Confluence Health and Wenatchee Valley Medical Group announce local grant fund partnership

WENATCHEE — On Sunday, June 1, the Community Health Partnership Fund will begin accepting applications for grants to assist local community health-related causes and organizations.

The fund is a project of Confluence Health in partnership with the Wenatchee Valley Medical Group (WVMG), and its aim is to award up to half a million dollars every year in grants that go toward serving the community.

This fund has been around for some time, but there are some changes this year, in name and in process and eligibility. The popularity of the program means that applications have tripled over just the past two years, which organizers believe shows strong local support for not just the program but the impact that it has on our area.

Suzanne Carté-Cocroft, chief philanthropy officer for Confluence Health who oversees the Confluence Health Foundation, explained the name change this year, as Confluence has also begun managing the fund directly starting at the beginning of May. “As a part of our effort to focus on funding community health initiatives in our region, we’ve transitioned the name of the program from the ‘Community Partnership Fund’ to the ‘Community Health Partnership Fund’ to better reflect our selection process and focus,” she said.

“As we work to support health initiatives for the local community, the Confluence Health and Wenatchee Valley Medical Group Community Health Partnership Fund has two key focus areas: health and wellness and the social determinants of health,” continued Carté-Cocroft. “The ‘health and wellness’ focus provides funding for projects that directly support comprehensive health and wellness access and activities. The ‘social determinants of health’ focus, however, looks at initiatives addressing such areas as food and housing security, early education, economic stability, and social support systems. While like our criteria in the past, this transition to two key focus areas will allow us to better make selections directly supporting the vision and goals for this grant program.”

The expansion to include “social determinants” of common healthcare outcomes is a relatively recent addition to the field of research and grants. Although the COVID pandemic is largely responsible for linking social determinants of health (SDOH) to mainstream applications of theory, it goes back in fact to the early 19th century during the industrial revolution, when the world saw massive increases in disease and poverty — both of which could be traced directly to social conditions at the time.

The partnership between Confluence Health and WVMG could serve as a stalwart against social decay leading to worse health outcomes in North Central Washington, with the right applicants.

In order to be eligible for a grant, those applicants must be a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in Chelan, Douglas, Grant, or Okanogan counties. All organizations are limited to one grant proposal during each yearly cycle, and religious or faith-based organizations, even if their request is for non-religious purposes, are ineligible even if they are registered as a 501(c)(3).

Applicants will have two full months to apply, beginning June 1 and ending July 31, and can do so on the partnership’s website at this link. Questions about this aspect of the process can be directed to the Confluence Health Foundation, by email at foundation@confluencehealth.org or by calling (509) 436-6275.

Additionally, Carté-Cocroft will be hosting an informational webinar on Wednesday, June 11 from 1–2 p.m. It will be an overview of the process and the purpose of the grant program, and will serve as a question and answer period for those still needing assistance. You can register for the webinar in advance at this link in order to secure a spot.

Andrew Simpson: 509-433-7626 or andrew@ward.media