Integrated throughout nearly all The Children’s Foundation’s work is the intention to create healthier, more equitable communities for children and families by transforming the conditions in which people live, work, play. According to Healthy People 2020, a health disparity is defined as a health difference that is closely linked with social, economic, and/or environmental disadvantage.
Through advocacy, grant-making and establishing dynamic community partnerships, The Foundation is largely focused on addressing health disparities caused by social determinants of health.
The Foundation is helping to address these issues on many fronts by supporting solutions. In the Spring, more than 60 grants were approved and approximately 20 of them are new projects. Some of the ways grantees plan to address disparities and fulfill community needs in unique ways include:
• A study by faculty at Central Michigan University about the enhancement of school-based prevention programming to promote mental health with a focus on problematic social media use for adolescents living in the Upper Peninsula – an area that is high-risk with limited access to services.
• Support construction of a cafe at Racquet Up, an education and opportunity hub for youth in Northwest Detroit. There, a fitness coordinator will provide nutrition education to promote health and wellness for kids who suffer from childhood obesity, as well as mentoring services for success.
• Supporting staffing and food purchases at a Food FARMacy for food-insecure children at Hurley Medical Center in Flint.
• Providing vision screening and eyeglasses for students in need at Hamtramck School Based Health Center.
• Enabling mental health services at Alternatives for Girls in Detroit for pregnant and parenting adolescents and young adults at risk of homelessness, as well as their accompanying toddler age children.
Each grant cycle is a reminder that there is a profound amount of work that needs to be done to address social determinants of health. The Foundation remains on the move, helping partners work towards solutions that create more equitable communities and improve the health and wellness for children and families today and for the future.
