April 17, 2023 – Through its semi-annual Community Grants for Health program the North Shore Health Care Foundation (NSHCF) will be awarding $35,000 this year, to community organizations and programs that contribute to equitable health care and healthy living in Cook County. Applications are due by 4 pm on Monday, May 1, for the first-round of 2023 grants. The deadline for the last round of 2023 funding is Oct 1. Grant application forms and eligibility criteria are available at www.NorthShoreHealthCareFoundation.org. Priority is given to projects/programs which address the Foundations key priorities, including:

• Children’s mental health and substance misuse
• Seniors’ services and aging well
• Solutions for travel and lodging to access out-of-town medical treatment, and
• Healthcare workforce shortage solutions

“We are excited to be able to award this funding and support deserving initiatives which help champion solutions for a healthier community and work toward our vision of a healthy community for all in Cook County,” said Valerie Marasco Eliasen, Executive Director. “There is a lot of good work happening locally and we look forward to reviewing the grant applications. We believe in the possibilities of people, organizations, businesses, and governments working together to create a healthy community.”

In addition to the open Community Grants for Health Program, the Health Care Foundation is awarding:

• A $10,000 block grant to Cook County Higher Education for healthcare education and healthy living courses delivery, and
• $10,000 to Care Partners of Cook County (an incubator program that grew out of the NSHCF) for delivery of seniors’ services.
• An additional $30,000 of its annual grant budget to the Investing in Our Future, Healthcare Workforce Solutions community matching fundraising campaign to address major shortages in the healthcare workforce which will see Simulation Manikin training technology available locally, cover tuition and testing fees for the Sawtooth Mountain Clinic’s Medical Assistant Training Program and Pharmacy Tech In Training Program, and identify new workforce solutions through collaborative planning with local health partners.
• $5,000 to ISD 166 to split the cost of a School-based Mental Health Therapist (three-year funding commitment for the 2023, 2024 and 2025 school years).

“Thanks to our generous donors and a lot of hard work over the last several years, we are proud to be in a position to award more funding in 2023 than ever before”, said Marasco Eliasen. “Our primary contributions for creating a healthy Cook County lie in our ability to provide and leverage funding, collaborating with local health partners to address critical health issues facing the community, and by advocating with others to help us achieve a healthy community.”

The following programs have received NSHCF grant awards in the last three years:

2022 recipients – $64,300

• $6,000 – PPHS – Mental Health First Aid Training for 30 individuals, 15 who work directly with youth for youth mental health first aid
• $1,300 – Sawtooth Mountain Clinic – Early Childhood Connections – Parenting/Caregiver Book Clubs
• $11,300 – Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior: Elderly Services Program
• $6,000 – North Point Youth Center – Youth activities, food security and hygiene program
• $5,000 – The Hub (Cook County Council on Aging) – Food Program Support
• $1,000 – North Shore Collaborative – Learning Opportunities Through Stories Program
• $3,700 – MN Children’s Press – A Children’s Ojibwe Alphabet Book: Youth and Elders Co-create a Primer on Language and Culture.
• $10,000 – Care Partners of Cook County – Senior services and palliative care programs
• $10,000 – Cook County Higher Education – Healthcare education delivery
• $10,000 – Care Partners of Cook County – Seniors services and palliative care
• $10,000 – Tofte Fire Rescue – Lucas 3.1 Automatic CPR Machine improving survival rates and covering a gap in the west-end of the County
  

2021 recipients – $49,887 total

• $6,000 – Cook County Fire Chiefs’ Association – Creation of Fire Training Facility
• $4,000 – Cook County Search & Rescue – Advanced Search and Response Training
• $10,000 – Cook County Higher Education – Healthcare education and healthy living courses
• $10,000 – Public Health & Human Services – Collaborative Transportation Solutions for Elders (returned due to lack of additional funding and rerouted to launch the Medical Assistant Certification and Training Program at the Sawtooth Mountain Clinic creating six new health care positions)
• $1,127 – The Hub – Medical Equipment Loan Program
• $1,000 – Learning Opportunities Through Stories (LOTS) Program – early child education and healthy bonding program
• $900 – Great Expectations School – Anti-Bias Education Training for all educators and paraprofessionals
• $4,360 – Northern Lights Health Care PLLC/MN Children’s Press: Baby’s Birth Journey Health Care Coloring & Activity Book.
• $2,500 – North Shore Minnesota Home School Group: Group Outings Program

2020 recipients – $58,100 total

• $10,000 – Care Partners of Cook County – Operation of programs, services and new initiatives
• $20,000 – COVID-19 Medical Response Fund for health providers and emergency response units to have what they needed for local response and vaccination efforts
• $1,000 – Learning Opportunities Through Stories (LOTS) Early childhood education which contributes to mental and emotional health and family bonds
• $5,000 – Great Lunch Program at Great Expectations School to ensure all children have access to healthy food at school regardless of ability to pay, and eliminate singling out children on Free or Reduced Lunch program
• $3,000 – Snacks & Packs for Kids ensures children get food on weekends, holidays and summer break. NSHCF helped feed 63 children from Tofte to Grand Portage, throughout the summer
• $2,000 – Cook Co. Emergency Chaplaincy Program provides emotional support to First Responders, Law Enforcement, 911 Dispatchers, as well as victims and families on-scene during incidents
• $5,000 – Great Lunch Program Phase 2 to help address additional enrollment and expand the school food program to include breakfast, five days a week
• $7,100 – New Growing Families Program through CC PHHS supports one another through childbearing and early parenting during the pandemic and beyond
• $5,000 – Trauma Exposure Training and Peer Support Counselling Training for all staff in Public Health & Human Services

Anyone with questions regarding the grant program or application form should contact the Foundation’s Executive Director at 218-387-5700 or NSHCF@boreal.org.

To contribute to the Investing in Our Future Health Care Workforce Solutions fundraising campaign, donations can be made online at www.NorthShoreHealthCareFoundation.org/donate or by mail at North Shore Health Care Foundation, P.O. Box 454, Grand Marais, MN 55604.

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Contact: Valerie Marasco Eliasen, Executive Director – North Shore Health Care Foundation, 218-387-5700 or nshcf@boreal.org