Congratulations to Missouri Foundation for Health, winner of our 2017 Award for Excellence in Philanthropy!
CBN’s Award for Excellence in Philanthropy recognizes an individual or organization that:
Supports community building by bringing investment and resources to places’ human or physical dimensions.
Supports long-term commitments to neighborhoods.
Demonstrates creative thinking in how to support communities and gets involved beyond traditional grant giving.
Provides operational funding to community building nonprofits.
Missouri Foundation for Health (MFH) is an independent philanthropic foundation that works with communities and nonprofits to generate and accelerate positive changes in health. The Foundation takes a multifaceted approach to health issues and understands that programs, policy, and collaboration all play a role in creating lasting impact.
In 2015, MFH partnered with DeSales Community Development to pilot the Neighborhood 360˚ Health Initiative, a neighborhood-based project seeking to foster livable neighborhoods along the South Jefferson Avenue corridor in St. Louis. Through this initiative, MFH supports investment in both the built environment and the community’s residents. The DeSales Community Garden provides a source of nutritious food, healthy outdoor activity, and social support through group classes and gardening comradery. SouthSide Sports, a low-cost youth sports league, provides physical activity for kids and much-needed community investment in a formerly underutilized city park. Health Leads connects residents with a Community Health Worker (CHW), who assists in health care navigation, patient advocacy, and health education. Though not quite half complete, the Neighborhood 360˚ initiative has already seen impressive results.
MFH’s decision to entrust the implementation of this grant to DeSales Community Development (which has been serving the Fox Park and Tower Grove East neighborhoods since 1976) and its partners demonstrates a strong commitment to local neighborhoods. By trusting long-standing community organizations to pilot programs that are innovative, collaborative, and responsive to changing needs, MFH has proven to be a supportive partner in local efforts to build whole communities.
