Kresge Foundation awards $750,000 grant for East Cleveland Teen Collaborative

Cleveland Clinic, the City of East Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, and a collection of local health and social service agencies are launching the East Cleveland Teen Collaborative, a partnership focused on reducing health disparities and improving health outcomes of East Cleveland youth.

Funded by a $750,000 grant from the Kresge Foundation, the collaborative will address the "social determinants of health" impacting adolescents in East Cleveland, including violence and a lack of community connectivity. Specifically, the collaborative will focus on providing opportunities to enhance teens' physical activity, health literacy, participation in volunteer and extracurricular activities, and summertime employment.

"Together, with the support of the Kresge Foundation, the dedicated members of the East Cleveland community and Cleveland Clinic are focused on addressing the issues impacting the health of our youth," said Kate Fox Nagel, Senior Director, Public Health and Research, Cleveland Clinic. "We hope to focus on the critical needs of the community and create a roadmap to a healthier future."

Initially funded by a $75,000 planning grant from the Kresge Foundation in January 2010, Cleveland Clinic engaged a community-based work group and surveyed over 300 East Cleveland citizens to perform a rigorous assessment of the community's social, environmental and physical needs.

"It is essential to embrace our partners, allies and neighbors to evaluate and create a new direction for our community together," states Mayor Gary Norton, East Cleveland. "We are confident this is the first of many opportunities designed to tap into the potential of our kids and ensure their direction is a positive one."

During the first year of the three-year grant, the collaborative will establish the program infrastructure, create a community education campaign, build a technology platform to support and measure program activities and outcomes, as well as recruit teen ambassadors.

The East Cleveland Teen Collaborative consists of representatives from nonprofits and government organizations, including Cleveland Clinic's Department of Public Health and Research, Huron Hospital, the Center for Families and Children, the City of East Cleveland, Cuyahoga County Office of Health and Human Services, Cuyahoga County Board of Health, and Northeast Ohio Neighborhood Health Services (NEON), as well as community residents.

Cleveland Clinic Public Health and Research was one of only eight Kresge Safety-net Enhancement Initiative grantees nationwide. The Safety-net Enhancement Initiative was designed to reduce disparities and improve the health outcomes of low-income children and adults by enhancing collaboration among the agencies and institutions providing health and social supports in their communities.

"The Safety-net Enhancement Initiative will allow our eight grantees the ability to devote the next three years to creating new models of health-care delivery among the health and social-service agencies and institutions in their communities," said David D. Fukuzawa, Director, The Kresge Foundation Health Program.

SOURCE Cleveland Clinic