The Jefferson Foundation’s latest rounds of grants will help increase the availability of counseling services at county schools, expand dental services to local residents, feed more of the county’s elderly, and continue providing basic needs throughout the county.
The foundation announced this month that it awarded 78 grants to 70 different area organizations for a total of $2,361,401.36. It was the second round of grants the foundation gave out this year. In the foundation’s first round of grants, which were announced in May, 89 organizations were awarded $2,751,866.29.
Jefferson Foundation executive vice president Missy Endres said the organization notified grant recipients on Nov. 1 about the money they will receive next month. Checks are scheduled to be issued on Dec. 3.
“We are very excited about this round of grants,” Endres said. “We are excited about a lot of the things we are able to do.”
The grant money comes from the $154 million the Mercy health system paid in 2013 when it acquired Jefferson Regional Medical Center (now Mercy Hospital Jefferson) in Crystal City.
The foundation has awarded 858 grants for a total of $45.5 million since it began administering them in 2014, Endres said. She said the foundation will take requests for next year’s first round of grants starting Jan. 3, and that round of grants will be announced in May.
St. Louis Counseling, formerly called Catholic Family Services, was the top recipient in the foundation’s latest round of grants. That agency received two grants for a total of $325,000. Of that, $200,000 will be used to provide mental health counseling in county parochial and public schools, and $125,000 will help provide counseling services at its Herculaneum office, 1349 McNutt Street.
“We will be able to continue to provide a system of care for kids and their families who are dealing with mental health issues, emotional health issues and trauma,” said Tom Duff, St. Louis Counseling executive director. “The school program allows us to provide a clinical therapist inside a school to allow us to reach them during school hours.”
The second largest recipient was Upward Smiles, which received $150,000 to expand its sedation dental services.
Aging Ahead was the third largest recipient, receiving a $121,235.40 grant to eliminate a waiting list for the Jefferson County Meals on Wheels program. (See story, Page 1A.)
The OATS transit program received $100,000, the fourth largest grant, to continue providing transportation options throughout the county.
Mental health
A quarter of the grants in the latest round went to organizations that provide some form of counseling, with six groups receiving a total of $585,857.
St. Louis Counseling received the most, followed by Our Little Haven, which received $65,000 to support its medical and foster care case management and keystone mental health services.
The Fox C-6 School District, ALIVE (Alternatives to Living In Violent Environments), and the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse – St. Louis (NCADA) each received $50,000 grants to help with counseling services. The Curators of the University of Missouri received $45,857 to provide psychological evaluations for 24 high-risk Jefferson County children.
“(Counseling) has been a focus of ours for a long time now,” Endres said. “It was in both needs assessments that we have done. What we hear over and over again is there are just not enough services. As much as we can, we are trying to expand access to services.”
Duff said St. Louis Counseling provides services for the Festus School District and several Catholic schools. He said the agency, which changed its name in May 2018, was working with the Fox C-6 and Northwest school districts, thanks to a previous grant that ran out at the end of last school year.
“We would love to get into more districts, but unfortunately, funding prohibits us,” he said.
Duff said the grant for the Herculaneum office will keep a full-time therapist at that location.
“The beautiful part of the grant is we were not only helping the kids, but the families as well,” Duff said. “Some grants do not allow you to work with the family as well.”
Scott Hummel, the executive director at Our Little Haven, said the agency typically works with children who are 10 or younger and their families. He said mental health services are just a part of the services Our Little Haven provides, but it is an important piece of what he referred to as continuity of care for children.
“We look at it as an investment in the future to allow these families to love, grow, learn and do good,” Hummel said. “Without the funds, there are a lot of families that wouldn’t have that opportunity, and the cycle of despair, mental health issues and behavioral issues continue.”
Jeremy Donald, the Fox district’s director of safety and security, said the grant will allow for a second social worker to be hired and used at any of the district’s schools. He said being able to secure the social worker’s services for the next year will help make up for the loss of the five social workers St. Louis Counseling had provided to the district the previous two school years.
Donald said the new social worker will supplement the work the district’s other social and full-time counselors do. Each building employs a counselor from Comtrea, he added.
“We are working with the buildings to identify where our needs are,” Donald said. “We will use this resource districtwide to serve the most pressing needs we have.”
Fox High School assistant principal Gina Buehner, who leads the district’s mental health coalition, said additional help to address issues students may be dealing with is vital.
“This is fantastic,” Buehner said. “I can’t stress enough the need for mental health services for our kids and families.”
Dental services
Sherry Cauley, founder and chief executive officer of Upward Smiles, said the $150,000 grant will allow the nonprofit dental practice at 660 N. Creek Drive in Festus to offer sedation dental services four days a week. Currently, those services are available just three days. With the grant, Cauley said, the group now will be able to schedule sedation services on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.
Cauley said Upward Smiles, which provides services for children from low-income families or those on Medicaid, provided sedation services to about 500 patients since Jan. 1. She said the group typically serves five sedation patients each day the sedation center is open.
“Our hopes, and it will depend on how the expansion goes, we could serve up to 1,000 kids a year in some form for sedation dentistry needs,” said Cauley, who also has an office at 2820 Anchor Drive in Farmington.
Along with expanding sedation services, Cauley said Upward Smiles will be able to purchase some supplies like stainless steel crowns and tooth-colored crowns for children.
Upward Smiles has received $1,799,750.69 in grants from the foundation since 2014.
“I truly believe if it wasn’t for the foundation, Upward Smiles wouldn’t exist,” Cauley said. “We wouldn’t have the nice atmosphere and the ability to expand. Upward Smiles is blessed to have the foundation. They are big supporters of dental health, and that is important.”
Transportation
OATS operates three services in Jefferson County through its own transportation service, the JC transit service and Jeffco Express.
OATS is scheduled to take over ownership of the Jeffco Express from the Jefferson County Community Partnership on Dec. 1. (See story, Page 2A)
“We are excited to be chosen as a recipient of the funds,” said Jill Stedem, OATS administrative and development director. “We work to be good stewards of the community resources and ensure Jefferson County residents are provided transportation services.”
Stedem said OATS provided 110,000 trips to Jefferson County residents last year.
This is the first year OATS received grant money directly from the foundation, which previously provided grants to the Jefferson County Community Partnership to use for Jeffco Express. However, OATS has handled the operation of the Jeffco Express since its inception, Stedem said.
With the grant money going directly to OATS this time, the group will be able to use the money for all of its services in the county, instead of just for Jeffco Express.
“It will allow us to pool our money together to be more efficient with our operation in Jefferson County,” Stedem said. “It will make it easier because it is not just for the Jeffco Express services.”
Something new
Endres said she also is excited about a $10,000 grant the foundation awarded to the St. Louis Area Diaper Bank, which provides diapers to Jefferson County’s free diaper programs. With the money, the Diaper Bank will establish a delivery loop throughout the county and increase the number of diapers available to 63,500 from 37,500.
Previously, Endres said, Jefferson County agencies had to drive to the bank in midtown St. Louis to get diapers.
“It will be more efficient for our nonprofits,” Endres said. “They will not have to take their gas and time to go up there.”
She said the organizations also will get more diapers.
“We are pretty excited about it, because it is nice to see an increase,” she said.
