What You Should Know:
– Health insurer UnitedHealthcare has donated $11M in grants to nonprofit organizations across 11 states.
– These grants are part of our Empowering Health program focused on expanding access to care and addressing the social determinants of health (SDoH) for people in underserved communities. These grants assist individuals and families experiencing challenges from food insecurity, social isolation and behavioral health issues, and support local health promotion and health literacy efforts.
Empowering Health Program
These grants will help those struggling with food insecurity, social isolation, behavioral health issues, health literacy efforts and more.
The grants include:
· $300,000 to Mama’s Kitchen in San Diego County, California to expand the home-delivered meal service program, which provides medically tailored meals for low-income individuals recently discharged from the hospital with a primary diagnosis of HIV, cancer, congestive heart failure or type 2 diabetes.
· $250,000 to Boys and Girls Clubs in Benton Harbor, Michigan to help expand the Triple Play program which addresses physical activity, good nutrition and healthy relationships for children ages 6-18.
· $150,000 to American Indian Health Center, Goodheart Behavioral Health in Spokane, Washington to hire a mental health clinician who specializes in therapeutic interventions for the Native American community and increase the number of community members served.
· $150,000 to Sowega Council on Aging in South Georgia to deploy social isolation solutions through the Senior Center Without Walls program.
· $90,000 to On Our Own of Maryland to conduct facilitator training to start and expand recognized, evidence-based peer support programs such as Whole Health Action Management and Wellness Recovery Action Plan, at five peer-run Wellness and Recovery Centers.
· $65,000 to Resource Council of WNY in Buffalo, New York to establish the R-Kids Cupboard children’s food pantry (with refrigerators, freezers, shelving units, nutritious food and more) and a demonstration kitchen to offer healthy cooking classes for the community.
The Empowering Health program launched across the country in 2018 and has invested more than $51 million through partnerships with community-based organizations in 30 states and the District of Columbia. In June, the United Health Foundation, the philanthropic foundation of UnitedHealth Group, the parent company of UnitedHealthcare, made a $100 million commitment over 10 years to advance health equity, furthering its efforts to eliminate health disparities. This was the largest single philanthropic commitment ever made by the United Health Foundation.
“We see profound, persistent disparities playing out along racial lines in communities across the country. UnitedHealthcare is committed to addressing social and economic factors that have an impact on achieving and maintaining good health,” said Olivia Jefferson, vice president of social responsibility at UnitedHealthcare. “Ultimately, health is local. That’s why we’re working collectively with community organizations through our Empowering Health grants to advance change for people we call our friends, family and neighbors.”
