HARTFORD, CT -- For the first time, ten Connecticut non-profit organizations will receive Momentum Fund mini-grants of up to $10,000 from Tufts Health Plan Foundation. The fund was established to foster promising ideas and support cities and towns in their efforts to make their communities better places to grow up and grow old.
“These mini-grants make it possible for organizations to build on community insights,” said Nora Moreno Cargie, president of Tufts Health Plan Foundation and vice president of corporate citizenship at Tufts Health Plan. “We know the best ideas come from cities and towns as they reimagine aging.”
The Momentum Fund was launched in 2018 and expanded to Connecticut this year. In 2018, Tufts Health Plan, in partnership with Hartford Healthcare, launched CarePartners of Connecticut, which offers Medicare Advantage plans to Connecticut seniors. CarePartners leverages the decades of experience of both organizations in providing high quality care and award-winning health care coverage.
“Many of the Momentum Fund recipients are taking on new programs or projects to make their communities more age- and dementia-friendly,” said Phillip González, senior program officer at the Foundation. “We look forward to learning with them.”
The Foundation, the only regional funder focused exclusively on healthy aging, awarded 40 mini-grants totaling nearly $400,000. In addition to the 10 in Connecticut, funding supports 10 community-led efforts in Massachusetts, 10 in Rhode Island and 10 in New Hampshire. Each includes older people in the planning and implementation process.
The Foundation convened review committees in each state to inform the grantmaking process. Committee members have diverse backgrounds and experience, and will ensure that learning and insights are shared across Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island.
Momentum Fund mini-grant recipients in Connecticut are:
- Center for Food Equity and Economic Development - CCGB, Bridgeport
Healthy Connections - To support programming to reinvent food pantries as community gathering places where older people receive emotional support, health-supportive foods and strategies for stretching limited resources. One-year mini-grant for $10,000.
- LiveWell Alliance, Inc., Bridgeport
Memory Cafés - To develop a program to establish, support and sustain a memory café network. One-year mini-grant for $10,000
- Naugatuck Valley Project, Inc., Waterbury
Intergenerational Housing Project - To recruit and train a diverse committee across the 14 cities and towns of the Naugatuck Valley to support the development of intentional, intergenerational, affordable housing. One-year mini-grant for $10,000.
- New Britain ROOTS, Inc., New Britain
Food is Love Project - To bridge youth and older people through three programs: Garden Building, Cooking Lessons, and Healthy Food Access. One-year mini-grant for $9,350.
- Nunnawauk Meadows, Newtown
Gracefully Growing into the Future- Mind over Matter - To make Nunnawauk an easily accessible community to both residents and visitors to promote socialization, nutrition and active lifestyles, including installing benches throughout the grounds and offering educational programming for older people. One-year mini-grant for $10,000.
- The Children's Community Programs of CT, Inc., New Haven
Needs Assessment - To conduct a needs assessment in the Greater New Haven area to identify service needs and gaps for grandparents who care for grandchildren or other relatives. One-year mini-grant for $10,000.
- The Towers Foundation, New Haven
Klaatch Model - To engage a training and support model called Klaatch to reduce loneliness in low-income and minority older adult communities. One-year mini-grant for $10,000.
- United Way of Western Connecticut Inc., Danbury
Age Well CT Ambassador Program - To launch an ambassador program to help demystify and destigmatize the process of food access for Danbury's older adults. United Way of Western Connecticut is serving as the fiscal agent. One-year mini-grant for $10,000.
- Western Connecticut Area Agency on Aging, Waterbury
CONNections to Live Well Together - To expand Live Well workshops to Naugatuck, Watertown, Thomaston, Torrington and Winsted. One-year mini-grant for $10,000.
- Yoga4Change Inc., Hamden
Curriculum Design - To develop and pilot an evidence-informed curriculum at five partner sites that will expand the accessibility of yoga and mindfulness to include diverse older people. One-year mini-grant for $9,880.
The full list of Momentum Fund grantees is available on our website.
About Tufts Health Plan Foundation
Established in 2008, Tufts Health Plan Foundation supports the health and wellness of the diverse communities we serve. The Foundation has given more than $35 million to Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island nonprofits that promote healthy living with an emphasis on older people. The Foundation began funding in New Hampshire in 2016 and in Connecticut in 2019. Tufts Health Plan Foundation funds programs that move communities toward implementing age-friendly policies and practices that are relevant, focus on older people, and include them in community solutions.
Contact:
Alrie McNiff Daniels
Tufts Health Plan Foundation
857-304-3338
Alrie_Daniels@tufts-health.com
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