Thursday, May 21, 2015

[Napa] County hands out tobacco-funded health grants


Blog note: This article references a grand jury report on the grant application process.


Seven local nonprofits will receive more than $613,000 in grants from Napa County for programs ranging from emergency women’s services to foster youth support.
The county Board of Supervisors allocated funds from the national Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement of 1998.
Napa County has a total of $1.1 million to distribute for the 2015-16 fiscal year. It previously committed nearly $500,000, including multiyear grants, a $100,000 annual earmark for Children’s Health Initiative Napa County and a $75,000 annual set-aside for quit-smoking programs.
That left about $613,000 in new grants to award to nonprofits. A panel of county employees screened proposals from 25 nonprofit agencies requesting a total of $1.3 million.
UpValley Family Centers will receive $200,000 to plan and start the Napa County Triple P — Positive Parenting Program. The parenting education system is designed to prevent and treat youth behavioral problems. It is offered in 24 California counties.
“It’s not a cheap thing to do, but we know that it works,” UpValley Family Center Executive Director Jenny Ocon told supervisors last week.
On the Move will receive $75,000 to start Project HEAL, a trauma care system for current and former foster youth. VOICES foster youth community center is working on the program. This is a three-year grant, with $75,000 also to be awarded for 2016-17 and 2017-18.
“We know these kids have absolutely through no fault of their own experienced trauma,” Amber Twitchell of VOICES told supervisors. “This shows up later in their lives and inhibits them from being productive members of our community.”
Supervisors voiced no objections to continuing the $100,000 annual set-aside for the Children’s Health Initiative. The nonprofit group works to ensure all Napa County youths have health care coverage.
“It’s an early intervention program that pays dividends going forward,” said Mitch Wippern of the county Health and Human Services Agency.
The Napa County grand jury in a recent report said that some nonprofit groups consider the application process for the grants to be burdensome. It suggested a consultant explore whether the methods can be streamlined while still making certain that grant money is spent wisely.
The county will spend $11,000 of the tobacco settlement money on what Wippern called “a fresh set of eyes” to look at the screening methods. But Supervisor Diane Dillon said she in no way wants the county to award grants to nonprofit organizations that cannot prove program effectiveness.
May 17, 2015
Napa Valley Register
By Barry Eberling

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