Each year, Healthcare Foundation of La Porte (HFL) offers two grant cycles to community partners and nonprofits looking to improve health and wellness in La Porte County. In the first grant cycle this year, 2022 Cycle 1, HFL awarded $3,804,550 across 55 grants. The 55 grants span HFL’s three strategic priorities—Healthy Children, Healthy Minds, and Healthy Living—as well as projects that contribute to the overall health and wellness of La Porte through the Foundation’s Healthy La Porte grants.  

The 55 grants awarded in 2022 Cycle 1 fall within HFL’s main strategic areas:  

  • Healthy Children: 17 grants, totaling $900,069
  • Healthy Living: 17 grants, totaling $2,464,741
  • Healthy Minds: 5 grants, totaling $108,000 
  • Healthy La Porte: 16 grants, totaling $331,740 

 Most of the grants awarded are for a one-year term, but HFL did award a few two-year and three-year grants.  

Grant awards for Healthy Children, HFL’s strategic priority focused on prenatal, infant, and child wellness, numbered 17 and totaled $900,069. Grants included a $75,000 award to The Salvation Army of La Porte for its Weekend Backpack Program, which serves approximately 600 children. HFL also awarded a two-year grant for $150,000 to La Porte County Habitat for Humanity for the 2022-2024 Habitat Home Build. The grant will allow for five homes to be built within the City of La Porte for low-income residents, including single parent families, seniors, veterans, and ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) households to help people become successful homeowners.  

Healthy Living, HFL’s priority area focused on improved physical health through access to healthy foods and an active lifestyle, accounted for 17 grants and the largest investment totaling $2,464,741. Highlights include a two-year grant to the City of La Porte in the amount of $960,000 for Soldiers Memorial Park improvements, comprised of an eight-foot-wide greenway from Craven Pond to Orchard Avenue, restroom facilities and the construction of a viewing deck and trails at Link Park, and paving and lighting for the existing mountain bike parking lot and trail head area, among other upgrades. Within this strategic priority area, HFL also awarded a $200,000 grant to the Town of La ​Crosse for the Grand Kankakee Marsh Trail, which will span approximately nine miles and connect La Crosse to the existing 11-mile trail that runs southeast out of North Judson. A $50,848 grant was awarded to Citizens Concerned for the Homeless to create a teaching kitchen at Grace Learning Center. The teaching kitchen will engage participants with hands-on lessons, including in-person and live-streamed cooking classes.  

 HFL awarded fiveHealthy Minds grants totaling $108,000, including a $6,000 grant to Anam Cara Stables for a Grief and Loss Group that will provide peer support sessions hosted by trauma-informed and trained facilitators and will include interactions with horses. HFL also awarded a two-year grant to Samaritan Counseling Centers supporting Healthy Minds for a Healthy Community ($50,000). HFL’s strategic priority Healthy Minds targets the importance of mental health through prevention and treatment of mental health disorders, including substance use.  

 Within Healthy La Porte, which allows HFL to respond to community health and wellness needs outside of the Foundation’s three strategic priorities, HFL awarded 16 grants totaling $331,740 to community partners. These included $24,713 to the City of La Porte for its La Porte Fire AED Program, which provides student CPR certifications, life-size realistic mannequins, and maintenance and software updates to the department’s seven AEDs, and a $25,000 Challenge Grant to Interfaith Community PADS for phase 2 of the emergency overnight shelter remodel. Phase 2 involves replacing the windows and front doors of the building. As a Challenge Grant, Interfaith Community PADS needs to raise $25,000 from the community to receive the HFL grant.  

 To view the full list of 2022 Cycle 1 Grants awarded, visit https://www.hflaporte.org/post/2022-grant-cycle-1-grants-awarded.  

 “Congratulations to all grantees,” states Maria Fruth, HFL President & CEO. “Effecting positive change truly takes a village, and HFL’s partners are invaluable to the mission of empowering La Porte County residents to live healthy and well. Since 2017, HFL has invested over $34 million in the La Porte County community by giving to our dedicated partners. We applaud our partners for all the hard work they put forth toward helping us achieve our mission, and we continue to be proud of what they do for our community.”  

HFL’s Grant Cycle 2 closed July 15, 2022, and applicants will be notified of decisions no later than the end of October.  

 Local organizations with innovative ideas to improve health and wellness in La Porte County should submit applications for the 2023 grant cycles when they open next year in January. To learn more about HFL’s grantmaking, including eligibility, guidelines, and FAQs, please visit the Foundation’s website at hflaporte.org/grant-opportunities.