Local Partners and The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation To Fund UAMS Program for Families with Substance Abuse And Mental Health Disorders
| LITTLE ROCK – With funding from The new program, Building Bridges, will provide intensive case management to mothers in recovery and their children so families can smoothly transition from long-term residential treatment to self-sufficiency. Building Bridges will provide counseling, health care, job training and transportation, and will help coordinate other critical support needs such as housing and child care. Project staff will be housed at Christ Episcopal Church in downtown The Charles A. Frueauff Foundation served as the local nominating funder for The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) grant, and 63 funding partners including individuals, churches, foundations, service organizations and businesses have pledged $380,000 so far. RWJF will match local funds raised for the Building Bridges project dollar for dollar up to $500,000. Arkansas CARES has another three years to raise funds to secure the full $500,000 match. Local contributors of more than $20,000 include the Charles A. Frueauff Foundation, Blue and You Foundation for a Healthier Arkansas, Jane and Bill Hardin, Barnett Grace and Helen Porter. In addition, 48 public and private agencies have pledged services as program partners. Letters of support included those from U S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln, U.S. Rep.Vic Snyder and Gov. Mike Huckabee. “We are extremely pleased to receive this support from the local community and The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation,” UAMS Chancellor I. Dodd Wilson, M.D., said. “Building Bridges will reduce substance abuse and improve mental health among these women, improve the overall health of the women and their children, decrease the need for foster care and help break intergenerational cycles of abuse, poverty and dependence.” Building Bridges will be under the direction of Cynthia Crone, A.P.N., executive director of Arkansas CARES. Arkansas CARES (Center for Addictions Research, Education and Services) is an award-winning program at UAMS that has helped hundreds of pregnant women and mothers in recovery become responsible, caring parents. Arkansas CARES was recognized recently by the National Association of Public Hospitals with its Jim Wright Award, the association’s top Safety Net Award for Vulnerable Populations. Crone said Building Bridges will help address a huge need in the state, where it is estimated that 29 percent of mothers with children under age 18 need addiction treatment. “We know that treatment works,” she said. “Treatment outcomes at Arkansas CARES are positive in every area studied – not only for the mothers, but their children as well.” Crone said that continuing care is critical to maintaining the progress achieved during intensive treatment. “We’re thankful for the community support in making this program a reality. Without our partners, we couldn’t have done it.” Building Bridges is one of only 19 projects selected for funding by RWJF out of 320 that applied under its highly competitive Local Initiative Funding Partners matching grants program. RWJF, based in UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with five colleges, a graduate school, a medical center, five centers of excellence and a statewide network of regional centers. UAMS has about 2,170 students and 650 residents and is the state’s largest public employer with almost 9,000 employees. UAMS and its affiliates have an economic impact in UAMS centers of excellence are the Building Bridges Match Contributors Judy Adams Altrusa International Inc. of American Home Life Insurance Company Dr. Jonathan Bates Dr. Keith and Susan Berry Janive Blanchard Blue and You Foundation for a Healthier Stewart Matthews and Kristy Bondurant Drs. L.F. Church Jr. and Kathy Henderson Everett and Esther Clevidence Ginger Crews John Derickson Dr. Wilma Diner Frank Dudeck Dot East Joan Eggelston EDS Employees Sarah Facen Ellen Flowers Laura and Neal Fortner June Freeman Charles A. Frueauff Foundation Betty L. Gann Dr. Brooks and Shelley Gentry Jo and Tom Gibbons Sean Glancy Barnett Grace Natasha Graf Jane and Bill Hardin HMS of Pamela Harris Dr. Lyle and Julie Heim Diane and James Hobson Johnelle Hunt Doris Hutchins Dr. Jerry and Trudy Jacobson Teddy Jenkins Dr. Merle Allison and Linda Johnson Traci Kozak Laurie Lofton Bill Mann Sue and Jerry Maulden Jennifer McCarty Kristan McCullough Dorothy C. Morey Munro Foundation Helen Porter Lisenne and Win Rockefeller Amy Rossi and Joe Bryan Billie and Skip Rutherford Dr. Gary Schroeder Drs. Robert and Joanna Seibert St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church Grif Stockley Dr. Richard and Cornelia Sundermann Trinity United Gay White Charles Whiteside Lisa Yocum Dorothy and Paul Young Building Bridges Partner Agencies Altrusa International Inc. of Arkansas Department of Community Correction Arkansas Department of Health Maternal and Child Health Services Arkansas Department of Human Services Division of Behavioral Health Services Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education Division of Baptist Health Heaven’s Loft Black Community Developers Boys and Girls Club of North Center for City of City of Christ Episcopal Church Community Resource Group — Auto Buy Educational Institute of the American Hotel and Lodging Association Family Services Agency Girl Scouts of North Good Faith Fund International Wayne Lindsay Consultants North Little Rock Health Department Partners for Inclusive Communities Pathfinder Inc. Pulaski Recovery Centers of Sammie Gail Sanders Children’s Second Genesis River City Ministry STEP Ministries Trinity United UALR MidSouth Addictions Training Network UAMS Area Health Education Centers Department of Psychiatry Department of Pediatrics (Partners for Inclusive Communities, ECCO Headstart, Center for Effective Parenting) United Way, Labor Community Services USDA Human Nutrition Research