Blue & You Foundation for a Healthier Arkansas Awards UAMS 3 Grants To Improve Mental Health Treatment

By Tim Taylor

LITTLE ROCK — The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) recently received three grants from Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s Blue & You Foundation for a Healthier Arkansas aimed at strengthening programs treating Arkansans with mental illness.

Jessica Coker, M.D., an associate professor in the UAMS College of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, is the principal investigator in MAPS (Mental Health and Addiction Peer Support), a peer-support model for co-occurring substance use disorders within acute psychiatric units.

Supported by a $122,389 grant from the Blue & You Foundation for a Healthier Arkansas, Coker, along with Abigail Richison, M.D., will integrate a peer navigator assigned to the inpatient units at the UAMS Psychiatric Research Institute (PRI). The peer navigator will work specifically with patients dealing with substance use disorders.

https://news.uams.edu/2023/01/26/blue-you-foundation-for-a-healthier-arkansas-awards-uams-3-grants-to-improve-mental-health-treatment/

(From left) Jessica Coker, M.D., Abigail Richison, M.D., Nikki Edge, Ph.D., and Tisha Deen, Ph.D., are overseeing studies that received funding from the Blue & You Foundation for a Healthier Arkansas.

UA Cossatot was recently awarded $64,000 Blue & You Foundation Grant

UA Cossatot was recently awarded a $64,000 Blue & You Foundation Grant to provide hunger relief and hygiene items for students in need.

The grant will aid UA Cossatot’s Center for Student Success’s food pantries and supplies closet, located on three of their four campuses in Sevier, Howard, and Little River counties.

“Food insecurity and lack of resources on college campuses across America is a growing problem, and within the Center for Student Success, we want to do all that we can to alleviate hunger locally and meet these needs. We want students to come to college and focus solely on their academics and not where their next meal may come from,” said Erika Buenrrostro, Director of Student Success and Enrichment. “We are excited that UA Cossatot was chosen to receive this grant that will greatly benefit our students.”

The Blue & You Foundation for a Healthier Arkansas announced Wednesday that 47 grants are being awarded in 2023 to public schools, universities and nonprofit groups in Arkansas totaling $3.38 million. The grants will directly impact each of the state’s 75 counties, funding projects focused on:

· Behavioral health resources

· Social determinants of health

· Maternal and pediatric health needs

· Health equity

· Whole person health

· Medical condition innovation

“These grants will fund dozens of projects touching Arkansans all over the state — from supporting the Arkansas Suicide Prevention Hotline to providing recreational therapy to youth aging out of foster care, the 2023 grants will impact Arkansans in a powerful way.” said Rebecca Pittillo, executive director of the Blue & You Foundation. “The organizations that we have funded are focused on improving the lives of people in our communities, which is also our goal at the Blue & You Foundation.”

For more information, contact Erika Buenrrostro at 870-584-1133 or ebuenrrostro@cccua.edu

Blue & You Foundation awards $3.36 million to Arkansas Organizations including $150,000 to an Ashdown project

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (November 22, 2021) – The Blue & You Foundation for a Healthier Arkansas announced today 41 initiatives in Arkansas will receive grants totaling $3,360,327, that will directly impact 71 of Arkansas’ 75 counties.

Among the projects receiving a grant, is the Ashdown Community Foundation, Inc., Ashdown ($150,000) – to construct the Ashdown City Park Inclusive Playground.

The Blue & You Foundation is a charitable foundation established and funded by Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield to promote better health in the Natural State.

“Eleven of our grants this year focus on education for medical professionals and eight grants address behavioral health, issues that are extremely important to the health of all Arkansans,” said Rebecca Pittillo, executive director of the Blue & You Foundation. “Ten of our grants will reach Arkansans statewide. And because we are very aware of the need for more health equity within our state, eight of our grants focus specifically on minority populations.”

The need for qualified healthcare workers and better access to behavioral health services continue to grow in Arkansas. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, one in five adults experiences mental illness. And according to the latest state report on healthcare licensures in Arkansas, there were seven counties in the state that only had one primary care physician in 2019, and several had no dentists.

“The Blue & You Foundation has been focused for the past two years on supporting urgent needs that arose due to the pandemic,” said Pittillo. “The COVID-19 pandemic definitely elevated new health-related needs and emphasized existing needs in our state – social determinants that we hope these grants will positively impact.”

“The Blue & You Foundation has been focused for the past two years on supporting urgent needs that arose due to the pandemic,” said Pittillo. “The COVID-19 pandemic definitely elevated new health-related needs and emphasized existing needs in our state – social determinants that we hope these grants will positively impact.”

Since 2001, the Blue & You Foundation has awarded more than $45 million to nonprofits and governmental agencies in all 75 counties. Applications for the next round of grants will be accepted April 15 through July 15, 2022. Grants will range from $5,000 to $150,000. Blue & You Foundation training sessions for grant writing will be offered in March of 2022. For more information on trainings and the Blue & You grant process, visit blueandyoufoundationarkansas.org.