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The Health Foundation awards new grants for start of 2022

March 18, 2022

The Paso del Norte Health Foundation recently awarded 14 grants totaling more than $2 million under the Healthy Living and Health Leadership priority areas. The Healthy Living, Disease Prevention & Management, and Health Leadership are the three priority areas that drive our work, in partnership with organizations that implement initiatives and programs to improve health in the region.

$743,000 was awarded to eight organizations as part of the Healthy Kids Initiative and $169,000 to two organizations under A Smoke Free Paso del Norte Initiative.

Healthy Living

Healthy Kids Initiative

Boy Scouts of America Yucca Council - $113,019.50
Unidos Prosperamos
To serve 100 disconnected youth through a Scouting Specialist led program in El Paso County, TX and Doña Ana County, NM.

Boys & Girls Club of Las Cruces, Inc. - $89,482.60
More Teens, More Often
To provide out-of-school and summer programming for at least 100 new and 40 returning 11-17-year-old disconnected youth in Las Cruces, NM.

Centro de Asesoria y Promocion Juvenil, A.C. - $149,050.00
Formando adolescentes saludables en entornos positivos
To implement out-of-school and summer programs in five community centers for at least 700 disconnected youth ages 10-17 in Ciudad Juárez, MX.

City of Socorro - $37,350.00
Socorro Youth in Culture (SY!C) Program
To implement an afterschool and summer camp program targeting a minimum of 100 disconnected youth ages 5-17 living in Socorro, Texas.

Community Action Agency of Southern New Mexico - $165,350.00
Kids Can -Youth Entrepreneur Program
To provide out-of-school and summer entrepreneur programming for at least 100 new disconnected youth ages 5-17 in Doña Ana and Luna Counties, NM.

Patronato del Museo del Nino de Ciudad Juárez, A.C. - $63,052.30
Rodis Jr. Incubadora de Agentes de Cambio
To develop personal, social, and professional skills of 200 youth ages 15 and 17 years old in Ciudad Juárez, MX.

Salud y Desarrollo Comunitario de Cd. Juárez, A.C. - $100,666.50
FEMAP en Conexión 2022
To implement afterschool and summer programs for 350 disconnected youth ages 5-17 years of age in the rural URBI Villa del Campo community in southeast Ciudad Juárez, MX.

The University of Texas at El Paso - $25,000.00
Opportunity Youth Action Network
To support the El Paso Collaborative for Academic Excellence to bring long-lasting positive change to our community to improve the social and economic conditions of underrepresented and underserved populations.

Smoke Free Paso del Norte

EFO Media - $165,850.00
Parent Anti-Vaping Information Campaign
To create strategies and communication materials to engage parents, school professionals, health care providers and community stakeholders with youth anti-vaping information and promote the vapefree.org site across the Paso del Norte region.

YMCA of Greater El Paso, TX & Rio Grande Valley - $3,505.40
YMCA Outline
To manage the El Paso Quitline for one year, 2022.

More than $1 million was awarded to four organizations under the Healthy Leadership priority area for Leveraging Resources, REALIZE, and Strategic Initiatives.

Health Leadership

Leveraging Resources

Fundación Paso del Norte para la Salud y Bienestar, AC - $558,564.22
General Purpose Grant
Three-year grant to advance partnerships and initiatives to improve the health and well-being of the people and community of Ciudad Juárez. Funding leverages over $1,000,000 per year in additional programs and grantmaking in Ciudad Juárez.

Paso del Norte Community Foundation - $475,000.00
General Purpose Grant
To increase the resources available to improve health, education, social services, economic development, and quality of life in the Paso del Norte region. Funding leverages over $12 million per year in additional programs and grantmaking in the region.

REALIZE

United Way of El Paso County- $72,116.00
REALIZE Board Training
To strengthen non-profit board members’ governance capacity by offering training across El Paso and southern New Mexico.

Strategic Initiative

The University of Texas at El Paso - $10,000.00
HLD Business Ethics Program
Made in honor of Paso del Norte Health Foundation founding board member Robert Skov to support UTEP’s College of Business - Business Ethics Program.

For the full list of current grants, click here or visit pdnhf.org.

PDNHF Initiative: Healthy Eating

A high-quality diet with appropriate daily caloric intake provides essential nutrients, helps people maintain a healthy weight, and decreases their risk of chronic diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and cancer. Evidence associates healthy eating with better health outcomes; however, many people do not consume the daily recommended levels of nutritious foods, such as fruits and vegetables, that make up a healthy diet. The Health Foundation’s focus in the Healthy Eating initiative is educational programs, such as nutrition and cooking classes, that influence behavior in selecting, preparing, cooking, and eating healthy foods and policy and promotion activities that encourage healthy eating.

View Strategy Brief (English)

View Strategy Brief (Español)

Foundation Staff: Jana Renner

Healthy Eating

PDNHF Initiative: Physical Activity

Regular physical activity is associated with positive health outcomes across the lifespan. In addition to decreasing people’s risk of chronic disease, physical activity improves cognitive function in youth, reduces anxiety and depression, and improves sleep. Despite these benefits, many do not engage in the recommended amount of daily physical activity. The Health Foundation’s stake in physical activity began in the early 2000’s with Walk El Paso. More recently, the Health Foundation constructed the Playa Drain Trail demonstration project and has partnered with regional stakeholders for the development of the Paso del Norte Trail network. Other areas of emphasis include the promotion of physical activity through educational programs, campaigns, and trail and park use.

2021 Paso del Norte Trail Report

Paso del Norte Trail Alignment

View Strategy Brief (English)

View Strategy Brief (Español)

Foundation Staff: Jana Renner

Additional Links

https://www.pasodelnortetrail.org/

Physical Activity

PDNHF Initiative: A Smoke-Free Paso del Norte

Although current youth smoking rates have decreased, the use of electronic cigarettes and youth vaping has now overtaken smoking. According to the recent National Youth Tobacco Survey, E-cigarettes were the most commonly ever used tobacco product overall. Less is known about vaping, but science confirms that nicotine negatively affects the adolescent brain and is addictive. E-cigarette use among youth also is linked with use of other tobacco products as well as alcohol and marijuana abuse.

Smoking is still the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the United States.

View Strategy Brief (English)

View Strategy Brief (Español)

Foundation Staff: Audrey Garcia

Additional Links

https://www.smokefreepdn.org/

A Smoke-Free Paso del Norte

PDNHF Initiative: Strategic Initiatives

From time to time, the Paso del Norte Health Foundation will invest in community initiatives and transformative projects that promote health and prevent disease in the region. From the Texas Tech Foster School of Medicine and Hunt School of Dental Medicine to the PHIX Health Information Exchange (HIE) and UTEP School of Nursing and Pharm-D program, these investments support lasting change. Grants and programs designed to provide a crisis response, such as during the 2019 El Paso shooting and COVID-19, fit this area as well. Also, by funding the operations of both the PdN Community Foundation and the Fundacion Paso del Norte, the Health Foundation is committed to leveraging its grantmaking and other resources to maximize impact.

Strategic Initiatives
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