2022 Vitalyst Grant Partners
SYSTEMS CHANGE GRANTS: Changing systems to improve community health across the state
Investing nearly $700,000 in partnership with the Community Foundation of Southern Arizona and The NARBHA Institute, the four grants will address trauma-informed youth coaching, intergenerational support for young men, and innovations in rural substance use recovery.
Border Youth Tennis Exchange (BYTE) was awarded $175,000 and will lead and pilot an online, unfacilitated instructor training course that educates coaches and volunteer youth mentors on best practices in K12 trauma-informed education. BYTE will use its background of direct youth sports and enrichment programming in migrant and child-welfare shelters along the US-Mexico border as the basis for designing a practical introduction to trauma-sensitive techniques. After statewide development and implementation, this curriculum will be leveraged by the United States Tennis Association (USTA), providing a proof-of-concept for national scale across sports beyond tennis.
Boys to Men Tucson was awarded $175,000 and will lead partners in the implementation of a trauma-informed mentorship program to help young men develop healthy masculinity and social connections. By incorporating restorative, community-based justice practices in places of many current punitive practices that aggravate harm for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) boys and have demonstrated links to the school-to-prison pipeline, Boys to Men Tucson and partners will work to positively improve the lives of young Black and Brown men.
Contruyendo Circulos de Paz was awarded $152,619.82 and will lead partners and establish a coordinated trauma-informed response system to address the growing mental health and substance use disorder needs of underserved families in Santa Cruz County. Partnerships will address trauma and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) from a systems perspective implementing local and culturally sensitive solutions that will reinforce recovery for Santa Cruz County’s most vulnerable residents.
Steps to Recovery Homes was awarded $175,000 and is pioneering efforts in substance use prevention/recovery to launch innovative Intensive Outpatient services (IOPs) in the Verde Valley area. Funding will streamline services and provide a “one stop” service delivery model where patients will receive support with mental health counseling, job training, housing, and other services. This will offer new IOPs for Arizonans struggling with substance misuse and strengthen a collaborative of agency partners to determine best practices for streamlined systems to reduce the misuse of drugs and alcohol in the community in the long term.
SPARK GRANTS: Supporting collaborations in the journey to address systemic change
Vitalyst invested in 11 planning projects with incredible potential to improve the health of Arizonans.
The ASU Foundation – Arizona Commission for Deaf & Hard of Hearing was awarded $20,000 and will explore systems-level solutions to untreated hearing loss in adult Arizonans with limited income. The project addresses two critical elements of a healthy community – health care access and social cohesion – by exploring ways to ensure affordable, accessible, equitable and high-quality hearing health care for Arizonans with limited income.
Arizona Town Hall was awarded $20,000 and will work together with partners to increase voter participation in primary elections, as 75 percent of Arizonans are not currently participating in primary elections. This will be a non-partisan effort and will not imply any support or opposition to any candidates or campaigns.
Body and Soul Sovereignty, United was awarded $20,000 and will address disparities in health outcomes negatively impacting American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) women, especially related to maternal and infant mortality rates. The project seeks to center and empower AIAN women in accessing and receiving quality healthcare from Western healthcare providers and institutions.
Covenant Health Network was awarded $20,000 and will lead support the AZ Senior Healthcare Workforce Development Collaborative working together support both short- and long-term solutions to the post-acute care (PAC) staffing crisis, the collaborative aims to advocate for federal policy change that would permit a foreign worker pilot program in PAC facilities in Arizona. This would allow immigrants and their families to enter the U.S. to provide direct care for Arizona’s elderly, increasing the supply of caregivers to meet the needs of a growing aged population.
Down Syndrome Network was awarded $15,000 and will lead a collaborative and use this grant to identify a solution for adults with Down Syndrome to ensure they receive integrated health care services, including accurate diagnosis, care and referrals to community health resources.
Lincoln Institute for Land Policy was awarded $20,000 and will convene groups to assess current and future water needs of Colorado River Basin communities, economies, and the environment. This collaborative will address the capacity building needs and interests of Tribes along the Basin and will provide an overview of Tribal water priorities, existing water management capacity, existing and anticipated capacity needs, and options for building Tribal capacity.
Lutheran Advocacy Ministry of Arizona was awarded $20,000 and will convene The Hunger Policy Workgroup and explore how hunger policy advocacy might be more effective and ultimately successful if all hunger advocates in Arizona collaborated on policy initiatives for the 2023 Arizona legislative session.
One‐by‐One Foster & Kinship Solutions was awarded $20,000 and will host a statewide discovery process to increase community capacity to identify and address issues affecting community health and well-being in more informal kinship caregivers when compared to legal and foster caregivers and identify areas of policy and practice to improve access to services in informal kinship settings
Sun Produce Cooperative was awarded $20,000 and will work to identify ways to reduce barriers and build the farm-to-school and farm-to-hospital pipeline, which would provide fresh food options to students in schools and patients in care facilities, and support local agriculture.
The Arizona Partnership for Immunization (TAPI) was awarded $19,036 and will lead a collaborative effort to assess the barriers and gaps in education and administration of vaccines for first-time mothers in practices that offer prenatal services and use this information to develop approaches to engage both parents and prenatal providers, which could not be designed and implemented by one organization or stakeholder.
Eyes on Learning, a statewide children’s vision health initiative of the Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust, was awarded $20,000 and proposes partnering with a group of diverse children’s vision health partners in a dedicated collaborative to develop a plan to attack the inequity gap for school-age children in low-income communities to receive comprehensive eye exams, diagnosis, and treatment, effectively closing the loop for their vision health.
Health Equity Grants: response to the unprecedented impacts of COVID-19
$30,000 Health Equity grant for Pima County. Funding will compliment CDC support to identify and address drivers of vaccine hesitancy, influential community messengers and partners, and development of community-acceptable approaches for improving vaccination availability, accessibility, and confidence. Funding matches grants from the Tucson Foundations to support the Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) Program that will compensate or incentivize community messengers and includes authentic co-design and collaboration with community members across part of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, Tohono O’odham Nation, and areas in South Tucson.
$25,000 Health Equity grant to Valley Interfaith Project (VIP). Funding will support operational and programmatic efforts of VIP to close the equity gap in vaccinations and bring mobile vaccine clinics to West Phoenix leveraging VIP’s quality neighborhood engagement and trusted relationships with churches and schools, the vaccine equity gap in zip codes in Maricopa County with low incomes and low vaccinations rates is being closed.
$35,000 Health Equity grant to Women’s Economic Institute for the Black Arizona COVID19 Task Force. Funding will support operational and programmatic efforts of the Task Force, formed early in the pandemic to advocate for marginalized communities in South and West Phoenix. The Task Force has implemented a robust community awareness campaign in low-income and minority communities in Maricopa County, specifically for outreach with COVID19 testing and vaccinations.
$20,000 Health Equity grant to the Great Lakes Peace Foundation (GLPF). Funding will match a similar grant from the Arizona Community Foundation and support operational and programmatic efforts for refugee population primarily from Central and East Africa including the counties of Rwanda, Burundi, Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, South Sudan, Central Africa Republic, and Uganda. Through trust-based relationships, GLPF works closely with the refugee community in West and South Phoenix area, providing sanitizer, hygiene kits, and encouraging people to get vaccinated.
$50,000 Health Equity grant to Campesinos Sin Fronteras (CSF). Funding will support operational and programmatic efforts of CSF to help meet immediate challenges faced by CSF including: 1) having to “reinvent” CFS to continue providing direct services and support to focused populations via virtual platforms; 2) establishing protocols to protect staff and program participants; 3) increasing Promotoras’ capacity to learn new technology and other virtual platforms; 4) adapting offices to have the maximum protection; 5) identifying funds to purchase Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), sanitizing and cleaning supplies; and 6) developing culturally sensitive, preventive COVID-19 message to air on CSF‐owned radio station.
$25,000 Health Equity grant to the United Way of Northern Arizona in support of the COVID-19 Social Safety‐Net Services Coalition. Funding will support operational and programming efforts, including: 1) fortify existing service providers to meet rapidly expanding demands for housing, food, and emergency cash assistance; 2) attract and align resources to maximize impact through a coordinated and collaborative effort; 3) communicate information to promote open, inclusive, and timely information sharing among social safety‐net providers in order to develop assistance strategies, involve funders, and inform policy makers regarding the service demands and responses; and 4) mobilize the delivery of emergency resources through a strategic framework that identified service gaps and emerging issues.
$25,000 Health Equity grant to UPI Fund. Funding will support operational and programmatic efforts of the UPI Loan, including operational costs associated with continued focus on Southwest Phoenix Metro area, as well as additional outreach and marketing efforts to the Southwest Phoenix Metro area.
$50,000 Health Equity grant to Drinking Gourd Farms. Funding will support operational and programmatic efforts, including operating costs (including labor and supplies) associated with providing emergency food boxes, as well as the expansion of the network of Black-run gardens and farms.
$25,000 Health Equity grant to Awakening Wholeness, Inc.- Peace and Balance (P&B). Funding will support P&B’s efforts to address the needs of the tribal people during the pandemic, including: 1) mobilizing tribal partners to gather, haul, and distribute resources; 2) raising supplies, food, water, and firewood to haul to reservation communities; 3) distributing hand sanitizers, facemasks, and winter clothing; 4) purchasing water jugs to be filled at local water resources and delivered to those with limited access to water, resources, and supplies; 5) prioritizing elders and medicine people in Tribal Nations; and 6) organizing and mobilizing teams of volunteers to work immediately on various distribution trips.
$25,000 Health Equity grant to Arizona Community Foundation for Native American Initiative – Funding will be utilized to hire a consultant to assist in the development of the Initiative, which includes writing proposals to address COVID19-specific effects in Indian Country. It is necessary to support staff time for this project, as all the twenty-plus members of the NAI are full-time employees of differing organizations. It is anticipated that once the infrastructure is created, staff support at this level will no longer be necessary as the Co-Chairs can then work the process that’s been created. It is anticipated that the infrastructure process would be completed in three to four months after funding is received, but no later than August 2021.
$50,000 Health Equity Grant to Arizona Undocumented Worker Relief Fund – Funding will be utilized to support the network of organizations serving the Southwest Phoenix Metro region including groups such as: Aliento, Arizona Dream Act Coalition, Black Phoenix Organizing Collective and Mi Familia Vota.
$35,000 Health Equity Grant to Arizona Interagency Farmworkers Coalition – AIFC is a nonprofit, community-based organization to serve the needs of the farmworker population in Arizona. The Coalition formed in response to a need to coordinate fragmented services from multi-disciplinary agencies and organizations. Funding will help to coordinate entities providing services to Arizona agricultural workers.
$35,000 – Pima Council on Aging. Part of an initial collaborative with the Arizona Center for Empowerment along with funding from the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona, Tucson Electric Power, and the United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona. This funding will support ongoing efforts with the “Take Your Shot Campaign,” a unique partnership that combines traditional media outreach with grassroots canvassing and phone banking to share information on the COVID19 vaccine and to encourage people to get vaccinated.
$50,000 ‐ Regional Center for Border Health – The COVID19 pandemic disproportionately impacted individuals and families in the greater Yuma region through job loss and continued struggle to find gainful employment. In partnership with the Arizona Department of Economic Security and AHCCCS, the RCBH College of Health Careers (RCBH/CHC) strives to provide a pathway to employment opportunities for low‐income individuals and families seeking a career in the healthcare field. This is made possible by the availability of tuition assistance for community members who qualify for SNAP benefits (food stamps). This funding would support the ability of low‐income Arizonans to gain access to affordable, high‐quality education that would set them on a career path to mitigate the healthcare workforce shortages and health disparities experienced throughout Yuma and Western Arizona.
$50,000 – United Natives, Inc. – Efforts to address the long‐term impacts of the pandemic on tribal communities throughout Arizona through research focused on identifying perception of COVID19 media campaigns and levels of adherence to public health strategies to reduce COVID19 among the Navajo Nation. The services include housing, daily meals, transportation to and from tribal communities, classes to improve mental and behavioral health, outcomes, mentorship, and educational resources. The site is specific to Native Americans and is culturally responsive in delivery services that integrate Native culture into classes and delivery of care.
$60,000 – Red Feather Development Group. This funding supports Red Feather’s efforts to partner with American Indian nations to develop and implement sustainable solutions to the housing needs within their communities. Through the Native Home Resource Network (NHRN) program, case management services will be provided to a minimum of 250 homes, or approximately 1,000 individuals. Funds will cover expenses associated with things such as case management activities, hiring of contractors to conduct inspections or installations, personal protective gear, volunteer expenses, and emergency housing repair. Funding may also be allocated to upgrading client database management systems.
$30,000 – Zion Institute. This funding will support Zion Institute’s short-term housing of homeless families as they work through a care plan to stabilize their housing situation. The pandemic, coupled with the lifting of the eviction moratorium, has brought an influx of families to Zion seeking help with housing. In response, they have partnered with Game Day Real Estate, a developer rehabbing and renovating small apartment complexes in South Phoenix, to access temporary housing for families. Zion uses their Gifted Hands carpentry interns to help repair the apartments and then moves in the families for up to 3 months. This funding would allow Zion to house 10 additional families for 3 months.
Medical Assistance Program Grants
Following is a listing of Medical Assistance Program grants approved for three year awards by Vitalyst’s Board of Trustees in 2018. Due to COVID-19, our Board of Trustees authorized an extension of one year for the Medical Assistance grants. Requests for proposal for Hearing, Vision and Heart/Lung will reopen in January 2023.
| Grantee | Grant Type | Amount per Year |
| Crossroads, Inc. | Substance Abuse | $25,000 |
| Maricopa County Department of Public Health | Heart and Lung | $75,000 |
| GateWay Community College – Healthcare United at GateWay (HUG) Clinic | Heart and Lung | $25,000 |
| Alhambra School District | Vision | $10,000 |
| American Academy of Pediatrics | Vision | $15,000 |
| Area Agency on Aging | Vision | $30,000 |
| Arizona Coalition for Blind & Visually Impaired | Vision | $50,000 |
| Eye Care 4 Kids | Vision | $55,000 |
| Foundation for Blind Children | Vision | $60,000 |
| St. Vincent de Paul | Vision | $80,000 |
| A.T. Still University | Hearing | $50,000 |
| The Ear Foundation of Arizona | Hearing | $150,000 |