Healthy Blue Awards United 4 Children $22,000 to Support Local Children and Families with Vital Community Resources
St. Louis, Mo. – Healthy Blue Missouri awarded $22,000 to United 4 Children to better connect individuals in the region to crucial resources and to continue offering support to children, families, and childcare programs.
This partnership will help further United 4 Children’s
reach and advance the nonprofit’s vision that all children have the foundation to thrive, regardless of race, zip code, or ability. United 4 Children provides comprehensive services to childcare and afterschool programs, reaching more than 34,000 children, families, and childhood educators each year.
“United 4 Children’s programs provide training, coaching, financial investments, classroom and child assessments, and inclusion resources needed to ensure all children have safe places to learn and play and healthy food and snacks to fuel them,” said United 4 Children Executive Director Deanna Finch. “United 4 Children is excited to work with Healthy Blue Missouri in this crucial work of supporting childcare programs and the children and families they serve.”
Additionally, United 4 Children will train its team to use Community Resource Link, a leading social care network through Healthy Blue, to connect individuals and families with free and reduced-cost social services in their communities. This no-cost “find help” tool connects individuals with identified social drivers of health needs such as access to healthy food, housing, education, employment, utility assistance, and clothing. Social drivers of health are the conditions or environments where people live, learn, work, and more that impact each individual’s health, quality of life, and risks.
“By working together with our local partners to acknowledge the social drivers of health, we can advance health equity and support our communities to overcome the everyday barriers they face to a positive and healthy life,” said Healthy Blue Missouri President Jeff Davis. “Everyone should have the opportunity to be and stay healthy and we are grateful to work with United 4 Children to continue our commitment of improving lives and communities across Missouri.”
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About United 4 Children
United 4 Children provides quality improvement services to childcare and after school programs that address the many needs of the whole child. The organization empowers childcare providers with the knowledge and skills necessary to ensure that children feel safe, supported, and engaged in high-quality, developmentally appropriate activities by qualified and caring adults. United 4 Children strives to meet community needs where other resources do not exist. It is the only Missouri State funded program addressing the federal recommendation of reducing suspension rates through teaching social-emotional skills. In addition, United 4 Children is an official sponsor of the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) for family childcare home providers in both Missouri and Illinois. To learn more, visit united4children.org.
Contact: Megan Mansouri; Mansourim@united4children.org; 314-531-1412 ext. 156
