Press Release from The Pallottine Foundation of Huntington:
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – The Pallottine Foundation of Huntington has announced its first round of grant awards, totaling $1,938,945, to 43 organizations serving 20 counties in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio. Grants include capacity building funds for smaller organizations, and two-year funding grants for organizations that will serve as key partners in the Foundation’s work to support transformative health initiatives across the Tri-State region.
“Our region faces more than its share of health challenges, particularly when it comes to nutrition, mental health, and addiction, but we also are blessed with innovative, resilient, and hopeful people, organizations, and communities that can help reduce or eliminate those disparities,” said Sister Mary Grace Barile, the Foundation’s board chair. “We make these grants in service to their work.”
Thirty-six organizations were selected to receive a total of $253,508 to build their internal capacity. These organizations deliver health-related services in the region and have annual budgets of $2 million or less. Individual grant awards range from several hundred dollars to $25,000. Depending on the needs of the organizations, they will use their funds for a range of activities, including technology and website upgrades, staff and board development, and strategic and sustainability planning expertise.
“Dedicated nonprofits so often choose to spend their scarce resources on direct services to their clients and forego much of the needed improvements that will enhance and strengthen their internal operations and, as a result, their overall effectiveness,” said Foundation Chief Executive Officer, Janell Ray. “Our original plan was to limit our capacity building funds to $200,000, but so many deserving organizations applied that we decided to increase our investment in their success. In providing this support, we’re hoping to help strengthen the nonprofit infrastructure throughout the region.”
In addition to capacity building grants, the Foundation also awarded a total of $1,685,437 to seven organizations with proven track records in addressing needs in the Foundation’s four priority areas: food insecurity, mental health, substance abuse disorder, and tobacco cessation. Each of the seven organizations will provide services within the Tri-State region.
“We see these organizations as key partners in moving the needle on increased access to healthy food, improved mental & behavioral health, fewer residents suffering with addiction, and the reduction in vaping and smoking in our youth,” said Ray. “We chose these grantees because they are subject matter experts with the knowledge and experience needed to make significant strides in these areas, and we are excited by their ability to leverage our dollars to do even more.”
The Foundation anticipates opening a second round of grants in the spring of 2020. A full list of current capacity building and partner grants follows.
The Pallottine Foundation of Huntington was established with proceeds from the sale of St. Mary’s Medical Center, and continues the legacy established by the Pallottine Missionary Sisters of caring for the spiritual, emotional and physical health of those in the region. The Foundation focuses its efforts on four primary areas: food insecurity, mental health, substance abuse disorder, and tobacco cessation. Its service area includes Cabell, Wayne, Mason, Lincoln, Mingo, Boone, Logan, Kanawha, and Western Putnam Counties in West Virginia; Lawrence, Gallia, and Scioto Counties in Ohio; and Boyd, Lawrence, Greenup, Carter, Johnson, Martin, Floyd, and Pike counties in Kentucky.2
