ILCHF celebrates 20 years of partnering with organizations across the state of Illinois committed to improving the health and well-being of children and families. To commemorate this remarkable milestone, ILCHF issues the “SUPPORTING A STRONG CHILDREN’S HEALTH WORKFORCE IN ILLINOIS” grant opportunity which aims to award 21 grants of $20,000 each to fund projects across the state of Illinois that inspire young people to join the children’s behavioral and oral healthcare workforce, ensuring that “Every Child in Illinois Grows Up Healthy.”
Donor Name: Illinois Children’s Healthcare Foundation (ILCHF)
States: Illinois
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 05/16/2023
Size of the Grant: Up to $20,000
Details:
The ILCHF team has been privileged to travel the state to meet and collaborate with people and organizations in communities working to improve health outcomes for Illinois children. Throughout its history, ILCHF has learned from communities, providers and families about the challenges and successes associated with improving children’s health. The Foundation has partnered closely with inspiring teams and organizations to facilitate opportunities that address some of the state’s most pressing children’s healthcare needs.
Through the work of partners across the state, there is much to celebrate. Thousands of children have received the quality healthcare needed to help them live healthy. Even with all these successes, there is still much work to be done. One overwhelming challenge that impacts all areas of children’s healthcare is related to the children’s healthcare workforce shortages in Illinois. ILCHF has listened to stories of workforce shortage areas across Illinois, sought data specific to communities in Illinois and learned about innovative programs to help alleviate these shortages.
The goal of the project is to provide learning opportunities and guidance to youth as early as grammar school to allow the exploration of potentially developing a career path in health care. Possible projects may include developing new partnerships between health training programs and schools, develop and/or expand existing mentorship programs, and/or develop health care career shadowing programs in the focus areas of children’s oral and mental health. An example includes a school counselor developing a program that arranges for representatives from various medical professions to speak with children on a quarterly basis. There are many ways to think about this application and they encourage creativity and innovation.
Population Served
Please provide the following information regarding the demographics of the population you serve. Include the total numbers served annually and numbers/percentages of those served according to race/ethnicity and gender, and to the extent possible the number of children served.
- Total number of community members served annually
- Total number of children (0-21) served annually
- Economic diversity of community members served annually
- Median income for community served
- Percentage of community members living at or below 150% of the Federal Poverty Line (FPL)
- Racial/Ethnic diversity of community members served annually (Please provide percentages totaling 100%)
Funding Information
This funding opportunity will provide 21 geographically diverse grants of up to $20,000 each for strategies that encourage and nurture the next generation of oral health and mental health providers
Eligibility Criteria
This grant opportunity is available to nonprofit organizations that have the capacity to help children learn more about careers in health care. These onetime grant funds can be used to seed new programs or expand existing ones. Preference may be given to organizations serving historically underrepresented youth populations and professional healthcare workforce shortage areas that demonstrate the ability to sustain programming past the grant period and can share replicable models that may inspire other efforts.
For more information, visit ILCHF.
