Dear Friends,
Over the past several months, the Osteopathic Heritage Foundation and Osteopathic Heritage Foundation of Nelsonville (the Foundations) have convened to reflect on our mission and impact, as well as the dedication and resilience of the organizations we support.
As we look to the New Year and beyond, the Foundations have reaffirmed our commitment to key funding priority areas, including Behavioral Health and Substance Use Disorders, Healthy Food Access, Osteopathic Medical Education and Research and funding collaborations with other regional and national partners.
To advance this work, and our mission to improve health and quality of life in central and southeastern Ohio, the Foundations have committed $20 million over the next decade to improve access to behavioral health services and local, healthy foods. As part of these initiatives, we are proud to announce the following, initial funding awards:
Behavioral Health and Substance Use Disorders
- $2.5 million to strengthen the continuum of care and support increased access to psychiatric crisis treatment services at the planned Franklin County Mental Health and Addiction Crisis Center
- $200,000 to support the Mary Hill Youth Center in developing a trauma-informed approach to residential behavioral health treatment for youth in southeastern Ohio
- $115,000 to launch a youth behavioral health capacity building initiative in central Ohio, in partnership with Alvis, Directions for Youth and Families, St. Vincent Family Services and The Buckeye Ranch
Healthy Food Access
- $2 million for the Mid-Ohio Food Collective’s Mid-Ohio Market strategy, as part of the Rooted in You campaign, to address hunger and improve health outcomes
- $300,000 to support the continued development and growth of the Appalachia Accessible Food Network, a collaboration of organizations in southeastern Ohio dedicated to increasing access, affordability and consumption of local, healthy food in the region
- $1 million to support the Healthy Food, Healthy Franklin County Request for Proposals for effective strategies focused on reducing hunger and improving health outcomes by increasing access to fresh, healthy, affordable and local food in low-access, low-income communities
The Foundations will continue to work with our partners to develop effective strategies to advance the above priorities, as well as osteopathic medical education, research and funding collaborations. We look forward to sharing more about our strategic grantmaking investments and impact in the coming months.
The Foundations’ priorities reflect our renewed optimism and commitment to our mission of improving health and quality of life in the community through education, research and service consistent with our osteopathic heritage. We remain grateful to our partners in this work for their efforts to keep our communities healthy and vibrant.
Sincerely,
Terri Donlin Huesman
President/CEO