The Oakley Square's Youth Empowerment Program (YEP) is a comprehensive initiative designed to address ACES and the multifaceted challenges faced by at-risk youth in Oakley’s violence-plagued community. Facilitated by TCB’s CL and partnering agencies, YEP will provide academic support, character development, emotional resilience training, and social empowerment to create a safe, supportive environment where youth can thrive and contribute positively to their community.

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We propose to enhance doula support during the postpartum period and add a Community Health Worker (CHW) to the OBGYN care team to in crease patient engagement in perinatal and well child care. These staff members excel at building rapport with patients and will provide health education and solutions to barriers tailored to individual needs.

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Launched in 2023, West Side Healthy Parents & Babies in 2023 is an initiative is designed to address critical maternal and infant health disparities in ten zip codes in Chicago by connecting expectant mothers with a with a variety of existing resources, such doula supports, lactation consultants, assistance with housing and other incentives for patients to remain in care -while helping them navigate the health care system from pregnancy through one year postpartum.

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We are seeking the support of the TCI to fund our SDOH initiatives aimed at improving outcomes for Black mothers & other medically vulnerable populations by 1) providing access to patient advocates, doulas, holistic providers, 2) funding integrative healing justice workshops, and 3) spaces for creative expression & advocacy skills sharing. This work is encompassed in 3 NDoula programs: Legacy Wellness Initiative, Elemental Reproductive HealingArts, and NDoula workshops/professional development.

Vision to Learn will provide vision screenings, exams, and glasses to students, at no cost, in Allamakee, Black Hawk, Dubuque, Jackson, Jones, Marion, Muscatine,Polk, Pottawattamie and Scott Counties via our mobile vision clinic.

The Healthy Pregnancy Coordinated Care Program connects expecting parents to the resources they need to have a safe and healthy pregnancy, birth, and post-partum experience. This program follows a coordinated intake model that facilitates linking pregnant individuals to key service providers in their area. Trinity Muscatine Public Health will screen expecting parents for anticipated needs and will link these individuals to the relevant resources offered through established partnerships.

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It Starts With You is an initiative to recruit and retain court-appointed special advocate (CASA) and foster care review board (FCRB) volunteers for Iowa children in foster care placement. Between 2022 and 2023, the programs lost 100 volunteers for a myriad of reasons, including emotional toll. It Starts With You expands programs through volunteer recruitment, retainment, and appreciation programming.

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The Dental Connections Smile Squad mobile dental program builds a safety net for children who would not otherwise see a dentist by providing dental care at schools. The program has provided care at 80 schools in 8 districts in Des Moines. The shortage of dentists who accept Medicaid insurance has created an unfulfilled need for mobile dentistry in rural areas. The Smile Squad Rural Expansion Program’s goal is to expand the reach of the program to rural schools within 90 miles of Des Moines.

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The proposed project will fill a gap in the support we offer to newcomer families in Denver. A Newcomer Resource Navigator will connects newcomer families with specific services such as housing, employment, and Spanish perinatal and pediatric care.

The Pre & Post-natal Health Care Access for Low-income Mothers (P&PHCA) program aims to enhance prenatal care accessibility and increase wellness visits for children up to age 5 in low-income neighborhoods and underserved communities. P&PHCA aims to promote optimal physical, mental, and social health and well-being for families, children, and youth by improving access to essential healthcare services such as prenatal care and wellness visits.

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Mama Bird Doula Services aims to support 100 BIPOC families in Denver, Adams, and Arapahoe Counties by providing culturally competent prenatal education, postpartum doula care, and lactation support. This project addresses maternal and infant health disparities through targeted interventions, community partnerships, and comprehensive support, ensuring equitable access to quality healthcare and reducing systemic inequities.

The rates of unintended pregnancy and STIs remain high in the US, and disproportionately affect Black youth. We propose a sexual health literacy intervention to empower Colorado black youth through a peer-led sexual health education program that use both in-person and social media engagement.

Variety Care (VC)’s Teen Clinic program is part of a county-wide collaborative effort to reduce HIV and unplanned pregnancy among teens. The program also teaches essential life skills. VC recently constructed a health clinic on the campus of Crooked Oak schools in Oklahoma City, which will be the base of operations for Teen Clinic. VC requests grant funding to pilot a student intern program to increase the effectiveness of the Teen Clinic program and engage the community in prevention.

The UKB PACE Advocate Initiative will serve approximately 100 tribal members within the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians 14 county tribal jurisdictional boundaries in northeastern Oklahoma coordinating tribal and external services to directly address ACES among UKB children and families.

Tulsa CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) is a non-profit organization that recruits, trains, and supports volunteers who advocate for the best interests of children that have suffered abuse and/or neglect, in the court system. The volunteers work with children in the foster care system to ensure their needs are met and that they have a voice in court proceedings

Community Health Centers of Oklahoma (CHCOK) & Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma (LASO) propose a medical-legal partnership to integrate legal advocacy and legal services to strengthen families and communities and address and resolve patient problems and concerns that stem from civil legal problems and their social environmental circumstances. This collaborative effort will support underserved persons in OKC and create a foundation to sustain a collaboration where health responsibility is shared.

People of color and those historically excluded are underrepresented in cancer research fields. The American Cancer Society (ACS) Diversity in Cancer Research (DICR) Internship Program offers paid research internships to undergraduate students whose racial or ethnic background is underrepresented in the scientific community. Interns engage in 10 weeks of hands-on lab experience and mentorship in clinical settings. In 2024, the University of Oklahoma will host 8 interns.

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CMC will provide programming for refugee families that supports physical, social, and mental health for children and families, including prenatal classes for Afghan women, parent education classes for refugee parents and guardians, and youth programming for refugee middle and high school youth.

There is a nationwide shortage of speech-language pathologists plus a lack of diversity in the speech-language pathology field (currently 92% white). To help diversify the field, CHAT is offering a paid summer internship to BIPOC aspiring SLPs to gain the necessary experience for graduate school entry.

Every birth story holds the weight of history. Chicago Volunteer Doulas is embarking on a transformative mission. At its core,"100 Doulas Rising" is our ambitious endeavor to educate and train 100 Doulas, making them eligible for Medicaid Reimbursement and equipping them with employable skills. By ensuring their certification in Full-Spectrum Doula training, this program champions birth equity and paves the way for a healthier future for parents and babies alike.

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Child Advocates - Denver CASA requests $50,000 to help address the gap in individualized services for older youth as they prepare to age out of the child welfare system in Denver by providing a CASA Volunteer or Mentor to participating youth in the Older Youth Program (OYP).

Our Doula Program in Rockford uses specifically trained home visitors (Doulas) who provide support to high-risk, young women before, during, and after pregnancy, in order to reduce the risk of child abuse and neglect and to develop strong parent child attachments and healthy futures for families.

FIRST strategically integrates pregnant/postpartum people and families with lived experience into every level of maternal-infant care in Colorado healthcare facilities and communities to address root causes of maternal mortality and increase access to culturally-relevant, safe, equitable care.

CAP Tulsa is seeking support for the Home Visiting program, which offers personal visits where trained parent educators meet one-on-one with parents and children in their homes. The focus of these visits is parent-child interaction, development-centered parenting, and family well-being.

The Eastern Iowa Certified Medical Interpreter Pilot Project will reduce language barriers and increase positive healthcare outcomes for immigrant populations by building capacity for certified Marshallese and Spanish-language medical interpretation services.

A lack of local, community-centered medical interpreters limits access to healthcare. This project will train community members in interpretation and create a database of interpreters ready to work with healthcare providers in the region.

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CommunityHealth is a free clinic serving low-income, uninsured Chicagoans, many of whom are immigrants and do not speak English as a first language. It’s also a training ground for future healthcare professionals, allowing them the opportunity to work with this underserved, unique population.

We are proposing to develop a mental health curriculum for Community Health Workers (CHW) that builds upon and disseminates our experiences and lessons learned integrating mental health interventions into CHW-led programs to help address health inequities and further advance this important career.

Funding from Telligen will advance MDCC’s behavioral health workforce development program that creatively supports providers across the career lifespan through the agency’s successful internship, fellowship, contract, and affiliate provider programs.

Funding will help prevent youth suicide and unify Illinois schools in a collective shift from stigma to support by expanding the evidence-based Hope Squad program which organizes peer-nominated support teams trained by advisors to identify and reach out to others exhibiting warning signs of suicide.

Workshops that encourage caregivers of LGBTQ+ youth to create accepting and affirming environments and advocate for the safety and inclusion of LGBTQ+ youth. Adult support is critical for LGBTQ+ youth mental health, suicide prevention, lifelong wellbeing, and fostering healthy relationships.

Erie House’s Pathways to Success Program provides holistic and culturally competent healthcare career preparation to over 200 adults from low-income and immigrant families across Cook County.

The Healthy Pregnancy Program (HPP) provides education and support to low-income pregnant individuals to ensure healthy babies and reduce maternal mortality amidst an ever-increasing maternity care desert in Iowa.

This project aims to use an interdisciplinary team of Black professionals in medicine, public health, psychology, and behavior science, in collaboration with community leaders to address the growing inequity in maternal health outcomes through community and individualized education of Black women.

Coordinate wrap-around social and professional development support and stipends for young adults entering the healthcare workforce in our Clinical Health Coach, Community Health Worker and Care Management workforce development lattice. Engage primarily young adults aging out of foster care, graduating from alternative schools, and those living at or below the poverty level by connecting them with services and equity-committed healthcare organizations seeking new staff.

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HopeHouse OKC supports families facing homelessness with housing, case management, and family-centered programs. The hopeKIDS program focuses on working with children and parents, offering after-school activities, parent-child classes, mentoring, group counseling, and trauma-informed training.

Imani's Village, Inc is committed to enhancing infant and maternal health in the Black community which currently experiences the highest rates of infant and maternal mortality. Our program consists of providing free doula services to Black birthing families as evidence continues to show that getting doula support during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum helps to leads to improved mental and physical outcomes.

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This project will enroll 15 participants aged 17-24 from disadvantaged backgrounds in south central Iowa in a paid summer apprenticeship program to become EMTs. The 10.5-week program features state approved EMT coursework leading to national certification testing, hands-on, on-the-job training with area healthcare employers, career exploration and soft skills training. Seven area ambulance services will serve as host sites, facilitating labs, career exploration and clinicals.

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IBDC is improving Black maternal and child health outcomes in Iowa through targeted integrative services, including comprehensive doula support for prenatal care, birth, breastfeeding, and postpartum health; culturally responsive parenting group support; postpartum health resource and referral.

Iowa CareGivers(IC), as part of its new 3-year strategic plan framework, will pilot a more structured and branded self-care program for Direct Care Workers (DCWs), and collaborate with partners to include Community Health Workers, and Public Health Workers to reduce burnout.

LSI's Early Childhood Home Visitation programming provides evidenced-based and locally-designed family support/parent education designed for at-risk pregnant women and families with children ages 0-5 in order to promote positive child development outcomes and safe, healthy families.

WorkAdvance is an evidence-based workforce development program designed to build a skilled and inclusive healthcare workforce in the Tulsa metro area. Through no-cost training, career coaching, job placement and wrap-around support, WorkAdvance equips underserved individuals for careers in healthcare that offer steady, high-paying wages with opportunities for career advancement, contributing to the long-term success of individuals and sustainability and vitality of our healthcare employers.

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Deliver statewide training to 120-140 behavioral health providers regarding mental health needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (LGBTQ+) Coloradans that result from systemic discrimination, biases in healthcare that negatively impact their treatment, and providing culturally responsive and affirming care to LGBTQ+individuals.

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Prepare Black and Latinx healthcare professionals to advance along a career pathway from CNA to BS in Nursing, advancing racial equity and health equity by boosting the region’s healthcare system. Bringing providers together across the health system to ensure a seamless pathway to advancement.

In 2020, OC offered a cohort of 20 healthcare workers a way out of low-level jobs through online courses, allowing students to remain employed while working on a nursing degree. Today with 330 students enrolled, we seek funding for a program director, marketing materials, and refreshing of courses.

The OU College of Nursing Student Success Center aids in workforce development by providing intervention services for students, such as tutoring, group study sessions, academic coaching, time management, and study skills. The program aims to successfully transition from nurse formation to practice.

Promise Community Health Center will assist licensed therapists from underrepresented backgrounds advance their knowledge and skills and achieve independent licensure, improving the accessibility of therapy services for high-risk patient populations.

Shawnee Health Services (SH or Shawnee) proposes to expand our OBGYN clinic doula services to reach 200 expectant mothers, providing the education and support needed to positively affect maternal and infant health outcomes.

Shawnee Health's proposed project addresses the area’s on-going demand for dental assistants in our region. Our apprentice program helps supply the area’s depleted dental assistant workforce. Our project requests support for our 2024 dental assistant apprentice program in our dental clinics. Funding will provide support for 2 apprentice’s salaries, fringe benefits and educational costs as well as support for the Dental Assistant Preceptors who train and provide oversight to the apprentices.

SIHF Healthcare, an FQHC serving low-income populations across Southern Illinois, seeks to establish sustainable medical and mental health services at schools where children struggle due to a lack of medical access created by low social determinants of health through one-time, start-up funding.

SWCAHEC will contribute oversight, coordination, and training content related to working with rural, underserved, and tribal communities. The program focus will be on training Native American paraprofessionals in primary care to serve diverse community members.

The STudents Reaching Excellence Through Collaboration with Higher EDucation (STRETCHED) program is designed to help increase the number of healthcare practitioners from limited-income, first-generation, and underrepresented minority groups. STRETCHED provides exposure experiences to high school students to help spawn an interest in pursuing a healthcare career.

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The UKB PACE Advocate Initiative will serve approximately 150 tribal members within the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians' 14 county tribal jurisdictional boundaries in northeastern Oklahoma, coordinating tribal and external services to directly address ACEs among UKB children and families.

The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics Nurse-Midwifery Education Program (NMEP) was successfully launched in the fall of 2023. As Program Director, I would like to provide scholarships to all the students enrolled in the program to offset the costs of education. Each cohort has four students. In the fall of 2024, we start our second cohort, so we anticipate we will have eight students total.  

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To support and grow a skilled, integrated, and recovery-oriented peer workforce, we must understand peer and employer challenges in diverse communities in Iowa. We will use study findings to develop curricula, write a TA strategic plan, and broadly disseminate a best practices peer supervision guide.

Students Reaching Excellence Through Collaboration with Higher Ed (STRETCHED) is a program for high-school students designed to spark interest in healthcare careers. With this proposal, we hope to secure funding to develop the program, expanding offerings into the full four years of high school.

VNAPC's home- and shelter-based Parenting Support programs strengthen high-need, high-promise children and families through a multigenerational focus on maternal and child health, prevention of abuse/neglect, child development and school readiness, parenting skills, and family self-sufficiency.

VNA Health Care is seeking funding support for our Nursing Career Pathway Program. This program was developed during the pandemic in an effort to improve opportunities for career development, close staffing gaps, and promote diversity and equity in VNA’s nursing workforce that staff shortages have particularly impacted. This program supports 75% of the tuition expenses of under-resourced individuals seeking to progress in a nursing career at VNA serving vulnerable populations.

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Youth Crossroads offers a workforce development program to provide introductory training in community health work and youth mental health services to high school students and young adults (ages 16-24) in Chicago's near west suburbs, which are 87% low-income and 84% 1st and 2nd generation Latina/o/x.

La Cocina’s integrative Latine behavioral healthcare institute and Applied Liberation Psychology practice center welcomes new bilingual (Spanish-English) faculty and a cohort of monolingual Spanish-speaking trainees to El Instituto–the only community co-designed Latine training center that delivers culturally-affirming social, emotional and neurodevelopmental healthcare in Spanish. Known for its supportive networks, El Instituto is built “by Latines, with Latines, and for Latines.”

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DVIS proposes to establish a Caring Dads program, an evidence-based intervention curriculum for fathers who have perpetrated violence in their families. This will change our current counseling practices to better include fathers in order to enhance their children's safety and well-being.