Welcome to the Foundation
The Mt. Sinai Health Care Foundation seeks to assist Greater Cleveland's organizations and leaders to improve the health and well-being of the Jewish and general communities now and for generations to come.
IMPORTANT: NEW PROPOSAL SUBMISSION PROCESS
GRANT APPLICATION DEADLINE:
THURSDAY, APRIL 1, 2021
Proposals should be submitted using the Foundation’s new grant application portal. For information about the application process, please review the "How To Apply" section of this website.
Questions? Contact Program Officers Ali Foti and Adam Nation if you have additional questions about what we fund or how to apply.
Thank you!
Rapid Response Fund seeks partners for COVID-19 vaccine communications
COVID-19 vaccines are just around the corner for our community. But there is a fine line between availability and access.
That’s why the Greater Cleveland COVID-19 Rapid Response Fund has convened a COVID-19 Vaccine Communications Task Force—comprised of leaders from the faith-based community, health care, government, and community organizing groups as well as resident leaders—to drive the RRF’s vaccine uptake strategy.
Now, the Task Force is seeking one or more firm(s) to assist in delivering a comprehensive COVID-19 vaccine communications and marketing plan that will catalyze vaccine uptake, especially among Black people, immigrants, and other people of color—populations historically skeptical of vaccination due to well-known injustices and personal experiences with mistreatment while navigating the healthcare system.
Please consider applying to partner with us on this urgent journey, or share with your colleagues who might.
The full Request for Proposals (RFP) can be access here (PDF).
CareSource Invests $5 Million into the Lead Safe Home Fund
CareSource, Ohio’s largest managed care organization, has committed $5 million to the Lead Safe Home Fund (the Fund) to provide Cleveland families and property owners with the resources they need to make homes lead safe. This unprecedented investment by a managed care organization to make lead safe home repair loans brings the total pool of dollars in the Fund to more than $25 million.
“Lead poisoning is a public health crisis with a housing solution. When healthcare and community leaders like CareSource invest in projects like this, they underscore that safe housing improves health outcomes,” said Mark McDermott, vice president and Ohio market leader, Enterprise Community Partners, and a member of the Lead Safe Cleveland Coalition Steering Committee. “Today’s announcement is both a commitment to Cleveland’s future as well as an invitation to public and private investors, from all sectors, to join us in this critical effort.”
The full press release can be accessed here (PDF).
Preventing lead poisoning at the source
Case Western Reserve University researchers examine implications for lead-safe housing in Cleveland through lens of rental properties and their landlords
More than 103,000 rental units spread across Cleveland proper are potentially vulnerable to lead contamination because they were built before 1978 when lead paint was outlawed. According to a new study from Case Western Reserve University’s Center on Urban Poverty and Community Development at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, over one-third of these units are in poor condition and of very low market value. This can present the dual challenge of requiring potentially costly repairs in buildings where there is little equity to leverage financing, and results in potential risk of lead poisoning to children who may live in them.
Using a variety of public records—including assessed market value, sales, foreclosure and tax history, code violations, building permits and rental registry data—the researchers examined every rental property in the city from 2016-18 on factors related to the likelihood that the property could have lead-safety problems. Property owners were categorized according to whether they were companies or individuals, the number and types of properties they held and the property values and conditions represented in their portfolios.
“The issue is that the majority of families with young children in Cleveland rent homes in the private rental market,” said Claudia Coulton, the study’s co-author, a Distinguished University Professor and co-director of the poverty center. “Improving these properties—and working with these property owners— is a key element in moving toward a lead-safe Cleveland.”
“The majority of the city’s rental housing stock carries a significant risk of lead exposure to children because of age, deferred maintenance and low-market value, so understanding the rental landscape is crucial,” said Rob Fischer, an associate professor at the Mandel School and study co-author.
The full press release can be accessed here (PDF)
