HINSDALE, Ill., Dec. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- The Illinois Children’s Healthcare Foundation (ILCHF) today announced it has awarded nearly $6 million in grants to 32 organizations for programs to improve the quality of and access to health care for children in the state.
The grants mark the first contribution of funds from ILCHF, which was created in 2002 following a $125 million court settlement made between the State of Illinois Attorney General’s Office and an Illinois insurance carrier.
Susan Kerr, former director of Ronald McDonald House Charities, was appointed president of ILCHF in late 2003. She said the $5.88 million in grants is earmarked for programs designed to:
-- Improve access to children’s health care; -- Screen children for developmental delays and intervene with appropriate care; -- Enhance children’s mental health services; -- Improve the oral health of Illinois children.
“These four areas are where we found the most need and best opportunities to begin to make a difference,” said ILCHF Chairman C. William Pollard, former CEO of The ServiceMaster Co. “As we complete this first grant cycle, we are grateful for the foresight of Jim Ryan, who as Attorney General, initiated the formation of the Foundation. During the past two years, the Foundation’s staff and Board have worked diligently in seeking to understand the scope of the health care needs of the children of Illinois. We look forward to continuing our efforts to provide a meaningful response to these needs.”
Kerr said the Board was especially drawn to “initiatives that worked to eliminate the barriers that prevent children from receiving treatment on a regular basis and deliver essential health care directly to those children in most need.”
Nearly 300 organizations responded to the Foundation’s Requests for Proposals issued in June. Fifty of those applicants were then invited to submit full proposals that were reviewed by Board members and a group of outside advisers.
The 32 grant winners included a wide variety of programs that cover many of the state’s neediest counties. Among them are:
-- Rockford-based Milestone, which will use its $262,090 grant to help expand a pediatric dental clinic that delivers care exclusively to developmentally disabled children. -- Community Health Partnership of Illinois, which will use its $377,759 grant to help provide oral healthcare services and education to the children of migrant farm workers living in Northern Illinois. -- Children’s Memorial Hospital, which will devote its $545,382 grant to develop a comprehensive, school-based, year-round mental health program to 800 disadvantaged Chicago students in two public elementary schools. -- Horizon Hospice, which will use its $200,000 grant to provide palliative care for as many as 50 children. -- Southern Illinois University’s School of Medicine, which will invest its $375,000 grant in a mobile medical unit that will serve high school students in Franklin County, one of the poorest counties in Illinois. -- The University of Chicago, which will devote its $500,000 grant to create a statewide pediatric sub-specialty consulting referral service using a network of medical professionals connected through telemedicine technology and a 1-800 phone number. The other grant winners are: -- Central Counties Health Center, Springfield ($100,000) -- El Valor, Chicago ($112,000) -- Hope School, Springfield ($100,000) -- Rockford Health Council ($100,000) -- Rush University Medical Center, Chicago ($84,755) -- Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, Chicago ($225,000 over three years) -- Advocate Health Care Foundation, Park Ridge ($150,000) -- Illinois State University Foundation, Normal ($132,973 over three years) -- La Rabida Children’s Hospital, Chicago ($150,000) -- Lester and Rosalie Anixter Center, Chicago ($75,000 over three years) -- Ounce of Prevention Fund, Chicago ($173,832) -- Action for Children, Chicago ($125,000) -- CCRC Community Link, Breese ($15,000) -- Chapin Hall Center for Children, Chicago ($145,749) -- Child Care Resource & Referral, Joliet ($286,842 over two years) -- Children’s Hospital of Illinois, Peoria ($200,000) -- Erie Neighborhood House, Chicago ($125,000) -- Fight Crime: Invest in Kids Illinois, Chicago ($170,000) -- Illinois Children’s Mental Health Partnership, Chicago ($150,000) -- Lessie Bates Davis Neighborhood House, East St. Louis ($178,500) -- Lincoln Memorial Hospital/Healthy Communities Partnership, Lincoln ($75,000) -- Christian Community Health Center, Chicago ($61,800) -- Crusader Clinic, Rockford ($250,000) -- Infant Welfare Society of Chicago ($80,000) -- Southern Illinois University, Carbondale ($296,000) -- Well Child Center, Elgin ($52,325)
For more details about these programs, visit the Foundation’s web site ( http://www.ilchf.org/ ).
The next grant cycle is tentatively scheduled to begin in late March 2005. Timing information will be posted on the web site. The Hinsdale-based Foundation can be reached at 630-655-2873.
The Illinois Children’s Healthcare Foundation was formed in December of 2002 with one goal in mind: improve the health of children living in the state. Most of the grants announced today provide one-year funding, which will help ILCHF better evaluate its strategy and impact. The Foundation is especially interested in helping organizations that utilize four approaches to improving health: treatment or intervention; advocacy and public policy work; education (both professional and lay); and, prevention or early intervention.
Illinois Children’s Healthcare Foundation
CONTACT: Clark Bell of Illinois Children’s Healthcare Foundation,+1-312-604-0576, or cell, +1-312-622-1284, or clarkbell@comcast.net
Web site: http://www.ilchf.org/
