Success Stories

Developing Potential, Inc. (DPI) recently received a grant for $50,000 from the Health Forward Foundation, Applicant Defined Grant to support the Increase Access to Services program. These funds will support the program’s full-time registered nurse. The nurse oversees DPI’s medical services. She helps eliminate barriers to quality health care for the people we serve by providing direct support through comprehensive health assessments, medication administrations, choking risk assessments, GI tube feedings, and many other tasks. She also educates program participants and staff on healthy lifestyle topics, and trains staff in medical issues like medication side effects, fall awareness and prevention, procedures for addressing seizures, and many more.

Children’s Center for the Visually Impaired (CCVI) was recently awarded a $250,000 grant from the Neighborhood Assistance Program to support the Early Intervention Program (EIP) and the Preschool/Kindergarten Program. The EIP provides regularly scheduled home-based instruction, therapies, and center-based evaluations of the infant and toddler’s developmental progress, beginning as soon as the child is diagnosed through the age of three. The program offers a comprehensive, individualized educational and therapy program for infants and toddlers who have significant visual impairments that impact learning and development. Early intervention teachers and therapists work with parents in regularly scheduled home visits to provide strategies and activities that can be practiced daily and generalized to the world beyond. Examples of services include Orientation and Mobility, speech-language pathology, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and specialized instruction from Teachers of the Visually Impaired (TVI).

Powell Gardens was recently awarded a $10,000 grant from American Century Investments to establish Powell Gardens as a regional learning hub for agricultural producers, private landowners, horticulturalists, hobbyists, and the general citizenry. Funding from American Century will enable Powell Gardens to elevate the quality of adult and youth educational offerings and support three festivals, each featuring at least two workshops, one youth makers’ day, and one community activity, over the one-year grant cycle.

TNC Community was recently awarded a $35,000 grant from the Louetta M. Cowden Foundation their Pandemic Health Supports for People with Developmental Disabilities project. The project will increase access to health care services for individuals with I/DD through our director of health services and health team. This team includes two community nurses, two health service coordinators, and one pharmacy tech.  The team will ensure clients have the consistent, high-quality, specialized care they need to continue to thrive during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted a possible alternative care solution in the use of telehealth visits with health care providers, which will free up the team’s time to focus on addressing preventative care of our clients.

Children’s Center for the Visually Impaired (CCVI) recently received a grant for $127,000 from the North American Savings Bank (NASB) to support technology upgrades and infrastructure supports. Funding from NASB pays for contract IT support services to project manage the day-to-day needs of CCVI and support services, help desk services, software subscriptions to for integrated scheduling and billing, laptops for teaching assistants, hotspots, and training for staff. 

Green Hills Area Education Agency (GHAEA) was recently awarded a $500,000 grant from U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) School Violence Prevention Program (SVPP) to contract with Rachel’s Challenge (RC) to provide a research-based framework for training school personnel and students on preventing student violence, including anti-bullying training. The three-year program will involve 41 school districts serving elementary through high school students in 131 schools.

Labette County School District 506 (USD 506) recently received a grant for $501,956 from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Distance Learning and Telemedicine (DTL) to implement specific technology upgrades which will allow USD 506 to address the economic, geographic, educational, and health services issues that Labette County students and their families face. The technology will improve connectivity and ensure students can receive both the academic and mental health support they need. The technology USD 506 Labette County upgrades will also facilitate professional development, continuing education, and collaboration among USD 506 educators, further improving the overall quality of education and student outcomes.

Green Hills Area Education Agency (GHAEA) recently received a grant for $669,453 from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) School Violence Prevention Program (SVPP) will deliver evidence-based training and technical assistance helping schools implement threat assessment teams (TATs) and high-quality plans to improve school safety, in partnership with school districts, sheriff’s offices, and police departments in southwestern Iowa.

The United Methodist Health Ministry Fund (UMHMF) recently received a grant for $999,058 from the Lilly Endowment to support the expansion of the Healthy Congregations Program through increased use of the Good Neighbor Experiment (GNE) program. Funding from the Lilly Endowment will be used to expand the existing program, enhance and research the impact on communities, and develop a network of facilitators. Expansion will include serving 60 new Methodist and non-Methodist congregations over the next five years. Enhancement and research will include new education, technical assistance, and assessments with the Wichita State University School of Social Work. The university will conduct formal academic research on the impact of neighbor-to-neighbor relationships on congregations and communities of various sizes and geographic settings. A network of facilitators will be trained to support churches through day-long retreats and ongoing technical assistance to help them plan and implement community-based projects that use the collective assets to address community social needs.