CSHF Announces New Grant Awards
Colorado Springs Health Foundation’s Board of Trustees recently awarded $3.4 million in new grants to 33 organizations working in El Paso and/or Teller Counties. Some of these awards are multiyear in nature.
Since inception (grantmaking began in 2016), CSHF has awarded approximately $16 million in grants to local organizations working to improve our community’s health.
This year’s main funding opportunity grant cycle was the most competitive yet. CSHF received more than $7 million in total requests (some of them multiyear), which included $5.3MM in requests for 2019 alone vs. the $2.5 MM remaining to payout this year.
Some of the larger grant awards made:
- $900,000 over three years to the Pikes Peak Community College’s Healthcare Education Center Interdisciplinary Simulation Initiative
- $600,000 over two years to The Trust for Public Land for its work in Panorama Park
- $400,000 to Peak Vista Community Health Center for its new southeast Colorado Springs clinic
- $300,000 over two years to Colorado Springs Food Rescue for its Hillside Hub Neighborhood Food Center
The complete list of grant awards made may be found in the News section of our website: cshf.net/news/
Click on the 4.18.19 press release to find the list of awards.
2018 Evaluation Findings
Colorado Springs Health Foundation recently shared its 2018 evaluation findings with the community. CSHF’s evaluation goals are to inform strategy, assess alignment and drive learning. During 2017, CSHF’s evaluation efforts were aimed at informing strategy and assessing alignment. During 2018, the focus was driving learning related to five key concepts: sustainability, collaboration, culture of learning, evidence-based practice and health equity.
CSHF chose to explore these five concepts because each is either key to CSHF’s grant decision-making process and/or key to making a greater impact on community health. The findings showed that respondents tend to define and apply these concepts at an individualized level more so than a systems or community level. The evaluation process also sought insights on CSHF as a funding partner. Respondents reported general satisfaction with the relationship, and made some suggestions for improvement such as the development of a shorter grant application process for smaller grants. This is something that CSHF will explore.
To read the entire 2018 evaluation findings report, plus the two in-depth case studies done on Community Partnership for Child Development and Community Partnership Family Resource Center, go to the Events page of the CSHF website: cshf.net/events
CSHF is grateful to all funded partners who participated in the most recent evaluation effort. We are particularly thankful to Community Partnership for Child Development and Community Partnership Family Resource Center, as they agreed to be the focus of the case studies.
Learning Collective
The main focus of CSHF’s 2019 evaluation effort will be the piloting of a “Learning Collective.” This CSHF 2019 Learning Collective is a professional learning community that will focus on culture of learning. The 2018 evaluation work explored and highlighted the importance of building and growing a culture of learning as a means to embrace and integrate evidence-based practice, adapt to change, strengthen organizational stability and sustainability, and have greater community impact.
Up to 10 health-related organizations are eligible to participate. All must work in El Paso or Teller Counties. Applicants do not need to be a current or former CSHF funded partner, and organizations of all sizes and ages are welcome to apply.
An application is required, and will be available on the cshf.net/events website by May 16. Applications are due by noon on June 10. Selection will occur by the end of June and the Learning Collective will begin in late August, finishing in December 2019.
Participation requirements are significant, and have been designed based on key success factors from similar efforts. The Learning Collective will require a minimum of 84 hours per organization, two consistent participants, and participation from the executive director and development director. Organizations that fully participate in the Learning Collective will receive a $3,400 grant in recognition of their investment and commitment to the work.
To learn more, please contact staff at [email protected] or 719-985-8989.
What We’re Reading (or Listening to) Now
April 26, 2019, The Empty Promise of Suicide Prevention, Dr Amy Barnhorst , NYTimes Op-Ed, https://nyti.ms/2W8qaCL
Uncharitable by Dan Pallotta
April 5, 2019 NYTimes Op-Ed, David Brooks, “Winning the War on Poverty”
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/04/opinion/canada-poverty-record.html
February 28, 2019 Vox.com article on teen suicide prevention, “A promising new clue to prevent teen suicide: empower adults who care”, https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2019/2/28/18234667/teen-suicide-prevention
(The source article is by King et al, Association of the Youth-Nominated Support Team Intervention for Suicidal Adolescents with 11- to 14-Year Mortality Outcomes: Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Clinical Trial, JAMA Psychiatry, 6 February 2019)
February 19, 2019 David Brooks op-ed in NYT on the “Nation of Weavers”
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/18/opinion/culture-compassion.html
PBS Newshour “Brief but Spectacular” on the power of language through the lens of a women who’s deaf, Melissa Malzkuhn: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/melissa-malzkuhn-on-the-power-of-connecting-through-language
Robert Sapolsky, Stanford neuroscientist and primatologist, on the Ezra Klein Show (podcast), re: poverty & stress: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/vox/the-ezra-klein-show/e/58359498