The Virginia Funders Network is a new platform that allows funders of all types and sizes to connect, learn and, when appropriate, harness their collective resources and promotional efforts to achieve greater impact. Building on the high level of collaboration in philanthropy in recent years, this network is also emerging at a time when funders are facing many of the same questions: how to best help their communities build resilience after the pandemic, how to instill equity in decision-making, and how to effectively engage public and private partners. Many of Daily Planet Health Services' customers are homeless, presenting unique challenges in managing care during the pandemic, which is why the organization has implemented several strategies to prevent outbreaks in local homeless shelters. While the Powhatan Free Clinic has yet to see any COVID-19 patients at this time, its services are needed more than ever.
An infectious disease specialist who serves as the director of HIV programs at CrossOver, Dr. Vivian Bruzzese shares what her position entails and how CrossOver responds to the needs of her clients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Myra Goodman Smith, president and CEO of Leadership Metro Richmond, has been managing and leading nonprofit organizations for more than 30 years and serves as vice president of the Jenkins board. Here, she discusses what involved her in leadership development and health philanthropy.
We sat down with Sherrell Thompson, a certified community health worker who works at the Gilpin Court Resource Center, to learn more about what her position entails and how she got involved in this work. Learning has long been a hallmark of the Jenkins Foundation. It's not uncommon to see most of your board members participating in on-site visits with potential grant recipients. Last year, the board also committed to exploring emerging trends and innovative approaches related to three main focus areas: access to health care, mental health services, and the prevention and treatment of substance use disorders.
Through the Family Lifeline Healthy Families program, new mothers like Ana are connected to home visiting services, skill-based curricula, and other community resources to help them raise healthy, safe children who are ready to succeed in school and in life. Amaya Branche, a senior high school student and Community Foundation Fellow, recounts her experience in a group therapy session and shares what we can all do to support the mental health of our young people. Susan Brown Davis, Nadine Marsh-Carter, and Connie Pechura, Ph, D. share their ideas about the most emerging health needs in our region.
Starting January 1, an estimated 400,000 low-income Virginians will be eligible for Medicaid for the first time. Until now, many of these people have relied on care provided by nonprofit clinics designed to care for uninsured patients who don't qualify for this federal benefit. When the Jenkins Foundation was created in 1995, Beese Craigie was one of approximately 20 female founders who took a step forward to lay the groundwork and establish the vision of the new charitable entity. His thoughtful leadership and insight helped turn the Foundation into one of the most important philanthropic health organizations in the Richmond region.
Ruby Lathon, PhD, is a certified holistic nutritionist who inspires with a powerful story of thyroid cancer recovery through alternative treatment focused on an unprocessed plant-based diet. Lathon appeared in the successful documentary What the Health and will appear in two upcoming health documentaries. Lathon worked as an award-winning researcher and engineer and now teaches others how to redesign their health and live disease-free. Lathon earned his doctorate and master's degrees in industrial and systems engineering from the University of Alabama in Huntsville, and a degree in computer science from Oakwood University.
Before leaving behind her successful engineering career, Dr. Lathon served as vice president of an engineering and management consulting firm and was a senior engineer at Sandia National Laboratories, a national security research laboratory. She also worked as a researcher at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. Sklar is a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society.
He is a member of the American College of Physicians and the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists and has been recognized annually as one of the best doctors in Washington. Barbara Wasserman, MD, is a graduate of Barnard College and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He completed his internal medicine residency at Rochester General and Strong Memorial hospitals in Rochester, New York. Wasserman is board certified in internal medicine, preventive medicine, and occupational medicine.
She held the position of director of occupational medicine at the National Institutes of Health, the National Naval Medical Center, and the Potomac Electric Power Company. Brooke Bussard is a health advisor, nutrition educator and speaker, whose approach revolves around choosing to eat plants instead of animals for human health, animal compassion and environmental sustainability. As a business operations and brand development specialist, Mark's primary objective for the past 15 years has been to increase the reach and impact of the plant-based food movement by creating, managing and growing plant-based companies. Mark has achieved success by combining his team-centered leadership approach, his ability to manage projects in complex organizations, his expert skill set in all trades and his mission-based approach.
Mark has worked with Gobo Restaurant, Candle Cafe &, Candle 79 and Matthew Kenney Cuisine. The foundation has educators and artists who carry out programs in local schools to combat bullying and promote social justice through music, education and the creative arts. The Northern Virginia Health Foundation is dedicated to improving the health and health care of Northern Virginia residents, with a particular emphasis on the health needs of the uninsured. As chairman of the board of directors of the Jenkins Foundation, Patte defends the mission of providing equitable access to health care services in the Richmond metropolitan area.
Special thanks to the trustees and advisors of the Virginia Health Care Foundation for generously sponsoring this website. Learn more about the Northern Virginia Health Foundation and its work to improve the health of Northern Virginians. The Northern Virginia Health Foundation is committed to going “beyond grant-making” to make a difference in the health and well-being of Northern Virginians by providing data, resources and tools to help the community be and stay healthy. The Virginia Health Care Foundation makes a difference in the lives of countless Virgos every day.
The Northern Virginia Health Foundation provides strategic grants to nonprofit organizations that address the health care needs of Northern Virginia residents, with special emphasis on those living in Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William Counties and in the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, Manassas and Manassas Park. .
