Mat-Su Health Foundation awards $1.75M to local nonprofits

MAT-SU — Eight organizations will receive a total $1,752,000 from Mat-Su Health Foundation in the most recent round of awards given through its Healthy Impact grant program.

According to its website, Mat-Su Health Foundation (MSHF) annually awards about $5 million to “capital projects, programs and services that improve the health of Mat-Su residents.” Since December 2012, the nonprofit has awarded almost $8 million in Healthy Impact grants.

“We take stewardship of these resources really seriously,” said foundation Executive Director Elizabeth Ripley.

The Recipients

• Wasilla Area Seniors (WASI) was awarded the largest sum this round, $500,000, in the form of a Program Related Investment (PRI), or low-interest loan. WASI is contracted to pay back the money in the next 15 years, Ripley said.

Assistant Executive Director Chuck Foster said WASI intends to use the funds to purchase a piece of a parcel of land on Knik-Goose Bay Road that is currently owned by Legacy, LLC, and adjacent to the senior center.

“It’s the only direction to expand without creating a campus somewhere else, which would be harder to maintain,” Foster said.

The land would be developed mainly for additional independent senior housing, for which there is a growing need in the Mat-Su Valley, he said. The project would not be possible without the foundation’s funding, he said.

• The next largest sum of MSHF grant money, $375,000, is going to the Anchorage-based Alaska Youth and Family Network (AYFN) for development of a fully-staffed Mat-Su office.

An Anchorage AYFN spokesperson said the nonprofit is currently looking for space, and will continue to process referrals through the main office until the local office is established. There is only AYFN employee currently servicing the Valley, who works primarily out of her home, the spokesperson said.

According to the MSHF press release, “AYFN identifies, serves and stabilizes families of children and youth experiencing behavioral health challenges.”

• In schools, Onward and Upward, Inc. was awarded $347,500 to be used over three years for development of their education program.

Billed on its website as a “school for adventure-based learning, exploration and discovery,” Onward and Upward is a fledgling effort to physically, mentally and emotionally strengthen at-risk youth in the Valley through the national “Strong Kids” curriculum. Activities may include hiking, snowshoeing, rock climbing and navigating high-ropes courses, in addition to written lessons.

Ripley said the model has been successful in the last few years of testing.

• Mat-Su College was granted $195,864 to secure mental health care services for students through a contract with Mat-Su Health Services. The grant will also pay for a new healthy lifestyle education program for students and provide professional development opportunities for faculty and staff.

• Sunshine Community Health Center was awarded $168,840 toward a $409,474-project to establish two new positions for its Willow and Talkeetna locations: a licensed clinical social worker and a behavioral health nurse case manager.

• MY House was granted $75,000 to help install a “street outreach” coordinator, data coordinator, and additional outreach program support. The nonprofit works with homeless youth and young adults tofind housing and employment.

• CCS Early Learning was awarded $50,000 to educate staff and families on the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), peer support, and mental health counseling.

• Lastly, the Wasilla Public Library received a grant for $25,000 to purchase “health-related materials” for the new library, which Wasilla Mayor Bert Cottle said would primarily consist of books on how to maintain a healthy lifestyle, like through diet and exercise.

Cottle said it is the job of the library director to apply for grants that fit the library’s mission whenever funds are being offered. The library typically receives one or two grants a year — “three on a good year,” he said — but it always depends on what’s available.

The next round of Healthy Impact grant recipients will be announced in the spring of 2016.

Contact reporter Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.