What We Fund - Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky

The Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky funds both statewide and community-based efforts to improve the health and quality of life of all Kentuckians. Foundation-sponsored forums bring together the Commonwealth’s policymakers, civic leaders, health professionals and advocates to share information and build capacity for positive health change. Foundation grants offer funding for planning and piloting programs to promote healthy living and access to needed health services. Organizations eligible for funding include non-profit organizations, including governmental agencies whose efforts primarily benefit persons who reside in Kentucky.   Please review the Foundation’s Grant Guidelines for more detail.

Foundation Focus Areas.  The Foundation’s funding priorities were identified through a series of statewide sessions with a range of interested constituencies.  They are –

Health education and prevention promotion through community-based and environmental strategies for:

• Fitness and Nutrition for Children and Families
• Youth Smoking Prevention
• Youth Substance Abuse Prevention

Initiatives to enhance needed access to:

• Health Care for Low-income and Uninsured Populations
• Health Care for Rural Populations
• Integrated Mental Health and Medical Services

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 Requests For Proposals (RFPs).   A 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.

The Foundation sponsors a number of grant initiatives each year. Some are ongoing or multi-year initiatives; others may offer only one opportunity to apply.  The Foundation’s strategic plan for 2007-2011 groups these initiatives by purpose, within the focus areas noted above.  2008 Grant Initiatives fall within these areas of:

2008 GRANT INITIATIVES

Local Data for Local Action
Coordinated School Health
Primary Care
Integrating Mental Health and Medical Services
Community Grants
General Support Grants for Health Advocacy
2008 Howard L. Bost Memorial Health Policy Forum
Commonwealth Common Health
Matching Grants 

Local Data for Local Action

In 2006, the Foundation established a Health Data Technical Advisory Group (Health TAG) made up of representatives from Kentucky based data agencies.   This group helped with the design and launch of the Foundation’s Local Data Initiative. Through this initiative the Foundation has:

• worked with the Department for Public Health/Surveillance & Health Data Branch of Kentucky’s Cabinet for Health & Family Services, to add targeted items to the annual statewide Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey, and with the Kentucky Department of Education and University of Kentucky, to add questions to the Youth Risk Behavior Survey.

• commissioned a Health Market report that will describe and analyze organizations and systems that deliver, finance and administer health care and health benefits in Kentucky.

• supported the work of University of Kentucky Endowed Chair Michael E. Samuels, Dr.P.H., and Elmer Whitler, M.A., M.P.A.  to develop County-by-County data on key health indicators. Click here to view the report.  

The Foundation will make County-by-County health information available on a website, to support local health planning and action.  In addition a multi-year initiative will begin in 2008, 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. Click here for a list of grantees.  

Healthy Children in Healthier Schools – 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 2008 Institute was held June 9-10 in Lexington.

Primary Care

The Foundation’s Access to Health Care Initiative in this area 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 will be eligible to apply for funding to support pilot implementation of their planned approaches.  Other underserved communities will be offered an opportunity to apply for planning grants.

Integrating Mental Health and Medical Services

The Foundation’s Access to Health Care 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.  

Growing a Constituency for Better Health

Much of the Foundation’s work is in this important area, with the aim of developing and influencing health policy, to promote lasting change in the systems by which health care is provided and the environments and behaviors that sustain good health.

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 2008, the Foundation allocated $275,000 for two rounds of Community Grants.   The first round was awarded in May, 2008 – click here to view the first round grantees.   A second round RFP will be issued in September 2008 and will be made available on this website.

General Support Grants for Health Advocacy. In 2008, the Board has set aside approximately $500,000 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 the first or second year of funding, for what is expected to be a five-year effort to strengthen and improve the sustainability of the voices of advocates working to improve the health of Kentuckians.   The 2008 General Support Grants for Health Advocacy was awarded in May. Community Catalyst, working with the Alliance for Justice, will provide technical assistance to these advocacy organizations over the Initiative’s five years.

2008 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.  The focus of the 2007 Annual Forum (Agenda PDF) was to highlight the results fo the 60+ community convening process entitled "Commonwealth Common Health: Kentucky Conversations for Communith Health Action" held throughout Kentucky in late 2006 and 2007.The 2008 forum will be held on Tuesday, September 16 in Lexington.  

Commonwealth Common Health:   Kentucky Conversations for Health Action. The Foundation supports a partnership with KET and the University of Kentucky College of Public Health to conduct 60 convenings around the state to gather local views on what it takes to have a health system that works for all Kentuckians.   The results of the community convenings were the subject of the 2007 Howard L. Bost Memorial Health Policy Forum.  Please visit the Commonwealth Common Health website for more information on the community convenings.

OTHER FOUNDATION SUPPORT

Matching Grants

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.   In 2008, approximately $300,000 has been set aside for this purpose.   Click here to view the 2008 Matching Grant Guidelines.   This initiative is ongoing.