The Coalition will create a unique resource center that will provide needed supportive services to transitional youth (ages 16-24) to help them successfully transition to adulthood. The Center will be a centralized hub where community partners can offer collaborative, targeted services to meet their basic needs within a non-judgmental, empowering environment. It will be a safe place where youth can connect with one another or outreach workers, take a shower, wash clothes and be provided with food, access to health care, behavioral health and substance use services (including tobacco cessation). The Center will emphasize and support the development of healthy living, wellness, and decision-making skills.

Grant Awarded:  $299,200
Funding Priority:  Mental Health
Cabell-Huntington Coalition website

Catholic Charities West Virginia’s Center for Community Learning & Advancement (CCLA) will expand its current program model to focus on providing long-term education and career development supportive services to those in recovery from substance use disorder and/or mental health issues. The program is an innovative model of adult learning in which the instructor blends traditional adult education and classroom instruction with one-on-one time spent with learners on goal setting, supportive counseling, referrals to community providers, and pathways to work or higher education. .

Grant Awarded:  $275,980
Funding Priority:  Substance Use Disorder
Catholic Charities West Virgina website

The Food Bank will implement a Back Pack Program in seven WV counties (Cabell, Lincoln, Logan, Mason, Mingo, Putnam and Wayne); 4 in Kentucky (Boyd, Greenup, Lawrence & Martin); & Lawrence Co, OH. This program will be offered to students who participate in the Free/Reduced Breakfast & Lunch programs at their schools. Additionally, the Food Bank will develop a MIFB/Food “Farmacy” food box program to address food insecurity for patients with health concerns such as chronic disease. The program will provide a 2- to 3-day emergency food supply with referrals to local hunger relief agency pantries. The Food Bank will also initiate a pilot project of the same programming with Kings Daughter Medical Center & Our Lady of Bellefonte to serve KY counties.

Grant Awarded:  $300,000
Funding Priority:  Food Insecurity
Facing Hunger website

Partners in Health will deliver the national, evidence based Catch My Breath (CMB), anti-vaping curriculum to at least 6 counties, 10 schools, and 2,400 students over the next two years. The CMB curriculum aims to prevent first use of tobacco products, especially e-cigarettes, among middle school students. Clinical staff from the Appalachian Pulmonary Health Project (APHP) organizations will partner with school administration, teachers, and parents to deliver the CMB curriculum. The APHP is a regional collaboration of the Grace Anne Dorney Pulmonary Rehabilitation Centers and is administered by the Partners in Health Network of Charleston, WV.

Grant Awarded:  $276,307
Funding Priority:  Tobacco Use, Prevention, and Cessation
Partners in Health Network website

The Hope House will serve as a step-down residence to provide safe and supportive housing along with ongoing treatment for families who have experienced Substance Use Disorders (SUD) by expanding the continuum of care provided at Project Hope for Women & Children. Families will be provided safe and supportive housing, case management services as they work on their education or job training/placement, ongoing mental health services, including individual and group therapy, ongoing parenting, financial, health and wellness education, and certified peer navigation services. The Hope House will serve women who require and would benefit from a less intensive, community-based setting in order to maintain their recovery and re-engage in the community.

Grant Awarded:  $300,000
Funding Priority:  Substance Use Disorder
Marshall Health website

The purpose of the Healthy Beginnings Project is to improve health outcomes for mothers and babies in southern West Virginia by improving the care of pregnant and parenting women with substance use disorder (SUD) and their families and reducing smoking in pregnancy and nicotine/smoking harms to babies and young children. .

Grant Awarded:  $158,950
Funding Priority:  Tobacco Use, Prevention, and Cessation
West Virginia Perinatal Partnership

Develop strategies to establish a regional infrastructure that enables ready and ongoing collaboration across county and state lines. Such an effort is critically needed to not only address unmet needs of the population at large, but especially at-risk population of those with substance use disorders, including illicit drugs and tobacco. Using an asset-based approach, the ‘Tri-State Collaboration’ will be established with support from West Virginia Local Health Inc., to engage local public health from Boyd County (KY), Cabell-Huntington (WV), Lawrence County (KY), Lawrence County (OH), and Wayne County (WV). The outcome will be development of the Collaboration to address population health priorities associated with the opioid epidemic in the five counties, engaging broader community partners in the process.

Grant Awarded:  $75,000
Funding Priority:  Substance Use Disorder