Local Partners and The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation To Fund UAMS Program for Families with Substance Abuse And Mental Health Disorders
Local Partners and The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation To Fund UAMS Program for Families with Substance Abuse And Mental Health Disorders

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LITTLE ROCK – With funding from Arkansas partners and a $500,000 matching grant from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) will create a program to help low-income mothers with mental health and substance abuse disorders transition from residential treatment to community living.

 

The new program, Building Bridges, will provide intensive case management to mothers in recovery and their children so families can smoothly transition from long-term residential treatment to self-sufficiency. Building Bridges will provide counseling, health care, job training and transportation, and will help coordinate other critical support needs such as housing and child care. Project staff will be housed at Christ Episcopal Church in downtown Little Rock.

 

The Charles A. Frueauff Foundation served as the local nominating funder for The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) grant, and 63 funding partners including individuals, churches, foundations, service organizations and businesses have pledged $380,000 so far.  RWJF will match local funds raised for the Building Bridges project dollar for dollar up to $500,000.  Arkansas CARES has another three years to raise funds to secure the full $500,000 match. 

 

Local contributors of more than $20,000 include the Charles A. Frueauff Foundation, Blue and You Foundation for a Healthier Arkansas, Jane and Bill Hardin, Barnett Grace and Helen Porter.  In addition, 48 public and private agencies have pledged services as program partners.  Letters of support included those from U S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln, U.S. Rep.Vic Snyder and Gov. Mike Huckabee. 

 

“We are extremely pleased to receive this support from the local community and The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation,” UAMS Chancellor I. Dodd Wilson, M.D., said. “Building Bridges will reduce substance abuse and improve mental health among these women, improve the overall health of the women and their children, decrease the need for foster care and help break intergenerational cycles of abuse, poverty and dependence.”

 

Building Bridges will be under the direction of Cynthia Crone, A.P.N., executive director of Arkansas CARES. Arkansas CARES (Center for Addictions Research, Education and Services) is an award-winning program at UAMS that has helped hundreds of pregnant women and mothers in recovery become responsible, caring parents. Arkansas CARES was recognized recently by the National Association of Public Hospitals with its Jim Wright Award, the association’s top Safety Net Award for Vulnerable Populations.

 

Crone said Building Bridges will help address a huge need in the state, where it is estimated that 29 percent of mothers with children under age 18 need addiction treatment. “We know that treatment works,” she said. “Treatment outcomes at Arkansas CARES are positive in every area studied – not only for the mothers, but their children as well.” Crone said that continuing care is critical to maintaining the progress achieved during intensive treatment.  “We’re thankful for the community support in making this program a reality.  Without our partners, we couldn’t have done it.”

 

Building Bridges is one of only 19 projects selected for funding by RWJF out of 320 that applied under its highly competitive Local Initiative Funding Partners matching grants program.

 

RWJF, based in Princeton, N.J., is the nation’s largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to health and health care. It concentrates its grantmaking in four goal areas: to assure that all Americans have access to quality health care at reasonable cost; to improve the quality of care and support for people with chronic health conditions; to promote healthy communities and lifestyles; and to reduce the personal, social and economic harm caused by substance abuse – tobacco, alcohol and illicit drugs.

 

UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with five colleges, a graduate school, a medical center, five centers of excellence and a statewide network of regional centers. UAMS has about 2,170 students and 650 residents and is the state’s largest public employer with almost 9,000 employees. UAMS and its affiliates have an economic impact in Arkansas of about $3.8 billion a year.

 

UAMS centers of excellence are the Arkansas Cancer Research Center, Harvey and Bernice Jones Eye Institute, Donald W. Reynolds Center on Aging, Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy and Jackson T. Stephens Spine and Neurosciences Institute.   

 

Building Bridges Match Contributors

Judy Adams

Altrusa International Inc. of Little Rock

American Home Life Insurance Company

Arkansas CARES Advisory Board

Arkansas Community Health and Education Foundation

Dr. Jonathan Bates

Dr. Keith and Susan Berry

Janive Blanchard

Blue and You Foundation for a Healthier Arkansas

Stewart Matthews and Kristy Bondurant

Drs. L.F. Church Jr. and Kathy Henderson

Everett and Esther Clevidence

Ginger Crews

John Derickson

Dr. Wilma Diner

Frank Dudeck

Dot East

Joan Eggelston

EDS Employees

Sarah Facen

Ellen Flowers

Laura and Neal Fortner

June Freeman

Charles A. Frueauff Foundation

Betty L. Gann

Dr. Brooks and Shelley Gentry

Jo and Tom Gibbons

Sean Glancy

Barnett Grace

Natasha Graf

Jane and Bill Hardin

HMS of Arkansas

Pamela Harris

Dr. Lyle and Julie Heim

Diane and James Hobson

Johnelle Hunt

Doris Hutchins

Dr. Jerry and Trudy Jacobson

Teddy Jenkins

Dr. Merle Allison and Linda Johnson

Traci Kozak

Laurie Lofton

Bill Mann

Sue and Jerry Maulden

Jennifer McCarty

Kristan McCullough

Dorothy C. Morey

Munro Foundation

Lynn Pence

Helen Porter

Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church

Lisenne and Win Rockefeller

Amy Rossi and Joe Bryan

Billie and Skip Rutherford

Dr. Gary Schroeder

Drs. Robert and Joanna Seibert

St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church

Grif Stockley

Dr. Richard and Cornelia Sundermann

Trinity United Methodist Church

Gay White

Charles Whiteside

Lisa Yocum

Dorothy and Paul Young

 

Building Bridges Partner Agencies

Altrusa International Inc. of Little Rock

Arkansas School of Culinary Apprenticeship

Arkansas Construction Education Foundation

Arkansas Department of Community Correction

Arkansas Department of Health

            Maternal and Child Health Services

Arkansas Department of Human Services

            Division of Behavioral Health Services

            Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education

            Division of County Operations

Baptist Health Heaven’s Loft

Black Community Developers

Boys and Girls Club of North Little Rock

Central Arkansas Transit Authority

Center for Arkansas Legal Services

City of Little Rock Housing Authority

City of North Little Rock Housing Authority

Christ Episcopal Church

Community Resource Group -- Auto Buy

Educational Institute of the American Hotel and Lodging Association

Family Services Agency

Girl Scouts of North Little Rock

Good Faith Fund

International Union of Painters and Allied Trades

Wayne Lindsay Consultants

Little Rock Community Mental Health Center

Little Rock School District

Little Rock Workforce Investment Board

North Little Rock Health Department

North Little Rock School District

Partners for Inclusive Communities

Pathfinder Inc.

Pulaski County Collaborative

Pulaski County Housing Authority

Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church

Recovery Centers of Arkansas

Sammie Gail Sanders Children’s Learning Center

Second Genesis

River City Ministry

STEP Ministries

Trinity United Methodist Church

UALR MidSouth Addictions Training Network

UAMS Area Health Education Centers

UAMS College of Health Related Professions- Nutrition Department

UAMS College of Medicine

            Department of Psychiatry

            Department of Pediatrics (Partners for Inclusive Communities, ECCO Headstart,                                   Center for Effective Parenting)

UAMS College of Public Health

United Way, Labor Community Services

USDA Human Nutrition Research

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