2024 STRENGTHENING FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES GRANTS

The work of 16 nonprofit groups in Colorado, Illinois, Iowa and Oklahoma has been recognized by TCI through recent grant selection. These projects started on December 1. TCI would like to extend our congratulations to each of these organizations.

“We continue to see how funding community-based organizations inspires further collaboration and efforts designed to address social drivers of health,”

said Matt McGarvey, Executive Director of Telligen Community Initiative.

“The impact of the programs and services offered by these 16 organizations and their collaborators is inspiring. TCI is proud to be a small part of enhancing their impact.”

Below is a complete listing of the organizations funded in this grant cycle and short descriptions of their funded projects. To learn more about any individual project, please visit our website at https://www.telligenci.org/recent-grantees.

COLORADO (4 grantee summaries = $275,582)

Gyedi Project

Aurora, CO | $74,562 | Adams, Arapahoe & Denver Counties of Focus
The rates of unintended pregnancy and STIs remain high in the United States and disproportionately affect Black youth. Through sexual health literacy intervention, the Gyedi Project will empower Colorado black youth through a peer-led sexual health education program that uses both in-person and social media engagement.

‍
Thriving Families

Denver, CO | $75,000 | Denver, Adams, Broomfield, Arapahoe, Douglas & Jefferson Counties of Focus

The project will fill a gap in the support Thriving Families offers to newcomer families in Denver. A Newcomer Resource Navigator will connect newcomer families with specific services such as housing, employment, and Spanish perinatal and pediatric care.

‍
Peak Vista Community Health Centers

Colorado Springs, CO | $51,020 | El Paso County of Focus
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.

‍
Mama Bird Doula Services

Aurora, CO | $75,000 | Denver, Arapahoe & Adams Counties of Focus
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 will address maternal and infant health disparities through targeted interventions, community partnerships and comprehensive support, ensuring equitable access to quality healthcare and reducing systemic inequities.

‍
ILLINOIS (4 grantee summaries = $275,000)

Shawnee Health Service & Development Corp.

Carterville, IL | $75,000 | Jackson, Williamson, Franklin, Union, Perry, Randolph, Saline, Johnson, Alexander, Pulaski, Massac, Pope, Hardin & Gallatin Counties of Focus
Shawnee Health Service and Development Corporation will strive to enhance doula support during the postpartum period and add a Community Health Worker (CHW) to the OBGYN care team to increase 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.

‍
Rush University Medical Center (West Side United)

Chicago, IL | $75,000 | City of Chicago (MSA) Focus
Launched in 2023, West Side Healthy Parents & Babies in 2023 is an initiative designed to address critical maternal and infant health disparities in ten zip codes in Chicago. The initiative strives to connect expectant mothers with a variety of existing resources, such as doula support s, 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.

‍
NDoula Community Alliance Inc.

Chicago, IL | $75,000 | Cook & Will Counties of Focus
NDoula Community Alliance Inc.’s SDOH initiatives are 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) offering spaces for creative expression and advocacy skills sharing. This work is encompassed in three NDoula programs, including Legacy Wellness Initiative, Elemental Reproductive Healing Arts, and NDoula workshops/professional development.

‍
The Community Builders (TCB)

Chicago, IL | $50,000 | City of Chicago (MSA) Focus
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 Community Life 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.

‍

IOWA (4 grantee summaries = $222,898)

Vision to Learn

Los Angeles, CA | $75,000 | Allamakee, Black Hawk, Dubuque, Jackson, Jones, Marion, Muscatine, Polk, Pottawattamie & Scott Counties of Focus
Vision To Learn will provide vision screenings, exams and glasses at no cost to students in the targeted counties at its mobile vision clinic.

‍
Trinity Muscatine Public Health

Muscatine, IA | $57,898 | Muscatine & Louisa Counties of Focus
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 through a coordinated intake model that helps link pregnant individuals to key service providers in their area. Trinity Muscatine Public Health will screen expecting parents for anticipated needs and link these individuals to relevant resources offered through established partnerships.

‍
Friends of Iowa CASA and ICFCRB‍

Des Moines, IA | $15,000 | Statewide Iowa Focus
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.

‍
Dental Connections

Des Moines, IA | $75,000 | Cerro Gordo, Franklin, Hardin, Story, Marshall, Polk, Jasper, Dallas, Marion, Lucas, Clark, Madison, Tama, Poweshiek, Grundy, Wright, Hamilton, Webster, Greene, Guthrie, Adair, Boone & Mahaska Counties of Focus
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 80 schools in eight 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 will expand the program’s reach to rural schools within 90 miles of Des Moines.

‍

OKLAHOMA
(4 grantee summaries = $242,325)

Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma, Inc.

Oklahoma City, OK | $75,000 | City of Oklahoma City (MSA) Focus
Through a medical-legal partnership, Community Health Centers of Oklahoma (CHCOK) & Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma (LASO) will integrate legal advocacy and legal services to strengthen families and communities.The collaborative effort will also address and resolve patient problems/concerns that stem from civil legal problems and their social environmental circumstances. Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma, Inc. will support underserved persons in  OKC and create a foundation to sustain a collaboration where health responsibility is shared.

‍
Variety Care (VC)

Oklahoma City, OK | $75,000 | City of Oklahoma City (MSA) Focus
Variety Care’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 will pilot a student intern program to increase thee ffectiveness of the Teen Clinic program and engage the community in prevention.

‍
United Keetoowah Band (UKB) Indian Child Welfare

Tahlequah, OK | $72,325 | Adair, Cherokee, Craig, Delaware, Mayes, McIntosh, Muskogee, Nowata, Ottawa, Rogers, Sequoyah, Tulsa, Wagoner & Washington Counties of Focus
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 by coordinating tribal and external services to directly address ACES among UKB children and families.

‍
Tulsa CASA

Tulsa, OK | $20,000 | Tulsa County of Focus
‍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.

‍

NEW FUNDING OPPORTUNITY TO BUILD NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS

‍
In another effort to improve nonprofit organizational effectiveness, TCI is deploying a new funding opportunity in 2025. The Capacity Investment is an intentional effort to offer resources that are not community based project implementation support like our traditional RFPs.

This funding option is intended to support investments in ways that will make your nonprofit organization more prepared and emboldened to implement its mission. This funding opportunity is designed to change things about the inner workings of your organization that will structurally impact the work of your organization, such as those sitting at your governance table, the way you utilize data for strategy and planning, and developing more equitable approaches to your default way of achieving impact.

In 2025, applications for this funding opportunity will be by invitation only. Organizations invited to apply will be selected from a small group of 2024 grant funding finalists that did not receive grants. This more limited playing field of applicants should allow us to learn how high functioning nonprofits look at this type of support.

It is exciting for TCI to utilize applicant input on needed funding to better support organizations in doing their work going forward. We will share lessons learned and ways this may materialize more broadly in our immediate future to be a better funding collaborator.

SYNERGY CENTER WELCOMES NONPROFITS

Vision to Learn and Love for Red

For nearly a decade, Telligen Community Initiative has funded a shared office space for health-related nonprofits addressing some facet of social drivers of health. The Synergy Center, which is located in Des Moines, Iowa, provides a collaborative environment that helps foster new relationships for smallstaffed nonprofits, leading to knowledge sharing that helps organizations advance their respective missions.

TCI provides all associated operational costs of the space to better allow nonprofits to focus on advancing their important missions. There are currently nine nonprofits housed in the Synergy Center.

‍
In 2025, several new nonprofits will be joining our space, including Vision to Learn and Love for Red. Please read more about the important work of each nonprofit below.

Vision To Learn (VTL) partners with school districts through Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) that outline the responsibilities of VTL and the district. Vision To Learn’s program model makes it easy for students to access eye care, and easy for schools to bring Vision To Learn to their campus. Typical district responsibilities include coordinating consent forms for exams and escorting kids from the classroom to the mobile clinic. The program begins with vision screenings for all students, utilizing medically appropriate tools. VTL’s work provides vision screenings, eye exams and glasses to children in low-income communities, at no cost to the children or their families. To learn more about VTL, please visit their website at https://visiontolearn.org/.

Love For Red is a nonprofit organization that believes feeling clean and having dignity while having your period should not be a privilege only some can enjoy. Love for Red’s innovative work strives to end period poverty through service, advocacy and awareness. Love For Red partners predominantly with school-based organizations to advance its mission and unique model. To learn more about Love for Red, please visit their website at https://www.loveforred.org/.