Grant History

UCare Fund Community Grants

2009

• Volunteers of America-Minnesota (VOA) – The grant will fund a 12-week Health-A-Thon
  program to improve the physical health of seniors living at three VOA sites in Minneapolis:
  Southwest Senior Center, Horn Towers, and Monroe Village.
• YWCA of Minneapolis – Funds will support the “Strong Fast Fit Youth” program, which
  provides culturally-specific fitness and health education programming to 120 Native
  American and Latino youths and their families.
• Cedar Riverside People’s Center and Clinic – The grant will support a new “Shape Up!”
  program, which will provide a registered dietician and a bilingual patient educator to work
  with 125 individuals whose weight issues are leading to pre-diabetic conditions and diabetes.
• Mille Lacs County Public Health – Funds will help Mille Lacs County improve the
  nutritional intake of elementary school-age children, and educate the children and their
  parents about healthy food choices.
• Isanti County Public Health – The grant will help fund Isanti County’s “Teen-Age Parent
  Program,” which offers prenatal care, well-child care, nutrition counseling, and parenting
  education to pregnant and parenting teens.
• Special Olympics Minnesota – The UCare grant will help enhance and expand the ”Healthy
  Athletes” program, which works to increase the health and fitness of people across
  Minnesota with intellectual disabilities (a medically underserved population) by providing
  free screenings, making referrals to local health practitioners, and training health
  professionals and students about the needs of people with intellectual disabilities.
• Fremont Community Health Services, Inc. – UCare funds will help the Fremont clinics
  deliver a family-centered healthy lifestyle project targeted to low-income racial/ethnic
  minorities in north and northeast Minneapolis, and surrounding communities.
• Benton County Human Services – Benton County’s public health unit will use the grant to
  help neighborhoods, agencies, and service groups sustain a network of community gardens
  growing produce bound for low-income populations.
• Resources for Child Caring – UCare funds will help the agency launch the “Healthy
  Learners: Obesity Reduction and Healthy Lifestyles” pilot project, which seeks to impact the
  health of at least 100 Twin Cities children enrolled in early childhood programs.
• City of Bloomington – Bloomington’s Division of Public Health will use the grant to
  increase the incorporation of obesity prevention messages and strategies into policies,
  practices, and programming of community organizations and schools serving high-risk
  residents.
• Dakota County Public Health Department – The grant will enhance Dakota County’s
  “Promoting Health Families Across the Lifespan” project that offers outreach and health
  promotion efforts to pregnant women, children, and families.
• National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Minnesota Chapter – UCare dollars will support the
  “Living Well with MS” program, which helps Minnesotans with Multiple Sclerosis enhance
  their physical health, practice healthy nutrition, and maintain maximum independence.
• South Washington County Schools Community Education – The grant will help conduct
  the Kids International Wellness Initiative (KIW) at two Kids Club sites in summer 2010 to
  address nutrition/fitness issues for children living in Cottage Grove, Newport, St. Paul Park,
  and Woodbury.
• Washburn Center for Children – The grant will support the community mental health
  center’s “Family Focused Program,” which supports the healthy development of children in
  Washburn’s Minnesota service area, and provides intensive, early intervention services to
  reduce risk factors for child abuse and neglect.
• Fillmore County Public Health – UCare dollars will support the healthy development and
  lifestyles of Fillmore County youth through county efforts to target risk factors and work
  with sectors that positively influence, educate, and care for young people.
• Carlton-Cook-Lake-St. Louis Community Health Board – The grant will help support the
  Board’s new, health-focused “UMD Voyageurs: Pirates of the Carrot Bean” program
  directed at children in grades Kindergarten-6th in 10 regions.
• Comunidades Latinas Unidas En Servicio (CLUES) – UCare funds will help support
  culturally competent efforts by CLUES’ Community Health Worker Services to alter social
  norms of sedentary lifestyles and overindulgence in unhealthy foods among members of
  Minnesota’s Latino community.
• Vietnamese Social Services of Minnesota – The grant will help support the “Vietnamese
  and Karen Health is Gold Fitness and Nutrition Project” to increase community awareness of
  the need for physical activity and nutrition, and promote exercise and healthy eating.
• Health Improvement Partners, Inc. – UCare dollars will support efforts to advance
  physical activity and educate more than 500 people in the Greater Mankato area about the
  benefits of exercise and good nutrition.
• Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota – The UCare grant will support Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota's Senior Companions program for lonely and/or isolated adults who need support
  when other family members cannot be there; caregivers in need of respite; mentally or physically
  impaired individuals; or people recovering from an illness.

UCare Fund grant history:

2008

• Access Press – This non-profit newspaper serving Minnesota’s disability community publication will redesign its web site to add reader interactivity.
• Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Seton Services Prenatal Program – Seton Services Prenatal Program works to improve birth outcomes and the presence of quality, and offer consistent social services and medical care for high risk, low-income pregnant women and teens.
• The Center for Victims of Torture – Funds will help cover the development of another post-doctoral psychology fellow needed to work in the areas of trauma and torture survivor rehabilitation.
• Comunidades Latinas Unidas En Servicio (CLUES) – More linguistically appropriate and culturally proficient mental health services will be provided in St. Paul, as CLUES works to reduce disparities in mental health care for the Latino community.
• Hennepin County Public Health Promotion – Grant money will support “Safe Routes to School” activities that facilitate and promote walking and biking among children at five Robbinsdale school district elementary schools.
• Inter-Tribal Elder Services – Health promotion and nutrition support will be offered at Inter-Tribal Elder Services, which serves urban American Indian elders with health and nutrition information and activities.
• Lifeworks Services, Inc. – Lifeworks will develop an income-generating business offering Lifeworks multi-sensory environments to community members with disabilities or other sensory disorders.
• Mesabi Family YMCA – The YMCA will expand child, adolescent, and adult obesity reduction programs to positively impact individuals and families dealing with obesity.
• National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Minnesota Chapter – Grant funds will support a two-phase development of two adult day programs in Greater Minnesota.
• The Na-way-ee Center School, Inc.  – A diabetes prevention program will help American Indian youth and families with screening and follow-up services, health education classes, expanded exercise and healthy meals programs, and a school vegetable garden project.
• Nicollet Public School District 507 – Health promotion and nutrition support will be offered at Inter-Tribal Elder Services, which serves urban American Indian elders with health and nutrition information and activities.
• Portico Healthnet  – Bilingual community health workers will help uninsured Latinos in the Twin Cities obtain health care coverage and application assistance for enrollment in Minnesota Health Care Programs.
• Sawtooth Mountain Clinic – The northern Minnesota clinic will continue providing primary, part-time health care physician services to the Grand Portage Health Services site on the Grand Portage Reservation in Cook County.
• Special Olympics Minnesota – The organization will enhance and expand all aspects of its Special Olympics programs that promote healthy lifestyles for individuals with intellectual disabilities.
• St David’s Child Development & Family Services – The St. David’s Child Development & Family Services Teen Pregnancy Support Program will help improve the birth outcomes of high-risk teen parents.
• Vietnamese Social Services of Minnesota – The Refugee Health Access Project increases awareness of, and access to, health care and health insurance resources among Vietnamese and Karen refugees and immigrants in the Twin Cities and St. Cloud.
• Volunteers of America Minnesota – Somali youth and their families will increase access to quality, culturally competent mental health services through a new satellite clinic at the Somali Education Center in South Minneapolis, and through Somali staff at community and home sites.
• UCare Fund research grants to the University of Minnesota Department of Family Medicine and Community Health

• "Effect of Revised Nursery Orders on Newborn Preventive Services” – The study will learn if changing nursery orders to reflect four current guidelines improves quality of care by improving compliance with the recommendations, and seek to determine if there are racial or ethnic disparities in the quality of newborn care.
• “Minnesota Complexity Assessment Method in Diabetes Patients” – Research will investigate the validity of the Minnesota Complexity Assessment Method (MCAM) in a sample of outpatient patients with poorly controlled diabetes.

UCare Fund Research Grants

University of Minnesota Research and Training Center on Community Living:

• Disability, Diversity, and Access to Health and Wellness – The Center will interview Latino, Hmong or Somali immigrants with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities about attempts to access health and social services, and use this information to inform health care providers and social services about these barriers.

University of Minnesota Department of Family Medicine and Community Health:

• Eliminating Disparities in Care: Development and Evaluation of an Interactive Training Module to Reduce Unconscious Bias in Providers’ Clinical Decision-making – The department will develop a web-based intervention to reduce stereotyping by providers.
• Helping Women Achieve Healthy Weight Gain in Pregnancy – The department will use weight data to create clinically useful graphs during prenatal counseling.
• The Family Education and Diabetes Series Project: A Pilot Investigation (FEDS) – Department staff will evaluate an innovative diabetes education program for low-income Native Americans and their families.

University of Minnesota Department of Family Medicine and Community Health-Bethesda Clinic:

• A Review of Health Status and Well-being of Recently Arrived Karen Immigrants – The department will compare medical data of recent Karen (Burmese) refugees with that of the established Hmong community in St. Paul.