ESAHEC provides educational resources and support through equitable community-based activities and services in order to recruit, train and retain health care professionals on the Eastern Shore through collaborative and innovative partnerships. Taking advantage of available federal, state and local resources, ESAHEC supports health careers promotion, health professions student rotations in underserved rural communities, continuing education and community health activities. Learn more about ESAHEC.

Award: $20,000

Purpose of Grant: To support ESAHEC’s objective to increase the number of health care providers servicing rural and underserved areas and eliminate health disparities among diverse populations of the Eastern Shore.

Positive Impact: Our grant funding allowed ESAHEC to bring awareness and provide valuable training to address the mental health crisis affecting our local communities. The Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA) focus area of the grant was successful in bringing awareness and opportunity to the Eastern Shore area, where it was relatively unknown. YMHFA teaches individuals how to identify, understand and respond to signs of mental health and substance use challenges among children and adolescents ages 12 to 18 years. Through four separate training sessions held during the grant period, 29 participants were successfully certified in YMHFA. Participants reported increased awareness and knowledge of youth mental health-related issues.

“With the generous support of the Johns Hopkins [Health Plans] funding, ESAHEC has been successful in helping Dorchester County residents gain the tools and skills to achieve optimal health.”

Hearing loss can have a profound impact on an individual’s health and well-being. Yet close to 23 million individuals who have hearing loss remain untreated. Access HEARS is a Maryland nonprofit that provides access to low-cost, high-quality listening devices. Its mission is to connect individuals with hearing loss to the solutions they need to age well. Founded by physicians and leading hearing experts and entrepreneurs at the Johns Hopkins University, Access HEARS delivers both in-person and virtual service directly to the community and provides ongoing support to help individuals who have hearing loss to overcome the barriers overlooked by traditional hearing care. Learn more about Access HEARS.

Award: $20,000

Purpose of Grant: To provide subsidized hearing aids, service delivery and ongoing support for military retirees and eligible family members age 60+ who have hearing loss, including US Family Health Plan members.

Positive Impact: Our grant enabled Access HEARS to subsidize hearing aids for those who least can afford this care in the Baltimore Metro area, helping low-income, predominantly older adults. To date, our grant has supported more than 80 inquiries, providing hearing aid options and two-week trial periods. A total of 22 individuals age 57 to 92 have purchased discounted hearing aids through the program, with several in the process of completing their trial periods.

“The partnership with Johns Hopkins [Health Plans] is instrumental in the success of what Access HEARS does for Baltimore communities. Each year we are able to help better the lives of hundreds of low-income minority older adults with hearing loss and try to close the enormous gap in their health care disparity.”

ERAFANS is a nonprofit organization that provides an outdoor education program to benefit students in Baltimore City schools by integrating classroom learning with nature. They also offer professional development, services, support and inspiration to early childhood professionals to advance the field of nature-based early childhood education and encourage lifelong appreciation for the natural world. Learn more about ERAFANS.

Award: $8,500

Purpose of Grant: To enable expansion of ERAFAN’s impactful outdoor education program to benefit the students and teachers at a Baltimore area Title I school.

Positive Impact: Our grant supported four classes of approximately 18 students each, with some change-over of students throughout the year, as well as four classroom teachers, five teaching assistants and the school principal (10 staff members in total). Students are highly engaged in learning during Forest Days sessions, which provide weekly experiences of nature-inspired awe and wonder for the students. With the help of the funding:

• Students are developing their social emotional foundations and strengthening their capacity for cooperation.
• Students are demonstrating empathy, curiosity and developing observational learning skills.
• Teachers are developing skills in observing how students demonstrate mastery of curriculum standards through play-based learning in the outdoor classroom.
  
  

“The Forest Days Outdoor Learning Program at Sandy Plains Elementary School would not have been possible without the support of Johns Hopkins [Health Plans]. This funding helped increase our capacity to meet the needs of children at this Title 1 school. Our organizational health was positively impacted with support from this grant.”

Rebirth is a nonprofit organization serving Wicomico County and the greater Delmarva region. Created in 1998, Rebirth works to foster social integration, restore dignity and provide access to information, education, and social services to underserved immigrant and low-income families. There are about 7,000 Haitian immigrants in Wicomico County, roughly 2,000 of whom fled Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. Rebirth operates a radio station with programming in Creole, English and Spanish, providing a vital communication link and information source to Haitian and other immigrants in the Delmarva region. Learn more about Rebirth.

Award: $20,000

Purpose of Grant: To address food insecurity by stocking their food pantry and support Rebirth’s mission to empower immigrant families in Wicomico County.

Positive Impact: Our grant allowed Rebirth to increase services by 20%, providing health education and outreach to 7,390 low-income and immigrant individuals in Wicomico County. In addition to supporting a vital community-based, immigrant-led initiative to improve food security, our funding empowered Rebirth to distribute more food to the community and enhance their organizational capacity by hiring more staff and expanding services. Among its many positive impacts, our grant helped Rebirth to:

• Provide advocacy to 2,589 individuals
• Support After School Program participation for 45 youth
• Distribute 130,019 pounds of food
• Screen 712 people for diabetes and high blood pressure
• Provide 712 blood pressure cuffs
• Assist eight pregnant women and 29 new mothers with case management
• Distribute 497 hygienic kits
• Reach over 123,000 individuals through Radio Oasis Health Education and Outreach

“Thanks to Johns Hopkins [Health Plans], as a result of this grant, we had the opportunity to service a diverse immigrants and low income population in Wicomico County.”

Black mothers in the U.S. are one and a half times more likely to have a preterm delivery compared to white women. The Alliance for Black NICU Families™ strives to address health inequity through a program that provides wearable breast pumps to Black families in the neonatal intensive care unit, or NICU. The goal is to equalize access to wearable breast pumps for Black mothers who want to provide their fragile NICU infant with healthy breastmilk. Learn more about the Alliance for Black NICU Families.

Award: $20,000

Purpose of Grant: To provide funding support to The Alliance’s wearable breast pump program for Black families in the NICU.

Positive Impact: Our funding provided The Alliance with purchasing power that reduced bulk pricing for breast pump purchases. The increased purchasing power the grant provided gave them the ability to purchase 350 wearable breast pumps and request sample units for use mothers in the program to try out. Combined with improved cost management and marketing, as well as a more personalized experience, our grant is giving The Alliance for Black NICU Families the capacity to reach and benefit more Black NICU families and further develop sustainable partnerships with NICU facilities.

“JHHP has been a wonderful partner to work with not just with funding, but also spreading the word about what we have done in the local media. It meant a lot to have a Black-focused newspaper come to report on our partnership with you. Thank you!”

Maple Shade Youth & Family Services is a clinic that specializes in assessing and treating children, adolescents ages 5 through 17and their families who are experiencing behavioral and emotional disorders. Primarily serving Maryland Medicaid enrollees, Maple Shade offers family resources including counseling, treatment, health care outreach and education. Learn more about Maple Shade Youth & Family Services

Award: $20,000

Purpose of Grant: To help fund an after-school program for teens that focuses on substance misuse.

Positive Impact: Our funding allowed Maple Shade Youth & Family Services to increase staff pay to implement its Cognitive Life Skills curriculum within multiple groups. It provided a way for staff to have additional time to spend with the students and provide more personalized attention, encourage in-depth interactions and thereby generate more meaningful group conversations.

Our grant funding supported the curriculum of 23 young individuals, introducing them to positive mindsets and developing goal-directed behavior patterns. The curriculum was well-received by both students and staff, who appreciated the ease of use and effectiveness in facilitating opportunities to better explore coping skills and emotions.

“The material that is covered in the booklets is spot on, it really helped the boys be able to talk about some things they had never even thought about before.”

— Dr. Gabriela D. Lemus

“Wow! I never really thought about how much my thoughts were getting me upset. I thought it was everyone else making me mad.”

— 12-year-old student

The Franciscan Center’s mission is to provide assistance and supportive outreach to persons who are economically disadvantaged, in an effort to assist them in realizing their self-worth and dignity. The organization’s Providing Healthy Meals to Baltimore’s Most Vulnerable program strives to provide homeless, indigent and working poor residents of Baltimore City greater access to fresh produce and foods made with healthy ingredients. Learn more about the Franciscan Center of Baltimore.

Award: $20,000

Purpose of Grant: To support the salaries of the kitchen team and Culinary Director and the provision of healthier meals.

Meaningful Impact: Culinary Director Derrick Purcell of the Franciscan Center is principally responsible for feeding an average of 400 to 600 guests Monday through Friday of every week, most at the Franciscan Center’s West 23rd Street facility. With the support of our grant, Chef Purcell focused on making meals healthier and eliminating waste, benefitting thousands of guests — recipients of as many as 250,000 meals per year.

Our grant funded the development of a more efficient way of planning and managing the Center’s food donations. Working with farmer Matt Jones at Little Portion Farm in Ellicott City, Chef Purcell and his team developed menu items well-suited to the produce available from the farm. The 3-acre farm is a ministry of the Franciscan Friars Conventual that uses sustainable farming methods. Chef Purcell sought to heighten the flavor profiles of the produce in meals, taking advantage of natural sugars, and reducing sodium. By closely coordinating the planting and harvesting schedule with meal planning, Chef Purcell was able to ensure food was sent to the Center and prepared in the kitchen at its peak.

“This funding helped us develop a new approach to procuring and using donated produce that will have a ripple effect over the next several years. With your support we’ve accomplished a great deal, but there is much more to be done.”

The Maryland Dental Action Coalition (MDAC) is the state’s leading non-governmental oral health policy and advocacy organization.

MDAC:

• Develops programs and strategies that improve oral health equity.
• Works to improve the oral health of all Marylanders through increased oral health promotion, disease prevention, education, advocacy and access to oral health care.
• Leads the development and monitors the progress of the five-year Maryland Oral Health Plan, the state’s roadmap to improved oral health for all Marylanders.

Learn more about the Maryland Dental Action Coalition

Award: $20,000

Purpose of Grant: To support MDAC’s education and outreach strategy on the implementation of Maryland Medical Assistance Program – Dental Coverage for Adults, which became effective January 2023 and provides coverage for comprehensive dental services for all Maryland adults through the Maryland Healthy Smiles Dental Program.

Meaningful Impact: Our grant enabled MDAC to take key, incremental steps to educate eligible participants in the Medicaid adult dental expansion program on how to access and utilize new dental benefits to improve their oral and overall health. In less than six months, MDAC presented to 25 organizations with an audience of nearly 1,000 clinicians, care coordinators, social workers and case managers.

Of the 1,680 providers enrolled in Maryland Healthy Smiles Dental Program, which provides dental care to eligible Medicaid members, 1,175 providers, nearly 70%, had treated at least one adult Medicaid member at the time of this report. In all, more than 176,000 adult Medicaid members had accessed dental care through the Medicaid adult dental expansion program, nearly 24,000 of whom Baltimore City residents.

Our financial gift helped to expand MDAC’s funding base, enhance its ability to launch additional programming and support its consumer and community engagement campaign, which has been a key factor in the success of the dental expansion program.

“The single most important step in improving the oral health — and overall health — of Marylanders is a Medicaid program that covers dental services for adults. Oral health affects systemic health, including conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Oral health also affects quality of life — our ability to eat, speak, work and be pain free. Support of MDAC efforts to augment outreach and implementation of the Medicaid adult dental coverage is critical to helping Maryland adults, and families, lead happy, healthy, and productive lives.”

— Mary Backley, CEO, Maryland Dental Action Coalition

A statewide network of organizations, businesses and individuals who support Latino and immigrant communities, Maryland Latinos Unidos (MLU) works within the Hispanic/Latino community in Maryland by supporting Latino-serving nonprofits, convening around public policy priorities and working together in common cause. Latinos face significant challenges regarding health care access and health outcomes. MLU strives to build an equitable infrastructure to address the many disparities and barriers faced by Latino communities in Maryland, with a focus on addressing social determinants of health. Learn more about Maryland Latinos Unidos.

Award: $20,000

Purpose of Grant: To fund the ongoing work of building essential infrastructure for supporting a healthy and well Latino community, specifically addressing the behavioral health needs of Latino youth in Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Montgomery and Prince Georges Counties.

Meaningful Impact: The funding from Johns Hopkins Health Plans was the spark that ignited the progress of several MLU initiatives. Our grant provided for several key MLU achievements including:

• Hiring a full-time Community Health Organizer.
• Creating the Latino Health Equity Alliance (LHEA) website with a focus on mental health resources.
• Conducting a survey that aligned with the U.S. Surgeon General findings to highlight pressing mental health needs.
• Hosting a bilingual mental health training of community health workers.

These initiatives have both expanded MLU’s capacity to serve and have helped establish a sustainable foundation for future mental health advocacy and programming efforts. Our grant positively impacted over 400 individuals, particularly Latino youth and their families, in Maryland's five most populous counties (Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Montgomery, Prince George’s and Baltimore City), prioritizing individuals with limited access to bilingual mental health services facing long wait times for care.

“Our youth are navigating an increasingly complex landscape, and their mental health remains a matter of profound concern. Latino youth, in particular, are often confronted with negative messages from media and popular culture, which can significantly harm their self-esteem. Moreover, they grapple with unique challenges, including discrimination and health-related issues. MLU champions the cause of youth well-being, advocating passionately for bilingual support systems and resources that can address these challenges effectively. Thanks to the support of the Johns Hopkins Health Plans, now we have the infrastructure to both advocate and serve as an essential part of their support system to champion.”

— Dr. Gabriela D. Lemus