocate for further coverage of HUSKY medical insurance.

To support these efforts, these grants were awarded to organizations committed to engaging in advocacy work focused on coverage expansion.

In Hartford, the recipient is the Center for Children's Advocacy, Hartford:$10,000.

• The "Patricia Baker Awards" are named for the foundation’s founding president and chief executive officer.

They are intended to support grassroots organizations led by people of color and focus on work that advances health equity.

This year’s grantees from Hartford are: Hartford Health Initiative, $30,000, and the Nonprofit Accountability Group, Hartford: $30,000.

For more information on the Connecticut Health Foundation, click on this link.