What We Fund - Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky

Over the past five years, the Foundation's work has centered around five strategic goals:  Coordinated School Health, Primary Care, Integrating Mental Health and Medical Services, Local Data for Local Action, and Health Advocacy.  Over the next six years, the Foundation will narrow our focus in an effort to create deeper and longer lasting changes on the health and health care of Kentuckians. 

The Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky is pleased to announce the two priorities that will guide our work in 2012-2017 are:   

Promoting Responsive Health Policy
To make public policy more responsive to the health and health care needs of the people of Kentucky.
 
Investing in Kentucky's Future
To improve the health of Kentucky's children by promoting the development and expansion of comprehensive community-based initiatives, including school-based programs.

Each year, the Foundation Board of Directors considers the amount of funding available for grants based on the investment performance of the endowment in the prior year. Funding opportunities are presented in the form of Request for Proposals (RFP).  An Request for Proposals (RFP) is an invitation to submit a proposal for a particular Foundation grant initiative and outlines the focus of the initiative, the steps to apply, proposal deadlines, and more.

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2007-2011 FOUNDATION INITIATIVES

Health Advocacy
Local Data for Local Action
Coodinated School Health
Primary Care
Integrating Mental Health and Medical Services
Community Engagement

Health Advocacy

General Support Grants for Health Advocacy.  In 2007-2011, the Board set aside approximately $500,000 per year to offer general support to established health advocacy groups in the Commonwealth who share our commitment to developing and influencing health policy.  This support represents an annual funding commitment, for a five-year effort to strengthen and improve the sustainability of the voices of advocates working to improve the health of Kentuckians.  Community Catalyst, working with the Public Policy Institute and Alliance for Justice is providing training and technical assistance to these advocacy organizations over the Initiative’s five years.

Community Grants.  The Foundation seeks to support community-based organizations that share the Foundation’s mission.  Since its start in 2004, the Foundation’s Community Grants program has provided grants of $5,000 or less to non-profit organizations, governmental agencies and schools to develop or enhance projects in the areas of health education and prevention, health promotion and increasing access to health care.  In 2010, the limit was increased to $10,000 per grant.  Watch for the new Request for Proposals in the first quarter of 2011.

In addition, the Foundation has worked with Kentucky Voices for Health, a coalition of health advocates and advocacy organizations, to secure three years of funding from the Public Welfare Foundation to launch this effort, and has offered financial support to the Friedell Committee for Health System Transformation.

Howard L. Bost Memorial Health Policy Forum.  Dr. Howard Bost was a founding Board member of the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky. Through his vision and commitment, in a lifetime of dedicated service, Dr. Bost’s policy-level work has improved the health of Kentuckians and all Americans.  His work has been important to: founding the University of Kentucky Albert B. Chandler Medical Center; creation and implementation of the national Medicare program; development of the Appalachian Regional Hospital System and development of Kentucky Medicaid.  The Foundation offers, in his name, an annual forum on health policy.

Local Data for Local Action

This Initiative is designed to make current local data available to local policymakers, and to foster use of data to improve local health. The key elements of the LDLA Initiative are:

Data resources. In partnership with the Department for Public Health/Surveillance & Health Data Branch of Kentucky’s Cabinet for Health & Family Services, the State Data Center (housed at University of Louisville), University of Kentucky epidemiologists, and others, we work to increase availability of county-level health data.  We established and maintain a health data website for Kentucky - www.kyhealthfacts.org - to support local health planning and action, and – in partnership with the Health Foundation for Greater Cincinnati, support conduct of an annual Kentucky Health Issues Poll.

Training.  The Foundation offers training sessions to LDLA grantees and others interested in improving the health of their community through coordinated local planning and action. 2010 training session dates are forthcoming.

Grants.  In 2008, we began making grants to foster use of health data by community leaders working together to improve the health of their city, county or region. The first round of Local Data for Local Action grants was awarded in May 2008.  Click here for a list of grantees. 

Coordinated School Health

The Foundation’s Coordinated School Health Initiative (CSH) addresses the Health Education and Prevention focus.  CSH is a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) model featuring eight components a school can use in order to foster healthy staff, students and families.  During a three-year grant initiative (2004-2006) the Foundation funded 29 school districts in Kentucky to implement CSH components while requiring schools to collect student health data to measure the impact of increased health programming in schools.  Data collection in these schools is still ongoing, with the aim of moving the elements of CSH into the mainstream of school curriculum and management practices.

The Foundation continues to provide technical assistance for the implementation of CSH to interested Kentucky school districts through an annual Coordinated School Health Institute.  The location and date of the 2011 CSH Institute will be forthcoming

The Foundation’s Primary Care Initiative is Bringing Healthcare within Reach: Increasing Access to Comprehensive Primary Care Services.  This 5-year initiative began in 2006 with the aim to find cost-effective ways to: 1) create a more seamless, less fragmented system of health care in Kentucky; 2) assure access to affordable, quality medical, dental and mental health services in locations readily accessible to residents of the Commonwealth and 3) assure that quality care is provided in the least intensive manner needed to address the care-seekers’ health needs.

In 2006, the Foundation awarded planning grants to four organizations to develop strategies for primary care systems in their communities.  Technical assistance is provided by Kentucky Primary Care Association in conjunction with Crown Medical Management.  In 2008, prior year recipients of planning grants were eligible to apply for funding to support pilot implementation of their planned approaches, and two new planning sites were identified.

In 2011, the Foundation will continue to fund training and technical assistance through the Kentucky Primary Care Association and Crown Medical Management.  In addition, we will be working to identify policy change opportunities to improve the ability of rural communities to provide and sustain safe and effective comprehensive primary care services.

Integrating Mental Health and Medical Services

The Foundation’s Initiative focused on the Integration of Mental Health and Medical Services began in 2006 when the Foundation awarded planning grants to six organizations to develop strategies for the integration of mental health and medical services.  In 2007, four of these grantees were provided with funding for pilot implementation of proposed approaches.  In addition to grant support, the Foundation supports this work by convening leaders working to overcome barriers to service integration.  Efforts will continue to focus on addressing broader issues such as financing, information systems, and licensing/practice parameters that are identified during planning and implementation.

In 2011, the Foundation continued to support the Integrated Care Action Team in developing policy recommendations to support sustainable service integration.

Community Engagement

Matching Grants are intended to make it is possible for an applicant to attract resources to the Commonwealth from an external funding source – private or governmental – to improve the health and access to health care of Kentuckians.  Guidelines for this program are posted here.

Challenge Grants support efforts of community foundations that give in the Commonwealth to allocate resources to programs and projects that improve the health of their community, by providing dollar-for-dollar match for approved projects that are consistent with Foundation priorities, up to a total, in 2011, of $100,000.  Projects are jointly monitored by the Foundation and the co-sponsoring community foundation.