$1.84 million HCA Healthcare Foundation grant to launch United for Healthy Starts announced by HCA HealthONE
Denver, Colo. — HCA HealthONE today announced that the HCA Healthcare Foundation, through its Healthier Tomorrow Fund, will give $1.84 million to Mile High United Way to launch United for Healthy Starts, a national collaboration between four United Ways to help increase access to social, economic and education support services for families. The effort is led by Mile High United Way in Denver and includes United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, United Way Miami and United Way of Greater Nashville.
“Our partnership with the Mile High United Way is one of the most varied and impactful in our portfolio of partnerships,” stated Maureen McDonald, Assistant Vice President of Community Engagement for HCA HealthONE. “When we talk about the care and improvement of human life, this goes well beyond our patients and our colleagues, and extends to our communities. In Denver, there is no better partner for us to support our strategic pillars aimed at community health and wellbeing than through our relationship with Mile High United Way.”
United for Healthy Starts aims to increase access to services to improve social, economic and overall health outcomes for families. Through this new grant, the initiative is designed to help families have strong, healthy starts through home visitation and wrap-around services tailored to the needs of each family supported. By establishing a national, collaborative learning community, United for Healthy Starts will also work to help create new nonprofit partnerships, with the intention of strengthening service delivery and innovation and achieving a scalable impact beyond the grant.
"We are thrilled to continue this longstanding partnership between two historic anchor institutions committed to improving the lives of families — HCA HealthONE and United Way,” said Christine Benero, Mile High United Way president and CEO. “Through United for Healthy Starts, HCA HealthONE is truly putting a stake in the ground for mothers and young children, especially those facing barriers to healthy outcomes. This transformational investment will lead to new innovations in home visitation and support, and the learnings will allow us to bring this model to more communities in the future."
HCA HealthONE and the HCA Healthcare Foundation have been pleased to support myriad ways Mile High United Way makes a direct impact in metro Denver. These include: The 2-1-1 program that provides referrals for critical resources and serves over 250,000 people with unmet needs annually; The Tamra Sparks Early Learning Center, an innovative childcare center in what was previously a childcare desert; Women United, the campaign that supports self-sufficiency and opportunities for economic success; and, HIPPY, the Home Visitation program that enhances parenting skills, improves school readiness, and supports positive health and mental health in our pre-school children.
HCA Healthcare and the HCA Healthcare Foundation have a long history of working with and supporting United Way. In 1981, HCA Healthcare co-founder Dr. Thomas Frist Jr. co-founded the first chapter of the Alexis de Tocqueville Society in Nashville, Tennessee and later received its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012. Over the last 30 years, HCA Healthcare and the HCA Healthcare Foundation have given more than $17 million in support of United Way’s work to help improve communities nationwide.
The HCA Healthcare Foundation’s Healthier Tomorrow Fund supports evidence-informed programs that address high-priority needs and advance community health by supporting efforts to pilot, replicate and scale meaningful, measurable initiatives in communities where HCA Healthcare has a presence. Since its inception, the fund has committed more than $17 million in grants to nonprofits across the country.
About HCA Healthcare Foundation
The mission of the HCA Healthcare Foundation is to promote health and well-being and strive to make a positive impact in all the communities HCA Healthcare serves. We accomplish this mission by providing leadership, service and financial support to effective non-profit organizations working individually and collectively.