Eight Community Partnership grants awarded

07 Feb 2016

By: Leilani Slama, director of development and community relations

The 2016 Community Partnership Grants have been awarded to eight organizations that share Salem Health's commitment to improve the health and well-being of the communities we serve.

The grants, totaling $286,500, were awarded to four new recipients in addition to four previous grant recipients from 2015.

New recipients:

• Northwest Human Services Inc. of Salem-$50,000 for purchasing a bus to provide health care for the homeless.
• Polk County Family & Community Outreach of Dallas-$50,000 for developing a suicide prevention project.
• Mano a Mano Family Center, of Salem-$50,000 to offer a family wellness project centered on stress reduction.
• Salem Interfaith Hospitality Network-$36,500 for trauma-informed care training and family support services. (Trauma-informed care involves an organizational structure and treatment framework to understand, recognize, and respond to the effects of all types of trauma.) 

Continued funding recipients:

• The Salvation Army Salem Corps-$25,000 to provide mental health case management for the homeless.
• Community Action Agency HOME Youth & Resource Center, of Salem-$25,000 to offer weekend staffing at the center.
• Oregon State University, Office for Sponsored Research and Award Administration-$25,000 to expand Just Walk Salem, a grass roots neighborhood walking program.
• Boys & Girls Club of Salem, Marion and Polk Counties-$25,000 to staff its Healthy Lifestyles Education Program.

Salem Health introduced the Community Partnership Grant program in Oct. 2014, in conjunction with the fifth anniversary of its Community Health Education Center. Funding is provided to encourage collaboration and innovative engagement among community organizations that share a common vision for better health-plus meet community health needs identified by the Salem Health Board of Trustees. Current priorities for projects include diabetes prevention and control, mental health, and medical transportation.