Foundation Giving

Through its New Horizons grantmaking program, the Blue Cross Foundation is fostering innovation as a means of improving health and well-being in Louisiana. Through this program, we hope to encourage a research-based and scientific approach to philanthropy through testing ideas and
seeing what works. The first step in that process is challenging the status quo with new ideas.

Our goal is to find excitig, emerging ideas and social startups that have the potential to disrupt negative trends in health, education and other issues that directly impact quality of life for Louisianians. A successful New Horizons project may make changes in policies, norms, practices and social supports; it may also be a new pilot intervention, plan or approach.

2021 New Horizons Grantees:

• Center for Resilience-PLAAY Community Expansion |Preventing Long-Term Anger and Aggression in Youth (PLAAY) teaches stress management to resolve racial and gender-related conflicts which can improve youth persistence and achievement in schooling. CfR is expanding this culturally relevant intervention to additional New Orleans schools which will also allow implementation work to become part of the research base leading to PLAAY becoming an evidence-based intervention for Black youth.

• Louisiana Nurses Foundation | Better Together: Partnerships for Addressing Domestic Violence in A Healthcare Setting is a pilot programed to address the healthcare and well-being needs of domestic violence victims through the creation of meaningful partnerships between healthcare providers and domestic violence advocates.

• Louisiana Tech University Foundation | Motivational Health Improvement Program in Law Enforcement Officers, created by the Louisiana Tech Department of Kinesiology to improve fitness levels among police officers and use their research to develop a more effective statewide training program for law enforcement officers.

• Community Support Programs | Safe and Healthy Babies is a pilot program to increase the number of families who have access to a safe sleep environment and to develop a bilingual evidence based safe sleep education program delivered by nurses and trained safe sleep champions.

• National Foundation of Dentistry-Donated Dental Services | An expansion of the DDS program to help some of Louisiana’s more vulnerable people in need of comprehensive dental care.

• Exceptional Lives, Parent Partners Pilot Program | Peer Support for Rural BIPOC Families of Children with Disabilities reaches families in rural areas whose children have disabilities. The pilot trained resident parents as Parent Partners and trained them to help other parents feel more informed/better equipped to navigate available resources for their children.

• Educare New Orleans | Providing Mental Health Support to New Orleans’ Vulnerable Children and Families is a pilot initiative addresses whether childcare can also be a venue for meeting family mental health needs. The project provides wrap around mental health services built into Early Learning centers for children and caregivers. Data and learnings will be collected and shared in a resource guide for other childcare centers to implement and advocate for need and funding resources.

• LSU Health Sciences Foundation in Shreveport | Strong African American Families Pilot Project aims to strengthen the attachment between parent and child to reduce the likelihood of youth involvement in various problem behaviors which can derail success. A series of tailored workshops and tools will be delivered to 100 African American Families in their place of worship to increase family resilience; thereby impacting the multitude of negative social and health outcomes correlated with Adverse Childhood Experiences.

The Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana Foundation is committed to making ongoing investments in the work of partners who have made a demonstrated impact on the health and wellbeing of Louisianians. That’s why we invite past Foundation grantees to submit applications for Special Project Grants. These grants will help our established partners further their important work on behalf of Louisianians in need.

2021 Special Projects Grantees:

• Shreveport Green | Expanding the Mobile Market Fleet. Expanded a Mobile Market providing fresh produce for homeless shelters, free clinics, and senior living facilities each week.

• Children’s Coalition of Northeast LA | Signs of Suicide Prevention Training and Awareness. Expanded successful Signs of Suicide (SOS) program to empower more participants to adequately respond to signs of depression and suicide among middle school youth.

• LSUA | Special Program for Young People with Disabilities. This program will provide CENLA youth with developmental disabilities with the resources and opportunities that will help them lead more independent lives and take up meaningful and rewarding employment in their communities; Establish a post-secondary educational option in CENLA for students with developmental disabilities who have completed high school but are ineligible for regular college admission.

• BRYC | Health Fellows Program. Growing a program designed to increase the number of minority high school and college students pursuing healthcare careers.

• Baton Rouge Area Foundation | Mid-City Medical Corridor Partnership. This initiative will develop a multi-generational public health park with community center, playground equipment, outdoor gathering spaces, walking paths, and healthy lifestyle programming.

• The Bridge Alzheimer’s & Dementia Resource Center | A Comprehensive Support System for Perrons Affected by Alzheimer’s & Dementia and their Caregivers. Increased support services for those affected by Alzheimer’s and dementia in areas that have limited resources; Expand Alzheimer’s and dementia support services to rural communities and caregivers in NWLA

• Propel Louisiana | Propel Expansion Pilot. Trained disadvantaged youth to enter the healthcare profession as credentialed nursing assistants, medical assistants, and sterile processing technicians.

• Top Box Foods Louisiana | Securing Food Access in Southeast Louisiana During COVID-19 and Beyond. Expanded healthy grocery box & meal delivery services to low-income households experiencing food insecurity

• Family & Youth Counseling Agency | Enhancement of Traditional Counseling for Child Trauma. Expanded on a validated, replicable model for equine therapy services for children suffering from trauma

Following the success of our first collective impact grant program – Challenge for a Healthier Louisiana – we know that grassroots coalitions are the key to making long-term changes in the trends of Louisiana’s overall health. That’s why we’re challenging communities across Louisiana to
build effective teams to tackle their most pressing health problems.

Each community’s top health challenges are different, and Collective Impact grant proposals may cover a wide range of issues in healthcare. In some places, addressing obesity, heart disease or diabetes may be the most pressing need in community health. In others, greater challenges may lie in mental health or disparities in access, quality or cost.

2021 Collective Impact Grantees:

• Kingsley House | Kingsley House’s Healthcare Workforce Development. An initiative to train low-income individuals for high need healthcare workforce jobs to help meet immediate community health needs and in doing so helping to lift families out of generational poverty

• LSU Eunice Foundation | Associate of Nursing RN Weekend and Evening Cohort. An initiative to address nursing shortages in the Acadiana region, this innovative strategy provides a non-traditional scheduled nursing curriculum in Louisiana to reach an untapped pool of future registered nurses; Implement a non-traditional scheduled nursing curriculum to address the regional nursing shortage

• City of Thibodaux Menard Trail | Menard Ped Bike Trail. A community project to improve the safety and health of Thibodaux residents by connecting walking/bike trails city-wide, increasing access to wellness and transportation opportunities

• New Orleans Career Center | Licensed Practical Nurse Apprenticeship Program. An effort to launch and scale a sustainable 3-year nursing apprenticeship pipeline that will provide clear on-ramps, preparation, experience, and support from junior year in high school to full time employment as an LPN.

• Fletcher Technical Community College | Bayou Region Nursing Faculty Project-Nursing expansion project. Expanding program capacity to close nursing shortage in Bayou region (RNs and LPNs)100+ new RNs and LPNs employed in the region.

To live healthy lives, children need safe places to live, learn and play. They need access to healthy food, guidance and educational opportunity. Across Louisiana, there are thousands of children without access to the support they need to thrive. Thankfully, there are also thousands of everyday people working to make a difference in the lives of children.

The Angel Award® honors everyday people doing extraordinary good to meet the physical, emotional, creative or spiritual needs of Louisiana’s kids. Since 1995, the Foundation has recognized more than 200 of these outstanding individuals. Each Angel Award also provides much-needed resources—a $25,000 grant for each Angel’s nonprofit charity.

Once again, we partnered with Louisiana Public Broadcasting to produce a one-hour television special celebrating the work of these exceptional individuals giving their lives in service of children. More than 70,000 people tuned in The Angel Award in October.

meet 2021 Angel Award Honorees

Over the last 26 years, The Angel Award has recognized more than 220 outstanding advocates for children across the state, working in a number of issue areas such as housing, food security, mental health, physical fitness, foster care and many others. Based on observations of their successes, as well as data from our collective impact grant programs, we believe that grassroots coalitions and partnerships are key to making the long-term changes necessary to improve outcomes for our children.

We’re challenging leaders from within our Angel community (past honorees as well as the organizations they represent) to collaborate on proposals to make effective, lasting change.

2021 Angels of Change Grantees:

• Bayou District Foundation + Roots of Music | Sprouts of Music. Provides music therapy and education programing to low-income children ages 5-7. Evaluates the effects of early music education on early childhood development outcomes.

• Son of a Saint, The Silverback Society and 100 Black Men of Metro New Orleans | Expanding and Improving Effective Mentorship for New Orleans Young Men. A collaboration between Son of a Saint, The Silverback Society, 100 Black Men of New Orleans, and Reaching for the Stars to enhance and further develop their mentorship of young men in the New Orleans area. Increase the accessibility, consistency, and quality of mentoring programs for young black men in New Orleans.

• STEM Nola | Building Bridges from High School to STEM Careers. A collaboration with Career Compass to develop, assess, and expand collaborative model for STEM-focused career exploration, skill-building, and support for low-income high school students of color

In response to the COVID-19 crisis and two years of devastating natural disasters, the Blue Cross Foundation allocated $15 million in funding to Community Crisis and Disaster Response Grants. These grants were general operational support to nonprofits and other community partners to address the immediate community needs after a disaster or crisis.

As of March 2022, we have made more than 195 grants totaling $13.5 million, which provided 20,000,000 points of service across Louisiana.

 COVID-19 FUNDING

• Food Insecurity – $1.53 million
• Healthcare Needs – $921,000
• Economic Support – $1.19 million
• Essential Services – $592,000
• Nonprofit Recovery – $693,825

HURRICANES LAURA, DELTA, & ZETA FUNDING

1. Emergency Relief – $1.85 million
2. Rebuilding – $425,000
3. Long-term Recovery – $1.5 million
4. Nonprofit Recovery – $575,000

HURRICANE LAURA FUNDING

• Emergency Relief – $1.65 million
• Shelter – $925,000
• Long-term Recovery – $1.22 million
• Nonprofit Recovery – $300,000

Return to the 2021 Community Partnerships Report Page