Kaiser Permanente announced today that it has awarded $1.38M in grants to 22 community organizations and nonprofits in 2023. These investments, which advance access to healthcare and promote health equity in the region, support programs and resources for critical community organizations, allowing them to expand the impact of social services in Washington, D.C., Virginia, and Maryland.
Recipients of these grants were chosen because the organizations share Kaiser Permanente’s dedication to improving conditions for health and equity in the community by addressing the root causes of health, such as economic opportunity, affordable housing, safe and supportive schools, and a healthy environment.
“At Kaiser Permanente, we recognize that true health comes from many factors, such as a safe place to live, access to healthy food, or economic opportunity. As part of our mission of improving health for the people and communities we serve, we are proud to partner with these exceptional community organizations and nonprofits in the D.C., Maryland, and Northern Virginia,” said Cynthia Cifuentes, vice president of Brand, Communications and Community Engagement at Kaiser Permanente.” These grants will help transform communities, providing access to health resources and empowering entrepreneurs of color across the region.”
The grants will support the following organizations and initiatives throughout the Mid-Atlantic region:
- Action in Community Through Service of Price William: Leverages community resources to provide case management services and housing assistance to families in Prince William County. The $20,000 grant will support at least 18 households in Prince William County at risk of homelessness by providing housing and rental assistance.
- Alliance for a Healthier Generation: Provides resources, professional development, training and technical assistance to schools and districts to ensure schools are healthy places for students, teachers and staff. A $100,000 grant, the 2nd installment of a three-year grant, will enable regional program managers to provide intensive support to partner school districts.
- Bailey’s Crossroad Health Access Partnership: Provides healthcare services to low-income, uninsured adults in Northern Virginia. The $50,000 grant will provide HIV/HCV/STI screening for approximately 300 adult Culmore Clinic patients who meet the CDC guidelines for screening.
- Coalition for Nonprofit Housing and Economic Development: Leads and supports the community development field in Washington, D.C. The $75,000 grant will expand the DC Community Anchor Partnership program into neighboring Virginia and Maryland communities, aiming to boost economic prospects for local minority residents by establishing a minority procurement network that influences policy at anchor institutions and connects high-performing minority-owned business enterprises in DC.
- Conscious Venture Lab, Inc.:Aims to support and improve the mental and emotional health of 3,500 K-8 students in Prince Georges County by offering schools licenses, training, professional development, and on-going technical assistance to implement the Clymb app. The $50,000 grant will support implementation of the Clymb app, which will allow students an opportunity to learn and identify their emotions using age-appropriate emojis and provide customized support via the app. This grant seeks to increase the students’ social and emotional skills, support mental wellness, and ultimately lead to better academic outcomes.
- Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center: Partners with training and funding partners to create Pathways to Empowerment for refugees and immigrants in Northern Virginia who face barriers to securing living-wage jobs with opportunities for advancement by providing stipends for living expenses and needed certification fees, case management to ensure clients are fully connected to services available to them and enrollment in intensive career mentoring programs to improve job search soft skills such as networking, interviewing, etc. Dar Al-Hijrah partners with training and funding partners to create Pathways to Empowerment for refugees and immigrants address barriers to secure, living-wage jobs with opportunities for advancement. This $50,000 grant will support tuition, training, and certification exam fees for immigrants and refugees in its Pathways to Empowerment program.
- Educacion Para Nuestro Futuro Founded by Escuela Bolivia: Works to address social drivers of health for immigrant families in Northern Virginia by providing youth with a path to first-generation college success through the Emerging Leaders Program (ELP). This $50,000 grant will create a healthcare career pathway for ELP students to explore the wide array of careers in healthcare and build connections to programs and resources for those interested in the healthcare field.
- Greater Washington Community Foundation: Aims to provide a permanent source of philanthropic capital and help build thriving communities in the Greater Washington region. This $81,000 grant will support a Project Manager for the Medical Respite for Prince George’s County initiative, which seeks to establish a facility in Prince George’s County for people discharged from the hospital with no safe place to heal due to housing insecurity.
- Hamkae Center: Strengthens relevant support ecosystems and expand access to technical assistance and resources for small businesses/entrepreneurs in Northern Virginia. This grant will provide Asian American entrepreneurs in Northern Virginia with culturally and linguistically relevant small business counseling.
- Homes for Hope, Inc.:Provides housing to homeless HIV/AIDS clients in Washington, D.C., to increase medical adherence for positive, healthy outcomes while increasing housing stability. The grant will be used to enhance staff training with ongoing coaching, integrate financial literacy into the core curriculum, and implement strategic financial planning sessions for homeless individuals and public housing residents, equipping them to effectively address daily financial challenges, establish a foundation for future endeavors, and overcome barriers to healthy living, self-sufficiency, and financial independence.
- La Clinica del Pueblo, Inc.: Delivers high-quality, culturally and linguistically appropriate health services to the low-income Latinx immigrant community in the DC Metro Area. The $50,000 grant will be used to expand capacity to provide reproductive health services, with a goal of reaching 800 unique individuals over a one-year period.
- Legal Aid Bureau, Inc.:A statewide non-profit law firm with a mission to provide high quality, effective civil legal assistance for low-income persons throughout the state of Maryland. This grant will enable Maryland Legal Aid (Legal Aid Bureau, Inc.) to assist hundreds of Marylanders facing medical challenges whose housing is at risk with legal counseling.
- Loudoun Community Health Center dba as HealthWorks for Northern Virginia: Provides care for the underserved communities in Loudoun County, VA. The $50,000 grant will be used to provide educational, dental, behavioral, and emotional health support and postpartum family planning to reduce maternal morbidity and mortality for prenatal patients. This program will also include obstetric training for all staff having interaction with patients to identify prenatal and postpartum high-risk signs and symptoms that may prevent maternal morbidity, as well as identify and reduce biases that may impede care.
- Micah Ecumenical Ministries, Inc.:Provides medical respite for homeless individuals leaving the hospital, housing stabilization and income development. Micah Ecumenical Ministries also strives to reduce readmissions, decrease length of stay and improve patient outcomes for Northern Virginia’s homeless population. This grant will be used to support physical improvements at existing medical respite facilities in Northern Virginia as well as consulting and training to research and identify sustainable funding sources for clinic staff.
- Montgomery Housing Partnership: Applies a holistic approach to the preservation and expansion of housing, including acquiring, rehabilitating, building, and managing quality affordable housing; developing and implementing community life programs; and enhancing the vitality of affordable housing neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., and Suburban Maryland. The grant will be used to acquire and rehabilitate Rollingwood Apartments, a 283-unit Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing Property located along the Purple Line Corridor. MHP intends to maintain the current workforce housing mixture while increasing the overall affordability of the community, restricting 100% of units for residents earning at or below 70% Area Median Income.
- National Coalition for the Homeless: Advocates for addressing the root causes of homelessness, including the lack of affordable housing, through policy advocacy (supporting efforts like the Bringing America Home Act), grassroots organizing (building a national movement led by people who have been un-housed), and public education (dispelling negative stereotypes and preserving civil rights of people experiencing homelessness) in Washington, D.C. The grant will be used to graduate 75 Black, Indigenous and other people of color with homeless experience from the Lived Experience Training Academy. They will be trained with the knowledge and skills to become influential leaders on committees, boards, and in local efforts to end homelessness.
- New Futures: offers skills-based workshops, career advising, and networking opportunities with seven in-demand career fields in partnership with regional employers. This $35,000 grant will support initiatives aimed improving the quality of jobs and careers available to DC area adults while also cultivating a skilled healthcare workforce.
- NPower, Inc.:Builds in-demand technical skills for the local job market through a community-based approach for low-income young adults and military veterans in Baltimore, MD, and beyond. The grant will be used to build a placed-based financial health ecosystem that embeds financial health services into our existing Tech Fundamentals IT training program’s personal and professional development services to build financial health outcomes that will enhance both the immediate and long-term achievement of our young adult and veteran trainees from underserved communities across the greater Baltimore area.
- Paul’s Place: Utilizes a holistic approach to address food and housing insecurities, unemployment or underemployment, and mental and physical health for Baltimore residents. This $20,000 grant will help Paul’s Place meet the social health needs of more than 600 individuals in Baltimore City by leveraging the Unite Us technology platform to send and receive referrals for social health needs.
- Pickett Fences Senior Services, Inc.:Aims to improve the quality of life for senior citizens in D.C. and Maryland by providing education, resources, caregiver support, and connecting seniors with services needed to safely remain in their homes. This $20,000 grant will allow Pickett Fences to leverage the Unite Us technology platform to provide complex case management and connection to social health resources for 60 seniors in Prince George’s County.
- Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Mobile Integrated Health (MIH) Program: Aspires to provide and improve the wellness and healthcare delivery to Prince George’s County residents by extending the fire department’s reach into the community in a non-emergent capacity. This includes community paramedicine, telemedicine/telehealth, care coordination and community resource referrals. The $75,000 grant will provide capacity for the MIH program to enhance and expand services aimed at preventing unnecessary emergency room utilization, as well as leveraging the Unite Us technology platform to connect residents to social health resources.
- South Baltimore Learning Corporation (SBLC): A community-based nonprofit organization providing functional literacy and life skills training and career preparation services to residents in the Baltimore Area. The $50,000 grant will help SBLC train front line staff to deliver financial coaching and ensure they are equipped to address common financial barriers for participants.
“We are thrilled to receive this $200,000 grant from Kaiser Permanente for our Rollingwood Apartments project, as it enables us to enhance affordable housing along the Purple Line corridor,” said Robert Goldman, President of Montgomery Housing Partnership. “This funding will empower us to advance our mission of ensuring access to quality housing and thriving communities in Washington, D.C., and Suburban Maryland. Through our partnership with Kaiser Permanente, we can make a real difference in the lives of those we serve.”
“We are so grateful to receive this $50,000 grant from Kaiser Permanente to support our work to improve maternal care and address health disparities for pregnant women and new mothers in Northern Virginia,” said Dr. Tonya Adkins, OBGYN and CEO of HealthWorks. “This grant will fund programs that support the behavioral and oral health, nutrition, family planning and postpartum care for our prenatal and postpartum patients. Kaiser Permanente’s partnership has a meaningful impact on the families we serve.”
Investing in communities across the region is a key piece of Kaiser Permanente’s mission of improving health. In 2022, Kaiser Permanente invested more than $169M in communities across the Mid-Atlantic region. Additionally, in 2022, charitable contributions from the region’s largest health system supported 89 organizations and impacted more than 158,000 people in the Mid-Atlantic.
About Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America’s leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, Kaiser Permanente has a mission to provide high-quality, affordable health care services and to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve more than 12.6 million members in 8 states and the District of Columbia. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal Permanente Medical Group physicians, specialists, and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the-art care delivery, and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education, and the support of community health. For more information, go to about.kp.org.
