Oct 27 Pittsburgh-area funder awards $1.2 million for mental health access
Philanthropy News Digest – The Staunton Farm Foundation in Pittsburgh has awarded 19 grants totaling $1.2 million across southwestern Pennsylvania in support of nonprofit efforts to expand access to mental health and substance use disorder programming, Pittsburgh Union Progress reports.
First-time recipient organizations and agencies working across Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Westmoreland, and Washington counties include Chabad House on Campus, Young Black Motivated Kings and Queens, Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Greensburg, and The Education Partnership. Other recipients include JCC of Greater Pittsburgh’s 10.27 Healing Partnership, the Jewish Family & Community Services’ UpStreet program, and the Monroeville Public Library, which will expand its Mental Health & Wellness program. This is the second round of funding in 2024 for the foundation—established in 1937—which typically distributes $3 million annually.
“There’s never enough resources and never enough money,” said foundation executive director Joni Schwager. “For some people, it’s not the money. It’s the access. In the rural areas, they don’t have [an adequate public] transportation system. We continue to ask our nonprofits to do more with less.”