Advancing the future of behavioral health
Staunton Farm Foundation invests in behavioral health initiatives across 10 counties in Southwestern Pennsylvania. We support organizations, services, systems, partnerships, and community solutions that improve and provide access to behavioral health and substance use disorder outcomes for individuals, families, and communities.
Our work is guided by three strategic priorities:
- Strengthening the behavioral health workforce
- Advancing purposeful innovation
- Responding to the evolving behavioral health needs of the communities we serve
Strengthening the Behavioral Health Workforce
A strong behavioral health system depends on having enough resources to meet community needs.
Staunton Farm Foundation invests in strategies that help develop, attract, upskill, and retain the behavioral health workforce. We work with service providers, workforce development organizations, funders, and other partners to explore new approaches to workforce challenges and leverage additional resources for Southwestern Pennsylvania.
We strive to help build a sustainable workforce that improves access to quality behavioral health professionals and services throughout our region.
Advancing Purposeful Innovation
The future of behavioral health requires the willingness to explore new ideas.
We support purposeful innovation that improves behavioral health services, systems, and outcomes. This may include strengthening an existing approach, testing a new model, using technology differently, developing new partnerships, or challenging traditional ways of delivering care.
We support organizations willing to test new ideas, learn from the results, and adapt their approach as they go. We recognize that not every new idea will work exactly as planned, and that what is learned along the way can help improve behavioral health services and systems throughout the region.
Responsive Grantmaking
Community needs change, and philanthropy must be able to respond.
Staunton Farm Foundation monitors changes in behavioral health needs, public policy, funding, and economic conditions to understand where our resources can make a meaningful difference.
Unlike emergency funding, responsive grantmaking adapts to emerging behavioral health needs, enabling organizations to respond to changing conditions, address gaps, and support populations experiencing heightened or unmet needs.
Responsive grantmaking brings people together. When challenges extend beyond a single organization, we can convene providers, funders, counties, payors, and other partners to better understand the issue, identify shared priorities, and explore coordinated solutions.
Awards and Events
Albert B. Craig, Jr. Award
Albert B. Craig, Jr., MD served as President of the Staunton Farm Foundation until 1991. During his years on the Board of Trustees, he gave from a boundless reservoir of creativity, kindness, and generosity of spirit, challenging trustees and staff to seek out the best ideas to improve behavioral health in Southwestern Pennsylvania.
Dr. Craig brought to the Foundation the same concern for people and love of inquiry that were evident throughout his career as a Professor of Physiology and Pharmacology at the University of Rochester Medical School. He led the Staunton Farm Foundation in its work to improve the lives of people with behavioral health issues by supporting programs of proven merit, as well as those that tested new approaches to advancing behavioral health.
The Albert B. Craig, Jr. Award recognizes people who have challenged society to think in fresh ways about problems and solutions in behavioral health; forged new paths through uncommon partnerships or new ways of serving people with behavioral health issues; or invented a product or process that has alleviated mental illness or addiction.
Recipients of the award do not need to reside in Southwestern Pennsylvania, but their contributions must have an impact on individuals in the region we serve.
Nominations for 2027: Coming Soon
Well-being Events and Convenings
Staunton Farm Foundation believes that bringing behavioral health professionals together creates opportunities to learn, connect, and strengthen the behavioral health system across Southwestern Pennsylvania.
The Foundation will host an annual event for behavioral health providers, alternating each year between a well-being event and a convening.
Convenings will offer opportunities to explore emerging practices, innovation, workforce issues, and other topics affecting the delivery of behavioral health services.
Well-being events will focus on supporting the people who care for others and the communities we serve, creating space for connection, reflection, learning, and activities that promote personal and community well-being.
Visit our Events page for the latest info on upcoming events →
The Staunton Professor of Pediatrics and Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
In 1987, Albert B. Craig Jr., serving as President of the Foundation, entered into an agreement with the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine to endow a Chair, or professorship, known as “The Staunton Professor of Pediatrics and Psychiatry.” The purpose of the Chair is to conduct research into developmental pathways for a broad range of mental, emotional, and behavioral health problems in youth.
In 2013, the University of Pittsburgh appointed Beatriz Luna, PhD, as the Staunton Professor of Pediatrics and Psychiatry. Dr. Luna and her team have an impressive background in the neuroscience of adolescent brain development.
Currently, Dr. Luna is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and School of Medicine, with a secondary appointment in the Department of Psychology. She is the founder and director of the Laboratory of Neurocognitive Development at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic.
According to Dr. Luna, her research has focused on “understanding the brain basis of behavior during the adolescent period of development… because this is a time associated with risky behavior and the emergence of many psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and mood disorders.”