Jenny’s Light Gives $32,500 in Grants in 2011!

These are the ones we have chosen to fund…

Mental Health of Georgia   –   $7500
This grant helped support Project Healthy Moms. The goal of this project was to increase awareness, identification, support, and treatment of perinatal mood disorders in the burgeoning population of Latina mothers in Georgia., while also reducing the stigma associated with them. We were happy to see that the target population was a high risk one.

Postpartum Resource Center New York –   $5000
This grant funded a Perinatal Mood disorders Two Day Training Session. 8 Nurse Practitioners, and 8 Medical Social Workers from the 8 County Health Centers in Suffolk County NY. The target group was the population of low socio-economic status with a high  non-English speaking population.

Tucson Postpartum Depression Coalition –   $5000
This grant funded the launch of the first phase in developing a Perinatal Wellness Center. Phase one included a formative assessment of the needs of mothers, families , and health care professionals. The grant money was also used to train a team of volunteers to expand maternal mental health education and awareness in hospitals, and community settings.

Jewish Family and Children’s Services Massachusetts –   $5000
This grant was used to train personnel and distribute support materials for mother in the greater Boston area. The target group was Jewish mothers who suffered from poverty, isolation from loved ones, or a history of depression. Almost 50 communities in Massachusetts were impacted by this grant.

University of South Florida –   $5000
This grant helped fund some much needed research into the endocrinology of PPD’s. Using lab rats, researchers went about trying to identify the changes in hormone levels, pre and post pregnancy, to see if there were consistent similarities in the rats suffering from PPD’s. The hope is that their findings will lead to testing that will help identify those mothers at the greatest risk.

Mother-Wise (California)   –   $5000
The grant funded training session for health professionals, companions, and volunteers. The professional were trained annually, the volunteers quarterly, and the companions met monthly.  The grant covered expenses  for professional presenters, staff hours, printing costs, and incidentals.