EHF approved $4 million in September to benefit 18 new grant partners working to strengthen the health system across Texas for the poor and those with the fewest resources. EHF’s Board of Directors has now awarded more than $13 million in grants in 2016 to organizations working across 57 Texas counties to improve health.
“We believe ALL Texans deserve to live a healthy life – especially those who are often on the outside looking in,” said Elena Marks, EHF’s president and CEO. “These grants will help make the health system more accessible to low-income Texans and also increase the ability for clinics and organizations to offer the kind of preventive care that better addresses the root causes of sickness and poor health.”
The health crisis in Texas is clear. Our state ranks near the bottom when it comes to the health of our children and adults. More Texans live without health insurance than anywhere else in America. Too many Texans die prematurely from heart disease and strokes.
“Nonprofits, clinics, health departments, hospitals, people of faith and philanthropic institutions must work together to create a health system that ensures Texans can not only receive quality medical and mental health care, but that the places they live and work enable them to get and stay healthy,” Marks said.
Grants announced include:
$586,735 to Waco Foundation/Prosper Waco
EHF’s grant supports a pilot project that uses Community Health Workers to help at-risk residents become connected to the health system in Waco. The project connects residents who were often going without care to community clinics and doctors. The goal is to improve their access to medical and mental healthcare, adopt healthier lifestyles and manage chronic health conditions. The project was created after the Prosper Waco initiative asked a group of residents about what change was necessary to help those most in need throughout their community. Along with connecting residents to clinics, the grant helps strengthen clinics’ ability to serve more patients.
$100,000 to Enroll America
EHF’s grant will help the organization lead efforts to enroll and re-enroll at-risk Texans in Affordable Care Act health insurance plans. The grant helps Enroll America maintain its Get Covered Connector software that streamlines appointments between the uninsured and trained enrollment assistants. With EHF’s support, Enroll America will enhance its Connector efforts in Beaumont, Waco, Bryan/College Station, Austin and Houston and will continue to work with community-based organizations to increase and sustain enrollment efforts into the future.
$100,000 to Texans Care for Children, Inc.
This grant supports an effort to broaden awareness and improve enrollment in the state’s Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) program. The ECI program provides service and therapies to families with infant-to-three year-old children who are developmentally or intellectually delayed. It will strengthen ECI efforts in Harris County and East Texas, particularly in minority communities where ECI enrollment has dropped dramatically. This kind of service impacts the long-term health and developmental outcomes for children.
Additional new EHF grant partners:
Bethesda Health Clinic (Smith County)
$100,000
EHF Strategy: Increase access to health services
Grant is to provide operating support to the community clinic.
Career and Recovery Resources, Inc. (Harris County)
$50,000
EHF Strategy: Support mental health and wellness
Grant supports a client management system designed to create a stronger continuum of care by monitoring, recording and reporting services.
Christ Clinic (Fort Bend County)
$200,000
EHF Strategy: Increase access to health services
Grant provides operating support to a community clinic implementing a new electronic records system, new family planning services and a recent change in location resulting in more space and a spike in patient population growth.
Cy-Hope (Harris County)
$38,500
EHF Strategy: Support mental health and wellness
Grant is to expand the Center for Children and Families, a Cy-Hope counseling clinic, with a bilingual counselor and operating funds.
El Buen Samaritano Episcopal Mission (Travis County)
$866,000
EHF Strategy: Support comprehensive, community-based primary care
Grant provides operating and capacity building funds for El Buen’s Wallace Mallory Clinic.
Episcopal Relief and Development
$200,000
EHF Strategy: Increase access to health services
Grant supports health-related work in developing countries.
Foundation Communities (Travis County)
$111,720
EHF Strategy: Increase access to health services
Grant is to expand partnerships and serve more clients with insurance enrollment, information, navigation and patient advocacy under the Affordable Care Act.
Healthcare for the Homeless-Houston (Harris County)
$100,000
EHF Strategy: Support comprehensive, community-based primary care
Grant is to provide operating support for integrated healthcare and stabilization services for homeless Houstonians.
Interfaith Community Clinic (Montgomery County)
$100,000
EHF Strategy: Support comprehensive, community-based primary care
Grant is to provide operating support for a health clinic in Montgomery County.
Julie Rogers “Gift of Life” Program (Jefferson County)
$100,000
EHF Strategy: Increase access to health services
Grant is to provide educational outreach and preventive screenings for breast cancer and prostate cancer and provide navigation services to treatment for underserved Southeast Texans.
Rape and Suicide Crisis Center of Southeast Texas, Inc. (Jefferson County)
$45,000
EHF Strategy: Support mental health and wellness
Grant is to provide mental health service, referral and support for victims of sexual assault and for those experiencing thoughts about suicide.
Sabine Valley Regional MHMR Center/Community Healthcare (Gregg County)
$144,178
EHF Strategy: Support mental health and wellness
Grant is to fund the recruitment, hiring and training of persons with experience of mental illness for peer-to-peer support that expands the service model of care for individuals with severe mental illness.
Samaritan Counseling Center of Tyler (Smith County)
$166,160
EHF Strategy: Support mental health and wellness
Grant will fund a strategic expansion of affordable, quality counseling in five underserved East Texas counties, including a feasibility study and development support.
Tejas Health Care (Fayette County)
$100,000
EHF Strategy: Increase access to health services
Grant is to expand primary, dental and behavioral health care for medically underserved children, adults and families.
Young Invincibles (Harris County)
$75,000
EHF Strategy: Increase access to health services
Recent EHF research shows 25% of Texans don’t understand basic health insurance terms. That confusion makes it harder for people to effectively use their health insurance to access needed medical services. This grant will help young, newly-insured African Americans and Latinos in Houston and across Texas better understand and make the most of their health insurance coverage.
