Community Foundation Grants $350,000 to Critical Community Projects

Dec. 22, 2015

Through strategic Leadership Grants the Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines plays a key role in providing significant funding to projects that strengthen Greater Des Moines by responding to community trends and opportunities.  Leadership Grants are funded through donations to the Better Together Fund. Donors to the Better Together Fund give to support community needs now and into the future as identified through the Community Foundation’s grantmaking process facilitated by the organization’s expert staff, Grantmaking Committee and board of directors. The Community Foundation announces support of the following organizations with Leadership Grants:

Broadlawns Medical Center Foundation

A $250,000 Leadership Grant was awarded to Broadlawns Medical Center Foundation for the Mental Health Starts with Me Capital Campaign. This project will result in the renovation of Broadlawns’ current mental health care space. It will also expand the number of inpatient beds to bring the number of individuals served to the maximum capacity for licensure. Broadlawns provides mental health services to the community’s most vulnerable populations including low income families and refugees with a total of 52,000 out-patient visits and 15,000 community-based visits. Strengthening access to community-based behavioral health services for adults was identified as a critical recommendation for improving behavioral health services in the recently released Challenges and Opportunities for Mental Health and Substance Use Service Delivery in Central Iowa report. The Community Foundation is pleased to offer grant support the Mental Health Starts with Me Capital Campaign to assist in meeting this critical need in our community.

Contact: Katie Wengert, Director of Marketing and Public Relations, kwengert@broadlawns.org, (515) 282-2496

United Way of Central Iowa

A $100,000 matching challenge Leadership Grant was awarded to United Way of Central Iowa to support the Central Iowa’s Bridges to Success Program, a comprehensive community-wide program to support adult learners. The program will offer enhanced course curriculum to adults seeking a high school equivalency diploma (HSED). Bridges will also offer comprehensive wrap-around services to mitigate barriers to success, such as career pathway navigation, academic support and success coaching. The project has an aggressive goal of helping 10,000 adults achieve their HSED by 2020, which more than doubles the current annual rate of achievement.

Contact: Renee Miller, Community Impact Officer, Income, rmiller@unitedwaydm.org, (515) 246-6605