News Release

EHF invests $3.2 million to help nonprofits have a bigger, long-lasting impact on health of Texans

EHF has approved $3.2 million to benefit 17 new grant partners working to take an active role in solving the underlying cause of poor health for Texans. With these latest grants, EHF’s Board of Directors awarded a total of 122 grants in 2016 worth more than $16.2 million to organizations working across 57 Texas counties to improve health for the poor and those with the least resources.
Screen Shot 2016-12-13 at 3.27.18 PM.pngTommy Williams is a client of Patient Care Innovation Center, a newly-named 2016 EHF grant partner working in Harris County.
 

“To address the health crisis in Texas, nonprofits and institutions have to work differently,” said Elena Marks, EHFs president and CEO. “Many of these organizations aren’t just providing treatment for diseases and sickness, they’re addressing the underlying causes that are making Texans unhealthy. It’s all about improving health, not just healthcare.”

EHF’s latest grants are designed to help bolster the ability of nonprofits and medical providers to have a larger and more sustained impact on the overall health of those they serve.

“We’re responding to the needs of these key organizations by providing resources that allow them to become stronger and better serve our communities,” Marks said.

New grants announced include:

Austin Interfaith Sponsoring Committee, Inc. (AISC)
Austin
$150,000
EHF Strategy: Support capacity building

EHF’s grant will help the organization strengthen a community’s ability to advocate for their own priority health issues. These efforts will focus on under-represented communities in Bastrop, Travis and Williamson counties. AISC will train and support community leaders to hold elected officials accountable for unaddressed issues like unequal access to healthcare. The efforts will also help communities push policy makers to address the underlying causes of poor health like education, housing and workforce issues.

Patient Care Innovation Center (PCIC)
Houston
$250,000
EHF Strategy: Increase access to health services

This grant supports Patient Care Innovation Center’s groundbreaking effort to dramatically improve the health of low-income patients who chronically use the ER as their only source of medical care in Harris County. PCIC’s program identifies these vulnerable patients and then coordinates their healthcare with primary care physicians and connects them to vital social services. Along with improving patients’ health, this model has also significantly reduced the overall financial costs to Harris County public hospitals and other healthcare providers by building a more efficient health system for at-risk patients.

Northwest Assistance Ministries (NAM)
Houston
$300,000
EHF Strategy: Support comprehensive, community-based primary care

EHF’s grant provides operating funds for Northwest Assistance Ministries to deliver desperately needed medical services and intensive case management to low-income families in Northwest Houston. NAM’s programs include a home-visit project for its children’s clinic that helps identify the root cause of children’s chronic illnesses, including asthma. The program then works to remedy the non-medical issues at home that are negatively affecting a family’s health.

Angel from Asthma home visitation project.jpgWatch EHF’s new video of Angel’s Story: See how NAM’s home-visit program helped identify an old carpet, a worn mattress and mold that were causing the 14-year-old’s asthma attacks. You’ll learn how NAM’s program then worked to replace and repair the problems inside Angel’s home.


Additional new EHF Grant Partners:

Austin Child Guidance Center (Travis County)
$121,855
EHF Strategy: Support mental health and wellness

Grant is to expand the mental health safety net for children and families who cannot access traditional therapy services.

Center for Public Policy Priorities (CPPP)(Travis County)
$150,000
EHF Strategy: Increased access to health services
Grant supports CPPP’s work to support access to healthcare and health benefits coverage across Texas.

Communities for Recovery (Travis County)
$150,000
EHF Strategy: Support mental health and wellness
Grant provides operating support to expand a peer-based recovery coach model offering long-term support services for people diagnosed with mental health and substance use disorders.

East Texas Behavioral Healthcare Network (Angelina County)
$101,884
EHF Strategy: Support mental health and wellness
Grant supports building capacity within local mental health certified peer specialists to reduce stigma around mental illness by sharing their personal recovery stories.

Family Services of Greater Houston (Harris County)
$100,000
EHF Strategy: Support mental health and wellness
Grant is to expand mental health counseling services to low-income children, adults and families.

Hope and Healing Center (Harris County)
$168,676
EHF Strategy: Support mental health and wellness
Grant provides support for mental health care training at faith communities in low-income areas of Greater Houston.

Manos de Cristo (Travis County)
$40,000
EHF Strategy: Increases access to health services
Grant is to provide a dental home and low-cost oral health treatment for low-income, underserved clients.

Matagorda Episcopal Health Outreach Program (MEHOP) (Matagorda County)
$200,000
EHF Strategy: Support mental health and wellness
Grant is to provide integrated behavioral health treatment for patients with anxiety and depression who don’t have financial means to pay for treatment and/or medication.

Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute (MMHPI) (Statewide)
$500,000
EHF Strategy: Support mental health and wellness
Grant provides support for statewide mental health policy development.

Peoples Community Clinic (PCC)(Travis County)
$225,000
EHF Strategy: Support comprehensive, community-based primary care

Grant supports services offered by the medical-legal partnership program to PCC patients and to create a Community Partnership Manager position.

Samaritan Counseling Center of Southeast Texas (Jefferson County)
$60,000
EHF Strategy: Support capacity building
Grant will provide support for a staff position that will increase revenue for future sustainability of the mental health service provider.

SEARCH Homeless Services (Harris County)
$236,105
EHF Strategy: Increase access to health services
Grant will support funding of two full-time Disability Benefits Specialists to assist clients in obtaining SSI/SSDI benefits and qualifying clients for Medicaid. Grant also supports funding for two case managers to provide onsite services.

The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (Harris County)
$100,000
EHF Strategy: Increase access to health services

Grant provides dental care for vulnerable populations across Houston and in Orange and Jasper counties.