Pikes Peak region health organizations awarded $2.5 million in grants | Colorado Springs Gazette, News The foundation finalized funding Wednesday for organizations operating in Teller and El Paso counties based on their potential to improve public health, said Colorado Springs Health Foundation Executive Director Cari Davis.
“All of the organizations address important community needs,” Davis said. Selected groups fall into one of four focus areas: access to care for those in need, health care provider workforce shortage, suicide prevention, and school-based programs to encourage healthy lifestyles.
The grants, which will be awarded over the course of a year, represent a fraction of the $8 million that the foundation expects to distribute to local organizations over the next three years, Davis said.
The largest grant, totaling a half-million dollars, will go to Peak Vista Community Health Centers. “It speaks volumes about how our community is working together to solve this provider shortage.”
Colorado Springs-based nonprofit The Resource Exchange received $100,000 to fund research endeavors at its Developmental Disabilities Health Center, which works to break down the barriers people with disabilities face accessing the care they need, said Sheila Ferguson, director of development at the organization.
“This funding is really going to impact health care, not only for people locally with intellectual and development disabilities, but it’s going to help research throughout the United States and the world,” Ferguson said.
The following organizations received grants of $100,000 or more: Atlas Preparatory School, for its student health program; Catholic Health Initiatives Colorado for the Cripple Creek school-based health care program; Open Bible Baptist Church’s TLC Pharmacy for the expansion and integration of its pharmacy and clinic; CU Denver’s Rocky Mountain Prevention Research Center, for its preschool wellness program; and UCCS, for two health-related programs.
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Jakob Rodgers and Tiffany Ditto contributed to this story
