Allegany Franciscan Ministries’ 2007 Major Grant Program awarded a total of $1.1 Million to not-for-profit organizations in the Tampa Bay counties of Hillsborough and Pinellas. The goal of the Major Grant Program is to support neighborhood-based programs and initiatives that increase community capacity to improve the overall health status and healthcare access of those most in need.
Boys and Girls Clubs of the Suncoast, St. Petersburg, FL
KUNGA II, $150,000
KUNGA (Knowledge, Understanding, Nonviolence, Gratitude, Action) is an innovative approach developed by a community partnership comprised of Boys and Girls Clubs of the Suncoast, Family Service Centers, and Operation PAR. KUNGA is focused on developing nonviolent/pro-social behaviors, substance-free lifestyles, improved academic performance, and abstinence for 11 to 14 year-old at-risk males (predominantly African American). The program implements systemic approaches that empower them to be health conscious, boost their physical activities, and fortify their souls as they develop positive relationships and acquire healthy self-concepts and strong beliefs in their self worth.
Franciscan Center, Tampa, FL
Healing From Within: Connecting A Community, $150,000
"Healing From Within: Connecting a Community" is a broad-based initiative to promote health services that integrate spiritual wellness in healing the whole person. Working with healthcare professionals, providers and consumers across the community, "Healing from Within" seeks to improve the overall health status of the community and improve access to "whole health" services which emphasize the importance of spirituality in the treatment of disease. In collaboration with St. Anthony’s Hospital, St. Joseph’s Hospital, and select community-based nonprofits, the Franciscan Center is developing a "care for the caregiver" model. Funding will be utilized to continue developing and providing services through this model. In addition, services will continue to be provided on an individual basis through programs serving such groups as recovering addicts and survivors of trauma including sexual abuse and rape.
Healthy Start Coalition of Hillsborough County, Tampa, FL
Family Wellness Program ~ Watch Me Grow, $300,000
Watch Me Grow started as a pilot project with development screening services for children, birth to three who participated in the mobile clinic bus or in one of the Resource Center playgroups with supplementary services to assist families in securing both health insurance and a medical home. The project demonstrated initial success in helping families increase parent-child bonds through developmental activities, increased access to on-going health insurance programs, and greater understanding of how to appropriately establish medical homes and ancillary services.
Allegany Franciscan Ministries funding will allow expanded services to parents and children from birth until they enter preschool or a healthy start program. Services will be family centered and remain with the family as needed and requested as long as they continue residing in Hillsborough County. An average of 50 families will be served at each of the three Family Support and Resource Centers. Developmental specialists will work with pediatric providers to increase their goals and services for monitoring of children's development. A site will be created at Metropolitan Ministries to serve an average of 50 families annually at their homeless service center. Watch Me Grow will provide seamless services unique to each family that will remain constant regardless of family living situation and location.
James B. Sanderlin Family Center, St. Petersburg, FL
Mid-Town Health Initiative, $300,000
The Midtown Health Initiative was established in 2005 and is guided by a Council consisting of community residents, health care system providers, and social service groups working and/or living in Midtown. The purpose of the initiative is to educate, promote, and advocate for the wellness of the community; foster behavior change for healthier lifestyles; provide learning opportunities for community residents; and promote the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being of individual and their families in the community.
Allegany Franciscan Ministries funding will support the three core components of the initiative that are each addressing health disparities. An outreach initiative will build on the success of the "Under the Tree" project to bring health information to the medically underserved and link them with free or affordable services. A team of providers will visit beauty shops, barber shops, nail salons, neighborhood eateries, and planned community activities to establish relationships with owners and patrons. Information will be provided as well as the introduction of a "train the trainer" model where a shop owner will continue the messaging. Through Churches United for Healthy Congregations, technical assistance and other resources will be provided to help congregational leaders develop health ministries. Caregivers services will focus support and resources for grandparents raising grandchildren as well as care of the elderly by family members. Caregiver services are designed to support families staying together and prevent more costly institutional-based care.
Kimberly Home Pregnancy Center, Clearwater, FL
Good Start = Good Health, $100,000
The Kimberly Home Pregnancy Resource Center is partnering with La Clinica Guadalupana to develop a program that serves economically poor and marginalized pregnant women who are often undocumented and have no other avenues of support. The program will utilize and expand each organization's existing services and build upon mutual strengths to provide a patient-centered continuum of prenatal health care for this vulnerable population. A strategic alliance has been formed between the organizations to address the array of social, economic, and cultural factors that prevent women from accessing prenatal care and other medical and social resources throughout their pregnancies. The program will create and pilot a joint social and medical model that provides a continuum of services to overcome these obstacles and barriers. The program will build on natural and other strengths of the family.
St. Joseph's Hospital Foundation, Tampa, FL
The Children's Advocacy Center - Childhood Obesity Collaborative Project, $100,000
The Childhood Obesity Collaborative Project supports community-based groups joining forces to create an initiative that will that will include core components of obesity prevention efforts. Working with both Hillsborough and Pinellas County School districts, the partner team of St. Joseph's Children's Hospital and Advocacy Center, Dewey & Associates, and Tampa Metropolitan YMCA is creative an innovative social marketing campaign designed to promote healthier eating behaviors tied to physical education and exercise components.
The initiative bridges and builds upon the success of several current programs. Kidz Bite Back is an effort focused on reducing kids’ intake of fast food, soft drinks and junk food through the counter-marketing nutrition campaign The Big Fat Industries. St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital reaches over 10,000 kids per year locally with a school-based nutrition program. The Kidz Bite Back campaign could greatly benefit – perhaps become exponentially successful -- if it included a physical activity component equivalent to the Big Fat Industries nutrition component. This initiative will create a physical activity component, utilizing a proven social marketing approach. This new physical activity component will be integrated into all Kidz Bite Back programs.
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