The REACH Foundation invests in initiatives to advance improvements in health care systems and expand promising programs. Following are summaries of a few of the initiatives funded:
Five philanthropies that fund health programs and initiatives in Kansas established a $450,000 donor-advised fund to help Kansas maximize federal grant and technical assistance opportunities connected with health reform. The Affordable Care Act Opportunity Fund was created to support planning, research, grant writing, consumer engagement and other activities. Grant applications are reviewed on a continuous basis. Information is available at www.topekacommunityfoundation.org.
The Cultural Competency initiative is designed to increase understanding and practice of cultural competency in health and human service organizations, with a long-term goal of reducing health disparities. The initiative focuses on policies, practices and internal structures that influence cultural competence within organizations. A key component of the initiative is technical assistance to help nonprofit organizations strengthen cultural competency efforts.
Head Start-Trauma Smart, developed by Crittenton Children’s Center in 2008, provides therapy for young children in 14 Head Start centers in Wyandotte County, Kansas, who have been exposed to complex trauma. The project also trains Head Start teachers and support staff in Attachment, Regulation and Competency (ARC), a framework for responding to trauma-induced behaviors. In 2009, REACH committed a three-year grant for a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Local Funding Partnerships grant to expand the program to two sites in Missouri.
In 2010, the REACH Foundation and the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City concluded a three-year initiative to provide the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine to more than 5,500 uninsured and underinsured females ages 9 to 26. The vaccine was administered through community health centers, clinics and public health departments. More than 16,000 vaccines were administered over the course of the initiative.
The Kansas Dental Project was launched in 2010 as a collaborative effort to research and identify solutions to meeting oral health needs in rural and underserved communities in Kansas. Kansas Action for Children coordinates the project in partnership with the Kansas Association for the Medically Underserved and Kansas Health Consumer Coalition. Efforts to date include data collection, exploration of alternative workforce models, policy development and educational activities that address the community health impact of dental workforce shortages. Read more at www.kansasdental.com.
In 2009, the REACH Foundation launched Phase II of the Medical Home Initiative to help safety net clinics undertake a transformation process leading toward adoption of key components of the patient-centered medical home model of care. The initiative began with four clinics in 2007, expanded to eight clinics in 2009 and added a ninth clinic to the initiative in 2010.
Project Ready Smile, one of the Foundation’s earliest initiatives, is a joint effort of REACH and the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City to improve the oral health of very young children by providing oral screenings, fluoride varnish treatments and oral health education.
REACH is among a group of metropolitan area funders that invested in an initiative to improve the effectiveness of the region’s safety net health system. The Regional Health Care Initiative at the Mid-America Regional Council (MARC) has convened safety net health center leaders and representatives of community mental health organizations to address access issues and improvements to the physical and behavioral health care delivery systems. One of the initiative’s projects is an After-Hours Expansion extending weeknight and weekend hours at selected safety net clinics in the metropolitan area.
