WELBORN BAPTIST FOUNDATION
SUMMARY OF GRANTS AWARDED 2003*

*All Projects Listed Below were granted in the name of the Welborn Foundation, Inc.

EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT

The Welborn Foundation believes that early childhood development is critical to a child’s academic success as he/she prepares to enter the school environment. Because school readiness is influenced by many factors, the foundation encourages programs that invest not only at the level of the child, but also support the families, schools, and neighborhoods. The foundation is awarding grants that address specific goals, which have been defined through the key finding that increasing numbers of children in preschools are being identified with disabilities. The strategies focus on enhancing cognitive, emotional and social development of preschool children, both with quality early childhood education and the involvement of the parents.

The Rehabilitation Center

Children’s Psychiatric Services

$34,620

Funding to help establish psychiatric services for children and youth with disabilities, addressing a critical shortage of adequate, timely, accessible psychiatric care for these young people. This program, In partnership with the Southwestern Mental Health Center, has enabled the Rehab Center to bring a child psychiatrist on staff, greatly reducing wait times for services.

Evansville ARC

Best Practices in Early Childhood Education

$106,820

Funding for program that is directed toward improving the quality of child care in the community, by creating a community resource center that provides access to leading practices in early intervention and early childhood development for all children, with or without disabilities. This program also provides consultation on special education, early childhood development, and parenting to other day care facilities and offers support groups.

Joshua Academy

Development/Grants Position

$31,160

Support for a focused development effort, the goal of which is to build long-term financial sustainability for the academy.

Joshua Academy

”Closing the Gap” Program

$86,550
Support for program that sets high expectations and academic standards for some of our community’s most vulnerable children in pre-school through 5^th grade. This program also strives to instill strong values in the children and teaches them how to make positive choices in their lives.

HEALTHY ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT

Adolescence is the time when young people are at highest risk for engaging in behaviors that can result in poor health outcomes. [According to] the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, six categories of behavior are responsible for 70 percent of adolescent mortality and morbidity: unintentional and intentional injuries, drug and alcohol abuse, sexually transmitted disease and unintended pregnancies, diseases associated with tobacco use, illness resulted from inadequate physical activity, and health problems due to inadequate dietary patterns. The grants awarded address teen pregnancy prevention, adolescent substance abuse prevention, and healthy life styles for at risk youth.

WNIN

Sober Up

$17,310

Project to facilitate and support the development of a regional task force on reducing college drinking. In collaboration with Youth First, Inc., the task force will study this community-wide problem, research and produce an educational documentary with research-proven solutions, host a community forum, and provide follow-up evaluations on the project.

Youth First, Inc.

Substance Abuse Intervention Program

$302,930

Program to reduce substance abuse by coordinating community resources to provide prevention and early intervention for youth and their families. This includes using proven programs that seek to reach the root causes most associated with substance abuse among young people, including poor decision-making skills, peer pressure, lack of family support and supervision, and inappropriate role models.

IMPROVEMENTS IN COMMUNITY HEALTH STATUS

Studies that identify community-level characteristics associated with the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of residents could help guide local health planning. Key findings demonstrate that the infant mortality and morbidity rate, although improving, still needs to be addressed; that the morbidity and mortality rate of breast and cervical cancer among the African-American population is higher than average; and access to specialty health care for children is needed. The grants awarded address these goals.

University of Southern Indiana

Breast and Cervical Cancer Awareness Program

$64,920

Funding for the “Witness Project”, a culturally-sensitive program directed towards education and screening for African-American women, who are less likely than others to survive breast or cervical cancer. A key component of this program is the development of role models and lay health advisors to teach the program, establish neighborhood-based outreach cancer education programs, and employ evidence-based interventions to remove barriers to education and screening.

Deaconess Hospital

Family Mapping

$64,920

A new program to address the rapid repeat pregnancy rate, a key factor in infant mortality and poor medical outcomes, among low-income families. As most of these pregnancies are unplanned, the program will provide education on pregnancy prevention, regular follow-up, increased utilization of family planning, and outreach to high-risk populations.

Southwestern Indiana Regional Perinatal Advisory Board

Program Coordinator

$43,280

Funding to continue work related to decreasing infant mortality in Vanderburgh County. The coordinator will continue making home visits to families whose infants have died, promote workplace education, review patient charts and analyze infant death and pre-term/low birth weight information, and work for improvement of smoking cessation counseling skills for health care providers.

St. Mary’s Foundation

Child Health Center

$211,100

Establishment of a pediatric sub-specialty clinic to serve the tri-state area. Since the region’s population is not large enough to support full-time specialists, these physicians travel to the Child Health Center on a schedule, providing specialty care and services locally that previously created hardships for patients and families due to travel.

PROMOTION OF HEALTHY LIFESTYLES

Every year, chronic diseases claim the lives of more than one and a half million Americans. Much of the chronic disease burden is preventable. To a large degree, the major chronic disease killers, cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes – are results of what people do, or what they do not do, as they go about the business of daily living. The key findings show that our region is at above average risk for the development of these diseases, because of prevalent habits of physical inactivity and unhealthy eating. These habits lead to overweight and obesity, diabetes, and heart disease and some cancers. The grants seek to promote healthier habits by targeting prevention and reduction of smoking, management of chronic disease, and modification of life style.

St. John the Apostle Catholic Church

S.O.U.L. Empowerment

$47,610

Fitness and exercise program that primarily serves low-income and African-American individuals who are at increased risk for diabetes and cardiovascular disease, due to obesity and sedentary lifestyle. This program serves as a resource to which other diabetes screening and treatment programs refer their clients for diet and exercise support.

ECHO Community Health Care

Diabetes Care Management Center

$380,144

New program and facility, which opened in September, 2003, dedicated to supporting and educating people with diabetes on controlling their disease. Services include monitoring of people already diagnosed with diabetes, as well as screening for people with high risk factors and family history of diabetes. The Center maintains full-time diabetes and nutrition educators on staff, in addition to a physician.

SCHOOL-BASED HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICE CENTERS

This target was driven by our Leading Community Health Indicators report key findings – only West Virginia has lower education attainment than Indiana and an estimated 24 percent of adults in Vanderburgh County have less than a high school education.

A model of the full service school has been developed at Cedar Hall Elementary School and has demonstrated significant improvement in achievement by the students. This model integrates health, social services and improving education through family-neighborhood-school partnerships. The Foundation has encouraged planning grants to improve the capacity of schools and the communities to address families’ and students’ barriers to success and subsequently help them to attain higher educational achievement.

Ivy Tech State College

Wellness Fitness Center

$108,190

Program that provides health, social, and academic support to students who are faced with obstacles to successfully completing their education and becoming self-sufficient.

Perry Central Elementary

Community/School Program

$64,920

Program directed toward helping families overcome poverty by improving attitudes toward education, enhancing early childhood educational experiences, promoting well child health care, and enhancing and coordinating support services for families.

Evansville-Vanderburgh School Corporation

Collaborative Table Process

$173,100

Support for the process which seeks to improve children’s academic success by bringing support services to school families, removing barriers to achievement, and promoting family involvement with their children’s education.

Henderson County Schools – Central Learning Center

School-Based Health and Social Services

$82,230

Goal of this program is to improve academic, social, and behavioral skills for students who must be temporarily removed from the regular school system. While assigned to the Central Learning Center, these students receive intensive interventions in the areas of mental health, behavior improvement, individual and family counseling, and health.

Wabash Community Schools

Community/School Program

$90,020

Following a year of planning, this program seeks to put in place some long-term prevention and intervention strategies that families and children need to break the cycle of abuse, neglect, divorce, poverty, addiction, teen pregnancy, and illiteracy. Focus is on integrating medical, social, and educational services on school grounds or in easily-accessible locations.

Chrisney Elementary School

Community/School Program

$39,430

Program based on planning activities from last year, which have already seen implementation of collaborative activities to provide students and families with much-needed services in primary care, mental health, dental care, eye care, wellness, literacy, and health education. This year seeks to build upon those same strategies to further develop cooperation among area agencies to bring services to school or locations that families can access.

Gallatin County Community Unit School District No. 7

School-Based Health Clinic

$173,100

Development and implementation of a school-based health clinic, which provides the only primary care available in Gallatin County. This program began providing services to students and staff in temporary quarters in the school in February, 2003. Construction of the 2100 sq. ft. clinic facility began November 17 and is currently under way. The clinic currently has a nurse practitioner, mental heath counselor, and nurse manager on its staff. Enrollment in the program is steadily increasing each month.

GENERAL OPPORTUNITY

While the majority of the available funds are directed to the specific targets, the Foundation did consider and award grants in the domains of health, social services, and education that address community needs.

Buffalo Trace Council

Capital funding for new Scout Center

$100,000

The second year of capital funding for a portion of the new proposed 11,500 square foot Boy Scout Center. The total amount granted to this project is $500,000, to be paid over five years or less. The facility will provide strategic accessibility for youth and families, a new training and Conference Center, new Outdoor Program Center, an expanded Scout Shop as well as a larger Resource Room and Library.

YMCA of Southwestern Indiana, Inc.

Capital Funding for Family YMCA facility

$100,000

The second year of capital support for the construction of the proposed 40,000 square foot Lowell & Helen Dunigan Family YMCA. The total amount granted to this project is $500,000, to be paid over five years or less. The facility will host a number of programs for youth, adults, active older adults, families and a range of wellness programs.