YCCO awards 15 grants for community health projects
Seamus McCarthy, president and CEO of the YCCO, said the projects “reflect the creativity and commitment of our neighbors.”
His organization distributes grants through its Community Prevention and Wellness Fund, Supporting Health for All through REinvestment fund and investments supporting the Early Learning Hub, Traditional Health Workers program and Community Health Improvement Plan.
“Strong communities don’t happen by accident,” he said. “They’re built when people come together to care for one another. We’re proud to play a role in helping them thrive.”
YCCO received $5.3 million in requests for $600,000 in available funding. Proposals were scored and reviewed by several committees, including the Early Learning Council, CPW Committee and the Community Advisory Council. The YCCO Board gave final approval.
Grants went to the following organizations for the listed projects.
-- Churches United for West Valley, $19,837, for its Good Food Bags project, which aims to support families with limited access to food by providing weekly food and produce bags and food boxes on non-school days.
-- Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, $13,404 for its Tribal Traditional Health Worker Education & Training Project, which will send workers to culturally specific training.
-- FAMILIAR Foods, LLC, or the Food As Medicine for Independence & Longevity in Aging & Retirement project, $14,890 for a 10-week nutrition skills course targeting older adults at high risk for malnutrition in Yamhill, Polk and Washington counties.
-- Friends of the McMinnville Public Library, $35,344 for the Plaza Comunitaria project. It supports Spanish-speaking adults in completing their primary and middle school education and obtaining their GED by offering bilingual education and services such as transportation and childcare.
-- Grand Sheramina Community Services, $15,017 to provide food distribution in Sheridan, Willamina and surrounding areas, as well as support drive-up and home delivery food services to meet increased needs in the region.
-- Library Foundation of McMinnville, $2,500 for its Read and Play project, which targets low reading scores in Oregon by providing library services and formal STEAM programming to children in rural communities.
-- Lutheran Community Services Northwest, $101,923 to support families with young children by offering free, low-barrier access to culturally responsive parenting classes in English and Spanish.
-- McMinnville School District, $77,000 for its Multi-Tiered System of Support, which promotes emotional wellness and resilience. Its suicide prevention project aims to standardize social-emotional learning across all buildings, expand peer programs in middle schools and enhance student safety and connection.
-- McMinnville Playschool, $8,947 to improve early childhood education by enhancing student behavioral management, supporting students with developmental needs and creating a permanent assistant teacher position.
-- Newberg School District, $170,467 for a student wellness and readiness project that focuses on increasing attendance, literacy and math performance through social-emotional learning and preschool early intervention.
-- Soroptimist International of McMinnville, $6,757 for its Dream It, Be It program for teens and the SoroBoutique to help women with career development and educational support and training.
-- Yamhill County Health & Human Services, $20,000 for its Older Adult Peer Outreach for Depression and Substance Use project, which connects older adults with resources and provides free mental health screenings.
-- Yamhill Enrichment Society, Inc., $40,000 for its Imagine the Possibilities When We Empower Kids project. It works to increase enrollment, support early literacy and provide music education for rural children.
-- Yamhill Valley Community Doulas, Inc., $47,720 for the Perinatal Wellness Program, which seeks to reduce isolation, improve maternal and infant well-being and increase peer-led perinatal group participation through trauma-informed, culturally-matched support by providing free postpartum support groups.
-- Yamhill Valley Treatment DBA Provoking Hope, $31,465 for meals and Hope House. The project improves housing stability among participants in substance use recovery programs.
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