Wednesday, January 20, 2016
NY Life Marks Fifth Year of Partnership to Provide Bereavement Services
The New York Life Foundation today announced that it has committed $1.25 million to forty-two bereavement organizations serving grieving children across the country. The grants will be given over a two year period and range from $10,000 to $100,000. This is the fifth year the New York Life Foundation has collaborated with the National Alliance for Grieving Children on the Grief Reach program which supports grief providers’ efforts to expand and grow their capacity to provide assistance to diverse and disadvantaged youth with limited access to bereavement services throughout the country.
The Grief Reach program expands direct service support to centers or programs across the country through Capacity Building or Community Expansion grants. Capacity Building focuses on organizational development and effectiveness while Community Expansion grants bring support services to youth not currently served by existing bereavement programs.
“The feedback we’ve received since the program began five years ago has helped us to meet the growing needs of the providers. We not only want to help them to broaden their reach, but we also want to help them to develop and improve their organization internally,” said Maria Collins, Vice President, New York Life Foundation. “We have expanded the application parameters and increased the financial support so that youth across the country can receive the help they need to heal and grow.”
“In addition to providing the means to make services available to diverse communities, this partnership has also provided the context for bereavement programs across the United States to meet with one another, share ideas, and plan for effective service delivery among diverse populations,” said Andy McNiel, Chief Executive Officer, National Alliance for Grieving Children.
The Grief Reach program was created to help providers overcome barriers to bringing grief support services to youth not served by existing bereavement programs. One hundred and fifty-three Grief Reach grants totaling nearly $5 million have been awarded since the program’s inception in 2011. The New York Life Foundation has been one of the leading funders of the childhood bereavement field, investing more than $25 million to date in support of grieving children and their families.
The winning providers and their locations are:
Capacity Building Grants
- Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco – San Francisco, CA
- Camp Good Grief of Staten Island Inc. – Staten Island, NY
- Children's Grief Connection – Willow River, MN
- Henry Ford Health System – Detroit, MI
- Hope & Healing Place Inc – Amarillo, TX
- Hope for Bereaved, Inc. – Syracuse, NY
- Hospice & Palliative Care of Iredell County – Statesville, NC
- Journey of Hope Grief Support Center – Plano, TX
- Kara – Palo Alto, CA
- Kids Hurt Too Hawaii – Honolulu, HI
- My Healing Place – Austin, TX
- Oak Tree Corner – Oakwood, OH
- Park Nicollet Foundation – St Louis Park, MN
- Ted E. Bear Hollow – Omaha, NE
- The Healing Center – Seattle, WA
- The Tristesse Grief Center, Inc. – Tulsa, OK
- Wildflower Camp Foundation - Wellesley Hills, MA
- Willow Center, Inc. – Lewiston, ID
- Winterspring Center – Medford, OR
- Wissahickon Hospice of UPHS – Bala Cynwyd, PA
Expansion Grants
- A Caring Hand, The Billy Esposito Foundation, New York, NY
- Baton Rouge Children's Advocacy Center – Baton Rouge, LA
- Bo's Place – Houston, TX
- Brave Heart Volunteers Inc. – Sitka, AK
- Care Dimensions, Inc. – Danvers, MA
- Children’s Grief Center of El Paso – El Paso, TX
- Children's Grief Center of New Mexico – Albuquerque, NM
- Children's Hospital of Wisconsin Foundation – Milwaukee, WI
- Crisis Support Services of Alameda County – Oakland, Ca
- Ele’s Place Inc. – Lansing, MI
- Evergreen Youth & Family Services Inc. – Bemidji, MN
- Fairview Foundation – Saint Paul, MN
- Good Shepherd Hospice – Farmingdale, NY
- Hospice and Palliative Care Foundation – Drayton, SC
- Hospice Caring, Inc. – Gaithersburg, MD
- John F. Kennedy Medical Center Foundation – Edison, NJ
- New Hope for Kids – Maitland, FL
- Parmenter VNA & Community Care, Inc. – Wayland, MA
- St. John Community Health Investment Corp. – Warren, MI
- The St. Louis Bereavement Center for Young People – Saint Louis, MO
- Tuesday's Children – Newtown, CT
- William Wendt Center for Loss and Healing – Washington, DC