Spring 2022 Healthy Communities Initiatives
14th Street Community Centers
The 14th Street Community Center will purchase new computers and software, and upgrade its security camera and video web conferencing equipment. Signage will also be purchased and installed at both the 14th and 17th Street community centers.
Grant Awarded: $7,761
Focus Area: Capacity Building
Adult Advocacy Centers
Adult Advocacy Centers will provide training and technical support to professionals in Gallia, Lawrence, and Scioto counties in Ohio on the use of new screening and assessment tools for human trafficking victims with disabilities.
Grant Awarded: $34,531.25
Focus Area: Health and Wellness
ARH Tug Valley Health Services, Inc.
ARH Tug Valley Health Services, Inc. will initiate monthly diabetes support groups serving Floyd, Johnson, and Pike counties in Kentucky. Sessions will provide education and healthy cooking demonstrations, and each attendee will receive a medically indicated food box and recipe card to take home.
Grant Awarded: $11,449.20
Focus Area: Health and Wellness
Aspire! Conservatory of Fine & Performing Arts, Inc.
Aspire! Conservatory will purchase laptops to enable staff members to prepare engaging presentations and materials, and to complete program documentation related to general instruction, adaptive arts classes, and music therapy programs.
Grant Awarded: $5,000
Focus Area: Capacity Building
BackpackBuddy.org
BackpackBuddy.org will purchase food and personal care items to support school-age children in Boone and Putnam counties during summer break. Each child will receive five boxes in total filled with food and personal care items that will be shipped bi-weekly directly to the child’s home.
Grant Awarded: $15,000
Focus Area: Health and Wellness
Branches Domestic Violence Shelter
Branches Domestic Violence Shelter will provide essential supplies, such as bedding, mattresses, kitchen, and bathroom necessities to individuals and families participating in Branches’ Housing Advocacy Program.
Grant Awarded: $15,000
Focus Area: Health and Wellness
Cabwaylingo Appalachian Mission
Cabwaylingo Appalachian Mission will purchase food for its food pantry. Funding will also support freight costs associated with procuring large food orders.
Grant Awarded: $12,000
Focus Area: Health and Wellness
Catholic Charities West Virginia
Catholic Charities West Virginia will provide salary and benefits for the recovery retention specialist and the community-based instructor employed at the Catholic Charities Community Center of Huntington adult education program.
Grant Awarded: $40,061
Focus Area: Health and Wellness
Charleston Thunder Sled Hockey
Charleston Thunder Sled Hockey will purchase ice time for its sled hockey season, along with jerseys and helmets for new and current players.
Grant Awarded: $3,500
Focus Area: Health and Wellness
Children’s Home Society of West Virginia
The Children’s Home Society of West Virginia will purchase food to distribute to clients at its Nancy Tonkin Children’s Resource Center, which serves foster families, kinship families, families receiving family strengthening services, and shelter youth.
Grant Awarded: $17,000
Focus Area: Health and Wellness
Christian Associates
Christian Associates will purchase food, socks, and underwear to distribute to clients of the Cridlin Food and Clothing Pantry.
Grant Awarded: $7,500
Focus Area: Health and Wellness
Coalfield Health Center
Coalfield Health Center will support four projects of Wild, Wonderful and Healthy Logan County (WWHLC). WWHLC will host quarterly community health improvement meetings, distribute reusable water bottles to school-aged children to use at water bottle refilling stations in Logan County schools, purchase healthy snacks for Cora Summer League campers, and pilot the Community Water Consumption project at Chapmanville High School home football games.
Grant Awarded: $6,525
Focus Area: Health and Wellness
Cornerstone Family Interventions
Cornerstone Family Interventions will engage in capacity building activities to improve infrastructure and policies for its home visiting program. Funds will be used for a board retreat, staff trainings, and staff members’ travel to attend a home visiting national conference. Cornerstone will use remaining funds to complete minor repairs to staff offices in its new building in Boone County.
Grant Awarded: $15,000
Focus Area: Capacity Building
Dig In, Inc.
Dig In will complete initial steps to establish a new permaculture garden in Madison, West Virginia, known as a “perennial food forest.” Funds will be used to build out the initial infrastructure of the garden plot with fencing, a greenhouse, and a wood chip forest floor.
Grant Awarded: $4,143.62
Focus Area: Health and Wellness
Faith Health Appalachia
Faith Health Appalachia will engage in training, outreach, and collaborative planning efforts aimed at developing the framework of a Faith Community Nursing pilot program in the Fairfield, Highlawn, and West End neighborhoods of Huntington.
Grant Awarded: $7,500
Focus Area: Health and Wellness
Faith in Action of the River Cities, Inc.
Faith in Action of the River Cities will upgrade its CareWorks software, purchase a laptop, docking station, carrying case, and software for staff and volunteer use, and obtain adaptive aid kits for care receivers.
Grant Awarded: $4,742.39
Focus Area: Health and Wellness, Capacity Building
FaithLife Ministries
FaithLife Ministries in Pikeville, Kentucky, will work with a consultant to develop the BattleLine Boxing Club program, which will provide weekly boxing lessons and equipment free of charge to at-risk youth. Funding also will be used for website development, security camera installation, and the purchase of an iPad for participant registration.
Grant Awarded: $15,000
Focus Area: Health and Wellness
Floyd County Senior Citizens
Floyd County Senior Citizens will purchase and install monitored security systems at the organization’s Betsy Layne, McDowell, Mud Creek, and Wheelwright centers. In addition, the organization will purchase shelf-ready meals for distribution to meal program participants to be used during inclement weather.
Grant Awarded: $14,763.32
Focus Area: Capacity Building
God’s Appalachian Partnership
God’s Appalachian Partnership will establish a free regional dental clinic for uninsured eastern Kentucky residents and a weekly afterschool program to provide tutoring, social activities and nutritious meals for children residing in a low-income housing community.
Grant Awarded: $14,810.60
Focus Area: Health and Wellness
God’s Pantry Food Bank
God’s Pantry Food Bank will purchase produce to be distributed at mobile food pantry events in Boyd, Greenup, Lawrence, and Martin counties in Kentucky. The mobile pantries will be conducted in partnership with Facing Hunger Food Bank.
Grant Awarded: $20,000
Focus Area: Health and Wellness
Grace Fellowship
Grace Fellowship Community Kitchen will purchase food for its twice weekly meal program and hygiene and laundry kits to distribute to clients on a monthly basis.
Grant Awarded: $15,000
Focus Area: Health and Wellness
Heaven’s Harvest Food Pantry
Heavens Harvest’s volunteer home visitors will distribute cribs and car seats to families in need, assist with setup and installation, and provide evidence-based safe sleep and car seat safety education. Funds also will be used to distribute diapers and wipes to families on a monthly basis and to stock the organization’s baby pantry for emergency requests.
Grant Awarded: $15,000
Focus Area: Health and Wellness
Hillcrest Bruce United Methodist Ministries
Hillcrest Bruce United Methodist Ministries will implement the Healthy Living Project to assist people in need of dental work, dentures, hearing aids, vision tests, or glasses.
Grant Awarded: $29,500
Focus Area: Health and Wellness
Huntington City Mission
The Huntington City Mission will purchase mattresses for use in its overnight shelter.
Grant Awarded: $14,900
Focus Area: Health and Wellness
Huntington Museum of Art, Inc.
Through its Arts in Medicine program, the Huntington Museum of Art (HMA) will purchase therapeutic art activity totes for distribution to patients receiving chemotherapy treatment at three Huntington area medical centers. Through its ArtWorks! program, HMA will partner with Cabell County Juvenile Drug Court on a six-week program to engage at-risk teens in the creation of public art installations.
Grant Awarded: $18,080
Focus Area: Health and Wellness
Impact Prevention
Impact Prevention will support program costs, including contractual accounting services and volunteer coordination, for Tri-State Family Connection’s court response team. Funds will also be used to purchase promotional materials and basic needs items for individuals going straight from court to substance use disorder treatment.
Grant Awarded: $45,000
Focus Area: Health and Wellness, Capacity Building
Inspiring Dreams Network
Inspiring Dreams Network will continue development of its online youth resource portal by contracting services for portal programming, design, and maintenance services. The program coordinator will oversee the continued development of the portal’s content, collect stakeholder input, and begin promoting its use with constituency groups.
Grant Awarded: $13,470
Focus Area: Health and Wellness
Kanawha County Dental Health Council, Inc.
The Kanawha County Dental Health Council will purchase laptops and software for use by school-based dental hygienists to complete clinic documentation, track data, provide referrals, communicate with parents and administrators, and deliver educational presentations to Kanawha County students.
Grant Awarded: $5,098.95
Focus Area: Capacity Building
Kanawha Valley Collective
The Kanawha Valley Collective will complete a strategic planning process that includes facilitation of stakeholder meetings and a board retreat, as well as development of a three-year strategic plan with an accompanying implementation plan.
Grant Awarded: $14,500
Focus Area: Capacity Building
Kanawha Valley Home, Inc.
The Kanawha Valley Home will host quarterly “Guys Night Out” events that will include sports activities, local events, and a picnic that includes residents, family members, recovery sponsors, staff, and alumni.
Grant Awarded: $6,000
Focus Area: Health and Wellness
Kanawha Valley Senior Services
Kanawha Valley Senior Services will purchase gliders and recliners for its Alzheimer’s disease respite program. The furniture will be designed for use by people with mobility challenges and cognitive impairment.
Grant Awarded: $25,128.84
Focus Area: Health and Wellness
Keep Your Faith Corporation, Inc.
Keep Your Faith Corporation, Inc. (KYFC) will train behavioral health staff in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, purchase updated Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders manuals for clinical staff, provide nonprofit leadership coaching for KYFC staff members, and purchase iPads, a computer, and printer for use in its behavioral health center.
Grant Awarded: $22,355
Focus Area: Capacity Building
Larry Joe Harless Community Center
The Larry Joe Harless Community Center will implement a falls prevention initiative for people age 55 or older. A nutritionist will teach nutrition education classes to assist senior citizens in appropriately adapting their diet as they age and participants will receive a food bag containing lean meat and produce. Fitness instructors will lead a walking club that will share walking safety tips and an exercise class designed to help build muscle tone around damaged joints.
Grant Awarded: $9,906
Focus Area: Health and Wellness
Lawrence County Health Department
The Lawrence County Health Department will purchase and distribute gas cards to Lawrence County residents who are receiving cancer treatment. Program participants will use the cards for gas costs related to traveling to oncology and radiation appointments at locations outside of Lawrence County.
Grant Awarded: $6,000
Focus Area: Health and Wellness
Lewis County Family Resource Network
The Lewis County Family Resource Network will provide support for at least nine Try This WV mini grants for projects in Boone, Cabell, Kanawha, Lincoln, Logan, Mason, Mingo, Putnam, and Wayne counties. Funds also will be used for scholarships to attend the Try This WV annual statewide conference. An AmeriCorps representative will provide technical assistance to mini-grant projects, coordinate convening of teams, and develop an inventory of physical activity opportunities.
Grant Awarded: $35,000
Focus Area: Health and Wellness
Lincoln County Primary Care Center, Inc.
Lincoln County Primary Care Center, Inc., dba Southern West Virginia Health Systems, will contract with a developer to develop and enhance its website with additional health literacy content, extensive information about locations and providers, mapping, and resources to help patients better prepare for appointments.
Grant Awarded: $12,000
Focus Area: Capacity Building
Marshall University Research Corporation
The Marshall University Research Corporation, in collaboration with the Prevention Empowerment Partnership at Marshall University’s Center of Excellence, will launch a substance use prevention training and internship program for youth that will include intensive training on the principles of evidence-based substance use prevention, leadership, peer-to-peer teaching, mentoring, entrepreneurship, basic community coalition prevention strategies, and other topics. The interns will then work directly with other youth in local schools and youth attending summer and after-school programming.
Grant Awarded: $41,775
Focus Area: Health and Wellness
Martin County Senior Citizens Center
Martin County Senior Citizens Center will hire a new delivery driver who will deliver meals and nutrition education materials to seniors.
Grant Awarded: $20,375
Focus Area: Health and Wellness, Capacity Building
McCorkle Community Outreach Center, Inc.
The McCorkle Community Outreach Center will purchase supplemental fresh fruit, vegetables, and proteins to distribute to its food pantry clients.
Grant Awarded: $3,500
Focus Area: Health and Wellness
Midian Leadership Project
Midian Leadership Project will provide nutritious meals for children served at its extended-hours after-school program. Midian will partner with the Up2Us Sports Network to provide community training aimed at equipping sports-based programs to support youth mental health through trauma-informed practices. Funds will also support the development of an onsite resource library for Midian staff and volunteers’ ongoing professional development.
Grant Awarded: $17,000
Focus Area: Health and Wellness, Capacity Building
Mountain Comprehensive Care Center, Inc.
Mountain Comprehensive Care Center will fund staff certifications and renewals, evidence-based trainings, and children’s therapy and other supplemental supplies for its sites.
Grant Awarded: $16,905
Focus Area: Health and Wellness, Capacity Building
Mountaineer Food Bank, Inc.
Mountaineer Food Bank will implement its Veterans Table food box program for food insecure veterans in Kanawha County. Veterans will receive a monthly food box that includes fresh produce, protein, and dairy items, as well as recipes for preparing meals with the food items.
Grant Awarded: $43,526.16
Focus Area: Health and Wellness
Neighbors Helping Neighbors
Neighbors Helping Neighbors, also known as The Neighborhood, in Ashland, Kentucky, will upgrade its security system with new security cameras and Bluetooth technology in the facility’s exterior doors.
Grant Awarded: $27,849
Focus Area: Capacity Building
Pike County Health Department
The Pike County Health Department will send program supervisors and coordinators to the American Public Health Association’s Annual Meeting and Expo. Staff will provide training and resources to employees during quarterly health department meetings and review the organization’s public health preparedness plans to identify any healthy equity challenges or other areas of needed improvement.
Grant Awarded: $15,000
Focus Area: Capacity Building
Ramey Estep Homes
Ramey Estep Homes therapists will staff Camp Courage, a new summer mental wellness camp for Boyd County elementary, middle, and high school students. Therapists will facilitate mindfulness activities, yoga, and social skills groups in which students will be provided with mental health toolkits. In addition, middle and high school students will participate in field trips where they will engage in adventure activities and receive individual mental health services.
Grant Awarded: $15,000
Focus Area: Health and Wellness
Rea of Hope, Inc.
Rea of Hope will support dental care costs for residents who have successfully completed the first 90 days of the Rea of Hope program. Funding will include services for preventative, diagnostic, and restorative dental services. Rea of Hope will also provide a quarterly “Girls Night Out” for clients.
Grant Awarded: $10,000
Focus Area: Health and Wellness
Recovery Group of Southern West Virginia
Recovery Group of Southern West Virginia will support start-up costs and provide computer equipment and accessories to operationalize the Logan Recovery Center.
Grant Awarded: $4,495
Focus Area: Capacity Building
Religious Coalition for Community Renewal
The Religious Coalition for Community Renewal will partner with Bream Memorial Presbyterian Church (BMPC) to create a drop-in service center at BMPC’s Hubbard Building. The center will provide access to food, clothing, showers, laundry, personal belonging storage, and housing assistance for people experiencing homelessness.
Grant Awarded: $14,832
Focus Area: Health and Wellness
Ronald McDonald House of Huntington, WV
The Ronald McDonald House of Huntington, WV, will upgrade its website to improve and increase data security, and facilitate communication with potential donors, volunteers, and the community at large.
Grant Awarded: $7,040
Focus Area: Capacity Building
Salvation Army of Kentucky and Tennessee
The Salvation Army of Kentucky and Tennessee will supplement its weekend hot meal program for shelter residents in Ashland, Kentucky, by purchasing additional food items, including fresh produce, meats, and dairy products.
Grant Awarded: $7,500
Focus Area: Health and Wellness
Shelter of Hope, Inc.
Shelter of Hope will purchase laptops and accessories for staff use and replace mattresses and bed frames in eight apartment units to improve shelter safety and hygienics.
Grant Awarded: $8,853.94
Focus Area: Health and Wellness, Capacity Building
STAR Club, Inc.
STAR Club will provide a monthly family food box for five months to children and their families who participate in the STAR Club after-school program. Family food boxes will include staple items, recipes, and ingredients for two meals.
Grant Awarded: $9,375
Focus Area: Health and Wellness
Step by Step, Inc.
Step by Step will conduct research in partnership with Logan County Schools aimed at better understanding student mental health challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Step by Step researchers will engage students in monthly focus groups and individual interviews, and collect reports from staff members who serve as student mentors. The organization will share findings through community forums and create a publication highlighting insights from the research and recommendations.
Grant Awarded: $25,000
Focus Area: Health and Wellness
The Healing House
The Healing House’s board and staff will complete a facilitated strategic planning process, which will include meetings focusing on organizational and program development, sustainability planning, and the creation of a written, three-year plan.
Grant Awarded: $7,500
Focus Area: Capacity Building
The Highlawn Community Alliance
The Highlawn Community Alliance will establish a community garden in the Highlawn neighborhood using a cooperative garden model in which resident leaders will help neighbors grow nutritious produce, teach healthy lifestyle habits, and harvest produce to be shared equitably among community members with a focus on neighbors with high risk factors for food insecurity.
Grant Awarded: $14,425.88
Focus Area: Health and Wellness
The REACH Initiative
REACH will produce duffel bag “reentry kits” to be distributed to justice-impacted individuals within the first few days of release from incarceration. Kits will contain shelf-stable food, hygiene items, clothing, and inclement weather gear to meet individuals’ immediate physical needs. The kits also will include resource materials connecting individuals to social service agencies, mental health services, recovery programs, and other supports.
Grant Awarded: $15,000
Focus Area: Health and Wellness
Tri-State Developmental Services
Tri-State Developmental Services will contract with consultants to develop a strategic plan and transition the organization’s finances to QuickBooks. Funds will also support the purchase of laptops and a printer for office use, as well as laptops for a new computer lab where families can apply for benefits, complete online learning, and connect with resources. In addition, the organization will purchase sparring equipment for its inclusive martial arts program and will provide each participant with a uniform and personal safety equipment.
Grant Awarded: $12,616
Focus Area: Health and Wellness, Capacity Building
Unlimited Future, Inc.
Unlimited Future will engage in organizational learning about local food ecosystem models and implement summer produce pop-up markets in partnership with community gardens in the Fairfield neighborhood. Staff members will tour innovative regional urban farms and markets and provide a community workshop to share knowledge. Funds will also purchase produce and support an outreach campaign to promote the workshop and markets.
Grant Awarded: $10,013
Focus Area: Health and Wellness, Capacity Building
Wanda Joyce Robinson Foundation
Funding will support the expansion of the KRUSH program into additional schools in Cabell County, West Virginia; Scioto County, Ohio; and Carter, Johnson, and Lawrence counties in Kentucky. KRUSH trainers will conduct outreach to schools and facilitate educator trainings on the KRUSH curriculum. These trainings will cover program implementation and mental health topics such as Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), impacts of trauma, and strategies for promoting resilience.
Grant Awarded: $6,250
Focus Area: Health and Wellness
Wayne County Community Services Organization, Inc.
Wayne County Community Services Organization will implement “The Meal Appeal” program bimonthly in Fort Gay, WV. The program will provide six healthy eating educational sessions from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
Grant Awarded: $3,851
Focus Area: Health and Wellness
West Virginia Food and Farm Coalition
The West Virginia Food & Farm Coalition will provide capacity building trainings for all staff to help them manage community-based projects more effectively and better equip them to identify grant funding opportunities, write grant applications, and manage and report on grant-funded projects.
Grant Awarded: $13,518.38
Focus Area: Capacity Building
West Virginia Health Right
West Virginia Health Right will purchase groceries for use in free weekly nutrition classes and cooking demonstrations provided to community members at the organization’s new CommUNITY Wellness Center on Charleston’s West Side. Program staff will gather data related to participants’ weight loss and medical, behavioral, and emotional self-management.
Grant Awarded: $10,000
Focus Area: Health and Wellness
West Virginia Institute for Spirituality
The West Virginia Institute for Spirituality will host a three-day virtual training titled “Spiritual Needs of Domestic Violence Victims: A Training for Faith Leaders & Helping Professions” for faith and community leaders.
Grant Awarded: $4,269
Focus Area: Health and Wellness, Capacity Building
West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine Foundation
The West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine’s Center for Rural and Community Health will enroll certified peer recovery support specialists from the Jobs & Hope West Virginia program in its certified community health education resource person level I, level II, and level III trainings. Trainees will be assisted with job placement and provided with follow-up support after employment.
Grant Awarded: $4,800
Focus Area: Health and Wellness
West Virginia State University Foundation, Inc.
The West Virginia State University (WVSU) Healthy Grandfamilies Program will subaward funding to Healthy Grandfamily groups in Boone, Cabell, Lincoln, Logan, Mason, Mingo, Putnam, and Wayne counties to provide emergency food, clothing, housing, and personal care items to program participants. WVSU also will host a two-day statewide conference for the Healthy Grandfamilies Program.
Grant Awarded: $50,000
Focus Area: Health and Wellness
WVU Foundation, Inc.
The WVU Children’s Vision Rehabilitation Program will administer programming to address health and wellness needs of children ages 5 to 18 with visual impairments who live in Boone, Cabell, Kanawha, Lincoln, Logan, Mason, Mingo, Putnam, or Wayne counties. The children will work both individually and in groups through in person and virtual methods to develop healthier eating, physical activity, and mental health habits.
Grant Awarded: $34,000
Focus Area: Health and Wellness
WVU Foundation, Inc.
The WVU School of Nursing will pilot a Faith Community Nursing program to implement nurse-led mental health screening, education, and advocacy services within faith communities in Mingo County, West Virginia. WVU School of Nursing faculty will train a cohort of Mingo County nurses and conduct outreach to identify faith communities interested in serving as care access points. Five nurses will be further supported in establishing Faith Community Nursing programs within five faith communities, focusing on developing community members’ mental health literacy and self-advocacy.
Grant Awarded: $50,000
Focus Area: Health and Wellness
YMCA of Huntington
The YMCA of Huntington will replace outdated video monitoring systems at the organization’s primary, youth, and senior buildings. Staff members will receive training on how to operate the new camera system, software, and mobile monitoring app.
Grant Awarded: $48,173
Focus Area: Capacity Building
