Grants Awarded to Charities in Greenwood and Winona
Access to health isn’t always easy, and often, those in the Delta have more hurdles to jump in finding good medical care, safe neighborhoods, and well-funded schools. Recently, the Mississippi State Department of Health awarded funds to groups across the state that serve these communities, and some of these groups hail from the Delta region.
The goal of the MSDH’s Office of Preventative Health and Health Equity had a goal of awarding nearly $2 million in grants to organizations that “were chosen based on their ability to address the many barriers to strong health outcomes, including language and literacy skills, faced by historically excluded populations in the community.”
Among the grant recipients were the Fannie Lou Hamer Breast Cancer Foundation located in Greenwood, and Central Mississippi, Inc., of Winona.
Founded in 2004, the nonprofit Fannie Lou Hamer Breast Cancer Foundation has “provided more than 10,000 underserved women with free mammograms and pap tests” and has “also provided free prostate cancer screenings to more than 1,200 men.”
The nonprofit Central Mississippi, Inc. was created in 1965, and is “geared towards promoting good health, nutrition, accessible transportation, care and companionship, and a deeper awareness of what our society is facing today.” From senior companions and food drives to community services block grants that address job training, healthcare assistance and housing assistance, this group is involved in many aspects of aiding Winona-area families.
“What we are seeing is that the burden of disease and illness is on racial and ethnic minority populations and the rural and urban poor, and these communities need help,” said Victor Sutton, Mississippi State Department of Health’s (MSDH) Chief of Community Health and Clinical Services, via press release.
“A major goal of all the funded projects is to ensure that every resident in the state gets the help and support they deserve,” Sutton added.
Tara Rhodes Whitman is a freelance writer who loves learning and helping parents to become better at what they do.
