Some of the first grants made by VNA Foundation were in support of primary care and chronic care to the medically underserved—such as the care provided by free clinics. One free clinic we are pleased to have supported many times is CommunityHealth (CH), which started as a small outpost in the back of an optometrist’s office and grew into the largest free clinic in the nation.

VNA acknowledged early in it years as a foundation the importance of recognizing mental health as a critical component of overall health. Among the mental health programs VNA supported multiple times is the innovative Building Bridges to North Lawndale (BBNL) program of the Juvenile Protective Association.

Since its second year as a funder, VNA has provided periodic grants to Health & Medicine Policy Research Group to support Albert Schweitzer Nursing Fellows, post-baccalaureate nursing students who present limited-duration health education programs, of their own design, at community-based sites in underserved areas in Chicago.

One longtime grantee partner that provides technical assistance is the Illinois Association of Free & Charitable Clinics (IAFCC), which provides a variety of capacity building, educational and administrative services to its member health centers.

VNA has proudly supported several domestic violence and sexual assault service agencies over the past 25 years. Connections for Abused Women and their Children, for example, operates the Hospital Crisis Intervention Program (HCIP) at Cook County’s Stroger Hospital.

VNA’s longstanding interest in supporting the unique needs of mothers and babies is exemplified through grantees like PCC Community Wellness Center. PCC offers community nursing services that provide intensive education, prevention, support and home-visiting designed to improve breastfeeding rates, neonatal care and postpartum care among high-risk mothers and infants.

Over the past 25 years, dental services have been the most commonly funded service in this category. For example, Dental Lifeline Network–Illinois’ volunteer dentists offer free comprehensive oral healthcare to people who are older, medically fragile and/or disabled.

Not long after VNA Foundation awarded its first grants in 1996, we began to seek out opportunities to fund proactively, via innovative grants directed toward purposes or areas of particularly high need. These grants, termed Special Initiatives, usually involve multi-year, larger awards, which allow our grantee partners to make a more substantial impact in a shorter period of time.