Organizations Address Health Equity Issues, To Receive $ 1.2 Million In Grants From Connecticut Health Foundation – Connecticut by the Numbers

Discretionary grants, selected by Foundation President Tiffany Donelson, are awarded to organizations and institutions that meet the foundation’s overall mission or priority areas.

CT Health Access, Hartford: $ 25,000 – This funding will support the first phase of establishing a Broker Academy to increase the number of trusted, local and culturally competent insurance brokers in Hartford, New Haven and Bridgeport. In the first phase of this work, Access Health CT will focus on outreach to community organizations to identify potential candidates for the academy, recruiting students for the brokerage academy, and recruiting brokerage agencies. to serve as mentors to students.

Connecticut Citizens Research Group, Hartford: $ 25,000 – This grant will support the Medicaid Strategy Group in their work to raise awareness of healthcare affordability issues, protect Medicaid coverage at the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency and develop an advocacy plan and campaign for 2022 based on data and stakeholder input.

Connecticut Health Policy Project, Hamden: $ 25,000 – This funding will support the Connecticut Health Policy Project’s work on its CT Health Policy Toolkit to expand capacity and understanding of health policy among state residents by enabling readers to quickly learn about health issues in as much detail as they want. It will cover topics such as Medicaid, health equity, insurance, health financing, social determinants of health and the impact of COVID-19.

Greater Bridgeport Prevention Program, Bridgeport: $ 25,000 – This funding will support the Greater Bridgeport Area Prevention Program in the creation of the Sankofa Resiliency Training Institute. The institute will build on the organization’s existing Black Men and Trauma program and offer training on topics such as historical trauma and their link to poor health outcomes; racial trauma and black men; and peer leadership. The training institute is designed to develop leaders who can bring the often under-represented perspectives of black men to discussions of racial trauma and healing in contexts such as town halls, community organizations and legislative discussions.

Meriden Record-Journal: $ 25,000 – This funding will help Record-Journal hire a health equity reporter who will take a solutions-based approach to reporting on health disparities affecting Black and Latino residents. The journalist’s work will be distributed in English and Spanish to other publications and through a local network of Latino speakers.

Connecticut Office of Health Strategy, Hartford: $ 25,000 – This funding will support technical assistance to provide advice on the financial structure and investment strategy to establish a health equity trust that would be designed to address health inequalities.

Laurel house, Stamford: $ 25,000 – This funding will support Laurel House’s efforts to improve access to mental health care for people of color in Connecticut through outreach as well as the development of additional content for the website www.rtor.org.

Interruptions: disrupting the silence, New Haven: $ 10,000 – This project aims to break down barriers to psychotherapy and long-standing distrust of behavioral health care among communities of color, using Let’s Talk, a program that facilitates conversations about trauma , mourning and healing. This funding will support the training of religious leaders, nonprofit staff, community leaders and others on the Let’s Talk model, as well as the development and evaluation of training materials.

Connecticut Council for Philanthropy, Hartford: $ 7,000 – This grant supports the Connecticut Council for Philanthropy by providing Racial Equity Institute training on the ‘Groundwater Approach,’ which emphasizes how systems and structures contribute to the racial inequity.

Connecticut Psychological Association Educational Foundation, North Haven: $ 4,800 – This grant will help the organization increase participation in its free monthly social justice lecture series, which is designed to educate behavioral health clinicians on topics such as disparities, differences of power, racism, advocacy and alliance.

The foundation also provides what it describes as “Trusted Messenger Grants” because “information is essential in a public health crisis and often the messenger is as important as the message itself.” Officials point out that “messages are much more effective when delivered from trusted sources,” noting that the foundation has been providing grants to trusted messaging organizations since 2020. Among the latest:

• New Haven Community Action Agency, New Haven: $ 15,000

• Cross Street Training and Academic Center, Middletown: $ 15,000

• Grace Baptist Church, Waterbury: $ 15,000

• Greater Bridgeport Prevention Program, Bridgeport: $ 15,000

• Access to the New Haven project, New Haven: $ 15,000

• The Hartford Heritage Foundation, Hartford: $ 15,000