IU Health awards nearly $10M to improve health outcomes for Hoosiers in need

New funding from Indiana University Health aims to improve health outcomes for Hoosiers in need.

IU Health awarded $9.6 million in grant money to 14 community partners which will help address social and environmental issues that affect people’s health.

This includes funding for community health education and outreach programs, support services for youth facing homelessness, and financial training for low-income families.

This new grant funding comes from the IU Health Foundation’s Community Impact Investment Fund. It aims to improve public health through projects in education, workforce development and infrastructure investment.

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In a press release, IU health officials said this fund will help to address socio-economic and environmental factors that contribute to “poor health, shortened lives and higher health care costs.”

Including the newest round of grants, the CIIF has awarded organizations more than $32 million in funding since 2018.

Community partners across Indiana received funding. Here’s a list and how they plan to utilize it:

• Martin University: $1 million over three years to renovate the Andrew J. Brown building and offer enhanced programming for residents of Indianapolis’s near eastside through the Community of Health Practice program. 

• RecycleForce: $1 million over three years to expand its programming and partnerships to increase post-incarceration employment and reduce recidivism and gun violence in Indianapolis. Funds will help complete a new building, letting RecycleForce serve more people.

• Community Action of Greater Indianapolis: $750,000 over two years to develop a health hub in the Martindale Brightwood neighborhood. The facility will provide health education, outreach and host community health fairs and clinics to improve health outcomes.

• Intend Indiana Inc: $750,000 over three years to expand its HomePower program to provide affordable housing for low-income homebuyers.

• Fathers and Families Research Center: $750,000 over three years to expand programming to serve more fathers through a partnership with Eastern Star Church in the Martindale Brightwood neighborhood. The program helps fathers develop life skills, workforce skills and certifications to lead to economic self-sufficiency.

• Outreach Inc.: $718,000 over three years to expand support services and resources for Indianapolis youth facing homelessness in the Haughville neighborhood. Outreach will partner with the state agencies, local schools and other community organizations to provide coaching and supportive services for youth.

• The Arc of Indiana Foundation: $487,500 over three years to create the Erskine Green Training Institute at Riley Hospital for Children. The institute works with other community partners to provide healthcare-related work experience, technical training and healthy living and social skills for neurodiverse persons and those with disabilities.

• St. Joseph Community Health Foundation: $1 million over three years to develop the Refugee Health Collaborative in southeast Fort Wayne. It will work with community leaders and organizations to help Burmese refugees meet needs for food, health services, transportation, job training and housing.

• Whitely Community Council: $700,000 over three years to develop the Centennial District Resource Hub on the east side of Muncie to offer resources such as health services, financial training and entrepreneurship skills to low- and moderate-income families.

• Stability First: $593,000 over three years to renovate a building in Martinsville as a shelter for men with mental health needs, substance use disorder or criminal histories. The men will receive housing, health care management and program services. Stability First operates a similar shelter for women, Magdalen House. Additional co-funding has been secured by IU Health Foundation for the project from Craig and Connie Fenneman, Home Bank, Lisa and Kevin Arnold, Dan and Judy Moore and Pinnacle Treatment Centers, among others.

• Goodwill Foundation of Central and Southern Indiana: $583,000 over three years to offer employment coaching to employees in the Lafayette area. Services include addressing health, education and other needs of employees and participants in the Excel Center.

• Marian University: $500,000 over three years to expand the City Connects program into Muncie Community Schools. The program helps at-risk children overcome social, emotional, health or psychological barriers to learning with help from an on-site coordinator working with teachers and families.

• Family Promise of Hendricks County: $400,000 in 2024 to work with partners to develop a childcare center near an affordable 120-unit housing complex and workforce training center in an industrial area of Plainfield.

• Centerstone: $400,000 over three years to create a mobile crisis response team in Monroe and surrounding counties to treat people in mental health or substance use crises. The service will be available around-the-clock to de-escalate crises and connect people in need to treatment options.

Violet is our daily news reporter. Contact her at vcomberwilen@wfyi.org or follow her on Twitter at @ComberWilen.

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