Highmark Delaware awards $580K in community grants
Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Delaware recently awarded six grants, totaling $580,000, through its BluePrints for the Community grant program.
“As a Delaware healthcare leader we are focused on a healthier Delaware, and the organizations receiving these grants have a proven track record of making a positive impact throughout our state,” said Nick Moriello, president of Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Delaware. “Highmark Delaware is proud to support their important efforts to increase access to care and reduce health disparities.”
Highmark Delaware established BluePrints for the Community in 2007 as a donor-advised fund at the Delaware Community Foundation, a nonprofit organization that manages and administers charitable funds throughout the state. The program supports nonprofit organizations focused on four key areas: increasing access to care for Delaware’s uninsured and underserved populations; reducing healthcare disparities in minority communities; supporting early childhood development; and recruiting and training healthcare professionals.
Since its inception in 2007, the BluePrints for the Community grant program has awarded more than $13 million to Delaware nonprofit organizations. As a result, more than 96,000 individuals have been able to access high-quality care - including prenatal and mental health services. BluePrints grants have created over 200 full- or part-time jobs and provided additional training for more than 3,200 healthcare professionals and volunteers.
Grant recipients include Bayhealth Foundation, $100,000 to support expansion of Bayhealth’s Palliative Care program for broader-based outpatient Palliative Care services for the community; Catholic Charities, $120,000 will support underserved Delawareans receiving outpatient mental health treatment, including telepsychiatry services, to address emotional, behavioral and mental health concerns, funding will subsidize treatment and public transportation costs for under- and uninsured outpatient clients participating in Catholic Charities routine outpatient, community based outpatient, and domestic violence intervention services; Delaware Hospice, $100,000 will support Delaware Hospice’s New Hope program that provides care to grieving children and adolescents; ITN Southern Delaware, $60,000, a nonprofit, all-volunteer transportation cooperative that provides transportation to seniors ages 55 and older in Sussex County, received funding for to provide transportation for low income seniors to doctor appointments and other health care and wellness-related services; Rodel, $100,000, to support Rodel’s Delaware Readiness Teams as they implement a statewide project to educate families on their important role in supporting healthy child development; and YMCA of Delaware, $100,000, for its diabetes prevention program and increase capacity to serve 600 participants statewide. Funding will increase access to DPP by offering additional class locations and provide scholarships to underserved individuals, primarily in Kent and Sussex counties.
