UCare Fund Community Grants

2007

• Catholic Charities-Seton Services Prenatal Program – To improve birth outcomes and access to quality, consistent medical care for about 550 high-risk, low-income women and teens.
• Center for Asians and Pacific Islanders (CAPI) – CAPI will help improve access to culturally competent care, provide immunizations, and eliminate disparities in health outcomes for approximately 100 East African immigrants/ refugees, and 50 families.
• Confederation of the Somali Community in Minnesota – The Elder Independence Program will provide health screenings, "visiting companions," and social and health care navigation services so 200 socially isolated Somali elders can live independently.
• HealthEast Women's HeartAdvantage Program – The HealthEast Foundation will produce Hmong and Spanish language videos and written materials on cardiovascular disease and risk factors.
• Portico Healthnet – About 2,000 uninsured Latinos will receive screenings and application assistance to secure health care coverage via culturally appropriate outreach and assistance.
• SMC-Grand Portage Reservation – The Sawtooth Mountain Clinic, Inc. (SMC) will fund physicians to serve at the Grand Portage Reservation one-two days a week and deliver health care to an at-risk and chronically ill population.
• University of Minnesota Department of Pediatrics – The Department of Pediatrics at the University of Minnesota will demonstrate that Women, Infant, and Children (WIC) clinics are ideal sites to promote primary dental caries prevention.
• Vietnamese Social Services of Minnesota – The Refugee Health Access Project will deliver culturally appropriate assistance to about 5,000 Vietnamese and Karen refugees and immigrants in the Twin Cities and St. Cloud
• West Side Community Health Services – About 200 at-risk Latino patients will benefit from Type 2 diabetes monitoring, medical, and prevention help.
• Disabled Immigrant Association (DIA) – The DIA will provide education, social services, employment, and health care help and referrals to about 165 immigrants with disabilities.
• Metropolitan Center for Independent Living (MCIL) – The MCIL will move more than 20 persons with disabilities from nursing homes, and also distribute relocation manuals.
• Partnership Resources Inc. (PRI) – PRI will purchase the Total Body Recumbent Stepper for clients with physical limitations and developmental disabilities.
• Udac, Inc. – The Specialized Training and Fitness Programs (STEPS) will help 25 women with developmental disabilities with education, programs, and mind/body connection efforts.
• University of Minnesota Department of Family Medicine and Community Health-Smiley's Clinic – The clinic will provide medical expertise to assess and address patient and community issues related to arsenic contamination in the Phillips neighborhood.

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.

UCare Fund grant history:

2006

• American Lung Association of Minnesota – Make environmental improvements for children with moderate and severe, persistent or poorly controlled asthma. UCare Minnesota members will participate in a home environmental assessment and modification program.
• Catholic Charities-Seton Services Prenatal Program – Help improve birth outcomes, and access to quality, consistent medical care for high-risk, low-income women and teens.
• Center for Victims of Torture – Contribute to the ongoing "New Neighbors/Hidden Scars: Creating New Capacities for Healing in Minnesota Communities" program which develops capacities and inter-agency linkages for long- term intervention and recovery of victims of torture.
• Centro Community Health Clinic – Support the hiring of medical staff to help Centro Cultural Chicano provide care to thousands of Latino children once served in Minneapolis by the former La Clinica en Lake, which closed in July 2006.
• Communidades Latinas Unidas En Servicio (CLUES) – Help underwrite a bilingual Community Health Insurance Educator for CLUES, a Latino social and behavioral health services provider serving Minnesotans for more than 24 years.
• South Lake Pediatrics – Support the hiring of a Community Health Insurance Educator who will address health disparities among low-income families served at the six South Lake Pediatrics clinics in the Twin Cities.