KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Nineteen nonprofit groups in Kansas and Missouri have been selected to receive more than $680,000 in grants from the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City (HCF).

Grant recipients include The Family Conservancy, which received $22,000 for its Healthy Parents, Healthy Kids program piloted at Juniper Gardens in Kansas City, Kan., and Oral Health Kansas, which received $45,000 for its advocacy, public awareness and education efforts.

The funding represents the last $4 million awarded as part of HCF’s 2012 applicant-defined grant program. Organizations are allowed to apply for the grants once per year and are capped at $75,000.

“We are proud to award these applicant defined grants to support organizations in our service area who are working diligently to help eliminate barriers to quality health for the uninsured and underserved," said HCF Chief Executive Officer Steve Roling.

The 19 organizations, grant amounts and projects are:

• Alphapointe Association for the Blind, $40,000, to promote self-sufficiency for seniors by teaching skills that enable older adults to “age in place,” maintain active lifestyles and stay connected to their families and communities.
• Cancer Action Inc., $25,000, to provide prescription assistance to uninsured/underinsured cancer patients who are unable to provide their cancer-related medications.
• Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas Inc., $30,000, to support a health care navigator in the agency’s Wyandotte County programming, responsible for care coordination for clients of Refugee Migrant Services.
• Children's Center for the Visually Impaired, $26,552, to partially support occupational, speech and physical therapist positions in the Infant/Toddler Therapy Program, for blind or visually impaired infants from birth to age 3 and for their families.
• Episcopal Community Services Inc., $27,000, to effectively expand its “social enterprise” and “transitional employment” initiatives.
• Gillis Center Inc., $37,000, to support a case manager and therapist position that will provide mental health services to at-risk and traumatized children.
• Hope Haven of Cass County, $37,000, to enable increasing overall safety and security of shelter residents and employees by supporting added people 3 p.m. to midnight, as well as augment hotline and utility expenses.
• Kansas Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies, $30,000, to support Child Care Aware of Kansas programs that will offer physical activity and healthier foods to children in their care and engage families as strong partners in deceasing obesity rates in children.
• Kansas City Community Center, $60,000, to enable KCCC to remain a successful provider of care to underserved, high-risk chemically dependent persons after health care reform is implemented.
• Kansas City Urban Youth Center, $10,000, to support the creation of a fund development plan that will help to build capacity for health programming.
• Kansas Health Consumer Coalition, $40,000, to strengthen coalition-building and consumer engagement work.
• KU Health Partners Inc., $60,000, to support the addition of occupational therapy services to the medically underserved in a patient-centered medical home.
• Mid America Assistance Coalition, $35,000, to help low-income and homeless people obtain a birth certificate and/or photo ID so they can enter the network of community services and obtain employment.
• Midwest Foster Care & Adoption Association, $45,000, to support the new Family Connections Intake and Assessment Shelter that will provide intensive therapy in an attempt to reunify children taken into care with their parents.
• Oral Health Kansas Inc., $45,000, to continue efforts to improve oral health in Kansas through advocacy, public awareness and education.
• The Family Conservancy, $22,000, to streamline its Healthy Parents, Healthy Kids program, which was successfully piloted at Juniper Gardens, into eight-week curricula that can be offered to residents of three additional KCK public housing communities.
• Tri-County Mental Health Services Inc., $27,000, to provide increased individual, group and family therapy in the Northland Community of Kansas City, Missouri, specifically for low-income, uninsured children, families and individuals who would otherwise not have access to therapy services.
• United Community Services of Johnson County, $30,340, to support staff costs to plan community-wide implementation of trauma-informed care practices and culture across multiple Johnson County organizations.
• United Way of Greater Kansas City Inc., $30,000, to support a United Way 2-1-1 health care advocate who will provide information on medical and health care resources, make referrals to appropriate organizations and help callers enroll in public sector health programs.

HCF works to eliminate barriers to quality health for the uninsured and underserved in Kansas City, Missouri, Allen, Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas, and Cass, Jackson and Lafayette counties in Missouri.