Community Health Benefit Fund inaugural grant recipients announced

Fifteen non-profits to receive grants in support of access to health care, mental health and substance use disorder
By:
June 4, 2020
Photo of Yampa Valley Medical Center in Steamboat Springs where the hospital’s foundation announced its nonprofit grant recipients in June 2020.
Yampa Valley Medical Center Foundation, located at UCHealth Yampa Valley Medical Center in Steamboat Springs, recently announced the recipients of its Community Health Benefit Fund’s nonprofit grants. Photo by UCHealth.

Yampa Valley Medical Center Foundation is pleased to announce fifteen nonprofits are recipients of funding from the initial grant cycle of the Community Health Benefit Fund.

To qualify, organizations had be an existing 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, located within Routt and/or Moffat counties and align to the funding priorities of access to health care, mental health and substance use disorder. Thirty-four applications were received during a pre-application process, with 29 moving forward to the final selection round.

The 2020 grant recipients are:

  • Advocates of Routt County
  • City of Steamboat Springs
  • Connections 4 Kids
  • GrandKids Child Care Center
  • Heeling Friends
  • Horizons Specialized Services
  • Integrated Community
  • LiftUp Routt County
  • Northwest Colorado Health
  • Grand Futures
  • Reaching Everyone Preventing Suicide (REPS)
  • Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, Inc.
  • Town of Oak Creek
  • Yampa Valley Autism Program

“We are thrilled to be able to grant the full amount of $275,000 among these nonprofits in a time when everyone’s world, especially nonprofits, has been impacted,” said Karen Schneider, executive director of Yampa Valley Medical Center Foundation. “This significant investment by UCHealth into our community will have wide-reaching, positive impacts.”

Northwest Colorado Health plans to use its grant to implement medication-assisted treatment as well as expand access to integrated behavioral health services within its Community Health Center in Moffat County.

“Support from the Community Health Benefit Fund will allow us to integrate medication-assisted treatment into our primary care clinics with a goal of helping patients achieve their best chance at a full recovery, including the ability to live a self-directed life,” said Stephanie Einfeld, CEO of Northwest Colorado Health.

REPS plans to further its programming aimed at youth and adults in Routt and Moffat counties to prevent suicide and address mental health issues. The grant Horizons received will help with the cost of operating its Moffat County comprehensive residential program that serves adults in group homes who have cognitive and physical disabilities with co-occuring mental and behavioral health conditions.

“These are just a few of the programs that will be able to advance the health of our communities,” said Mark Fitzgerald, chair of the Community Health Benefit Fund committee. “We’re excited to see the outcomes, and look forward to the opportunity to grant funds in the years to come.”

Grants from the Community Health Benefit Fund (CHBF), the name given to funds the Foundation received from UCHealth, are split equally between two purposes:

  • Annual grant funds for the advancement of health in the communities served by YVMC, including population health initiatives.
  • Special initiatives for the benefit of programs, services and capital projects within or related to YVMC operations and activities.

The annual grant funds have been quasi-endowed, a decision made by the CHBF task force to ensure funding is available to support the community and its population health initiatives in perpetuity.

The special initiatives funds are earmarked for larger projects that have the opportunity to effect lasting change in the communities served by YVMC.

The grant cycle will open again on Jan. 1, 2021, following the determination of focus areas based on strategic initiatives set by the Board of Trustees of UCHealth Yampa Valley Medical Center, results of the community health needs assessment and input and feedback from YVMC’s medical staff.

Community Benefits Report Community health UCHealth Yampa Valley Medical Center Yampa Valley Medical Center Foundation

About the author

Lindsey Reznicek is a communications specialist at UCHealth Yampa Valley Medical Center in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. She has spent the last ten years working in marketing and communications in health care, an industry she never considered but one to which she's contributed through her work in media relations, executive messaging and internal communications. She considers it an honor to interact with patients and write about their experiences; it’s what keeps her coming back to work each day.

A native of Nebraska, Lindsey received a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism, with a focus on public relations, from the A.Q. Miller School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Kansas State University – she bleeds purple.

She could see a Broadway musical every week, is a huge animal lover, enjoys a good shopping trip, and likes spending time in the kitchen. Lindsey and her husband have two daughters and enjoy hiking in the summer and skiing all winter long.