Community Foundation Receives $194,700 Mother Cabrini Health Foundation Grant

The Community Foundation of Herkimer & Oneida Counties has been awarded a $194,700 grant from the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation that will support the community’s long-term efforts to address childhood lead poisoning and healthy housing.

The funding will go to the Utica Healthy Homes Program, a partnership between The Community Foundation’s Lead-Free Mohawk Valley (LFMV) coalition and Utica’s HomeOwnershipCenter, a coalition partner.

“Our entire community is grateful to the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation for supporting this effort,” said Community Foundation President/CEO Alicia Dicks. “Healthy housing is vital to the continuing revitalization of our neighborhoods, and this grant will make a difference in the lives of families with kids—the future of our community.”

Since launching LFMV in 2016, The Community Foundation has committed $6 million to advance a 10-year strategy that will address lead contamination in Herkimer and Oneida counties’ aging housing. The City of Utica, a coalition partner, was awarded $3.5 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in 2019 toward that effort.

“The Mother Cabrini Health Foundation grant will be used together with federal funding the City of Utica is receiving,” said Danielle Smith, HomeOwnershipCenter CEO. “The result will be an expansion of healthy homes interventions that reduces exposure to environmental health hazards, including lead, for low-income Utica families with children.”

City of Utica residents with a child under age 6 that live in houses built before 1978 can call the HomeOwnershipCenter, 315-724-4197, to see if they qualify for the Utica Healthy Homes Program.

The grant to The Community Foundation for the Utica Healthy Homes Program is among nearly $150 million in Mother Cabrini Health Foundation grants awarded in 2020 across New York state to support more than 500 activities, programs, and initiatives focused on improving the health and quality of life for low-income and underserved communities.

“We are honored to support such a wide range of organizations doing critically important work to improve the lives of New York’s most vulnerable communities,” said Alfred F. Kelly, Jr., CEO of Visa and chair of the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation Board.

This is the first round of grants released by the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation, one of the largest foundations in the U.S. and the largest foundation focused exclusively on New York state. Its mission is to help address health and health-related needs of New Yorkers regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, or background, as well as the social determinants of health that improve health outcomes, including nutrition, housing, education, and employment.