INDIANAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Anthem Foundation announced today an additional commitment of $23 million in new grants this year aimed at their continued efforts to improve the health and wellness of communities across the country. The latest funding brings the Foundation’s current community investments to $53 million at work addressing some of the nation’s most pressing and preventable health issues through innovative programs with proven results.
“Working to improve the health of our communities and our consumers remains the focus of what we do every day at the Anthem Foundation, and today we are reaffirming our promise to deliver innovative solutions that are addressing some of the most pressing issues facing our communities,” said Gail K. Boudreaux, President and CEO of Anthem. “From reducing preterm birth rates to doubling cardiac arrest survival rates and expanding access to healthy food, we’re partnering with some of the most impactful nonprofits to improve, and in some cases, save lives.”
Anthem Foundation grants are supporting intergenerational work that will improve the health and lives of millions of individuals and families in communities across the country. From Richmond Virginia-based Fit4Kids, a local nonprofit that will expand its learning garden program bringing fruit and vegetable access to children in public schools and the work by Florida’s Camillus House to guide the homeless population suffering from mental health and substance toward lives of stability and self-sufficiency, to the National Council on Aging, an organization offering healthy aging programs to 8,000 older adults in underserved communities, these partnerships are removing barriers and addressing social issues that impact individuals’ abilities to lead their healthiest lives.
By using public health data and innovative social mapping technology, the Anthem Foundation is able to drill down to the zip code level to identify opportunities where funding can be directed most efficiently with the greatest impact. Through a competitive grant review process, the Foundation then selects the nonprofit partners and proven experts that are best equipped to address issues to support its Healthy Generations initiative to target issues such as maternal practices, heart health, diabetes management, cancer prevention, food insecurity, childhood obesity and mental health.
The result of these partnerships speak for themselves. Together the Anthem Foundation and the American Heart Association have trained over 10 million individuals and are on track to reach their goal of doubling both the cardiac survival arrest rate and the bystander CPR rate. The Foundation’s partnership with the American Lung Association is helping at least 4,500 residents successfully complete a free smoking cessation program while reducing second hand smoke exposure for an estimated 50,000 additional residents. Through a collaboration with Boys & Girls Clubs of America the organizations have engaged 16 million youth in healthy active lifestyles across the country.
To see highlights from some of the Foundation’s latest grant recipients and their programs and initiatives please visit the Anthem Foundation blog at: www.medium.com/anthemfoundation.
Beyond the Foundation’s financial commitments, Anthem Inc. associates support these causes and volunteer their time and talent to partner with nonprofits through the company’s matching gifts program – which now matches $1 for $1 - and volunteer programs which incent employees with $10 per volunteer hour to their charity of choice. Already this year, employees have logged nearly 50,000 hours and raised $3.8 million.
To learn more about the Anthem Foundation’s Healthy Generations Initiative, visit Anthem’s Corporate Responsibility Report: www.anthemcorporateresponsibility.com and follow @AnthemFDN on Facebook and Twitter.
About The Anthem Foundation
The Anthem Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Anthem, Inc. and, through charitable contributions and programs, the Foundation promotes the inherent commitment of Anthem, Inc. to enhance the health and well-being of individuals and families in communities that Anthem, Inc. and its affiliated health plans serve. The Foundation focuses its funding on strategic initiatives that address and provide innovative solutions to health care challenges, as well as promoting the Healthy Generations Program, a multi-generational initiative that targets specific disease states and medical conditions. These disease states and medical conditions include: prenatal care in the first trimester, low birth weight babies, cardiac morbidity rates, long term activities that decrease obesity and increase physical activity, diabetes prevalence in adult populations, adult pneumococcal and influenza vaccinations, and smoking cessation. The Foundation also coordinates the company’s year-round Associate Giving program that provides a 50 percent match of associates’ pledges, as well as its Volunteer Time Off and Dollars for Doers community service programs. To learn more about the Anthem Foundation, please visit http://www.anthem.foundation and its blog at http://anthemfoundation.tumblr.com.