Dignity Health Awards Nearly $500,000 in Community Grants to Support North State Non-Profits

REDDING, Calif. (April 24, 2025) - Dignity Health announced today it has awarded $499,000 in grants to nonprofit organizations across the North State Market. These grants, awarded through the CommonSpirit Health Community Health Improvement Grants program, is one of the ways our hospitals are dedicated to

partnering with others to make a positive impact on the health and well-being of vulnerable and underserved populations. 

"We believe that real change happens when we work together to support the unique needs of our communities," said Rodger Page, Dignity Health North State Market President. "These grants are an investment in the North State, helping local organizations expand their reach and provide essential services like healthcare access, behavioral health support, food security, and housing assistance. By partnering with nonprofits that know and serve our communities firsthand, we can make a lasting impact on the health and well-being of our neighbors." 

The grant program helps to improve community health and health equity, and enhance local service systems, via restricted charitable contributions for defined projects. Collaborating 501(c)3 non-profit organizations applied to receive grant funds to address significant issues identified in the hospitals’ community health needs assessments. Efforts can include improving access to healthcare services,

access to behavioral health and substance use services, homelessness, food insecurity, safe and violence-free environment, basic needs such as housing, jobs and food, and more. 

The North State hospitals awarded funding to the following organizations to support program activities between March 2025 and February 2026: 

Mercy Medical Center Mt. Shasta

• Great Northern Services: $10,000 
  • Program: South Siskiyou School Mini Pantries and Snack Bags - this program will help address social determinants of health that occur in public schools, and provide exposure to healthy snacking through school mini food pantries and holiday snack programs for seven schools in South Siskiyou County. Supplemental nutrition during school and during the extended winter break will help address some of the social determinants of health, such as food insecurity and poor nutrition, and can help prevent disease later in life through instilling healthy eating habits and providing regular access to food. It is anticipated that students will experience improved health outcomes and, in some cases, may make better food choices later in life due to access to healthy snacks at school. An anticipated outcome of this program is that due to its success, we are planning to expand Child Nutrition Services to nine additional underserved schools in North Siskiyou County over the next 5 years.
• Siskiyou Community Resource Collaborative: $11,000
  • Program: Siskiyou Community Resource Collaborative - the project is designed to increase access to mental/behavioral health and substance-use services, particularly among underserved populations, including low-income families, and rural communities, by providing case management, partnering to conduct community outreach, and provide transportation and/or private spaces at the resource centers for appointments. It will provide three community outreach events to raise awareness about available mental health and substance-use services, reaching at least 500 individuals, and implementing a transportation/appointment assistance program for clients facing difficulties in attending appointments, ensuring that at least 50 clients benefit from this support. Case managers will assess clients for needs, and connect them to services, including transportation, individual and group counseling sessions and increase service capacity.
• Siskiyou Domestic Violence & Crisis Center: $15,000
  • Program: Siskiyou Domestic Violence & Crisis Center - this program will provide shelter staffing for our domestic violence emergency shelter, and to provide motel rooms for clients. Fiscal year 2022/2023 we housed 120 new domestic violence victims and provided 1,409 bed nights. Funding for staff would ensure 24-7 staffing, helping us provide comprehensive services to all of our clients and the ability to respond to emergency shelter requests at all hours. Motel funds would allow safety for clients that for a variety of reasons don't fit shelter criteria such as contagious illnesses and/or pets that are not service animals. 

Mercy Medical Center Redding

• FaithWorks Community Coalition Inc.: $77,820
  • Program: Prevention & Navigation Support for High-Risk Families - this pilot project will increase access to critical resources that will address various significant health needs and social determinants of health for families with high-risk vulnerabilities who are either homeless or at risk of homelessness. A case manager will triage households, provide emergency assistance, and strategically connect them to a variety of interventions to not only meet basic needs but hopefully mitigate the vulnerabilities leading to risk. With an emphasis on prevention (youth) and tools specific to those who have experienced trauma and homelessness we hope to reduce current stressors while preventing further adversities. We anticipate providing services on a spectrum (light touch through long term) for at least 250 people. Through targeted prevention and systems navigation, this program aims to increase awareness, connection to and utilization of existing community resources, parental confidence and resilience, knowledge of parenting skills and child development, life skills and mental health support to increase positive mental health days all while simultaneously reducing and preventing homelessness.
• Girls Inc. of the Northern Sacramento Valley: $26,856 
  • Program: Girls Inc. of the Northern Sacramento Valley - Girls Inc. of the Northern Sacramento Valley (GINSV) will deliver evidence-based programs in violence prevention, leadership, and healthy behaviors—including mental health, stress management, and nutrition—to 90 at-risk teenage girls in Shasta County. These programs aim to positively influence behaviors and attitudes related to violence, self-harm, delinquency, and promote healthy behaviors, obesity and diabetes prevention, and stronger relational-cultural connections. By addressing social determinants of health, GINSV’s programs contribute to improved health outcomes for these girls.
• Northern California Center for Family Awareness: $30,000
  • Program: Kids’ Turn Whole-Family Workshops - The project will address the need for whole-family divorce education by providing the evidence-based education “Kids’ Turn” in three six-week, nine- hour psychoeducational workshops. Partnering with Shasta Court and Parsons School, this project will serve at least 155 family members. Families are instructed to keep children out of the middle of conflict. Parents receive information on adverse childhood experiences (ACE’s) and the developmental needs of children and their relation to the divorce process. They work on communication, parenting techniques and conflict resolution skills. Children work on identifying, understanding and communicating feelings of anger, frustration, fear, loss and guilt. All have the opportunity to discuss familial changes, concepts of divorce and learn problem solving methods for dealing with high conflict situations. Judges visit children’s groups at each workshop to familiarize children with the process and the protection offered to them. (Kids’ favorite part of each session!) For most children, Kids’ Turn is the first opportunity they have to freely discuss their family situation and to begin the realization that they are not alone. 
• Shasta Family YMCA: $50,464
  • Program: Y Club - Supporting Youth Development & Wellness - Y Club supports the academic, physical, and social-emotional development of Shasta Co. 6th-12th graders. We provide a safe, fun, supportive environment for 150+ youth per day after school; more than 2900 youth members of Shasta Y may access Y Club. Teens receive homework help from college students, peer and staff support, participate in enrichment activities, relax and connect with peers, and are full members of the Y with access to exercise facilities, sports courts, and swimming. They receive a healthy USDA-approved “Power Plate” meal. Teens may be referred for mental health, substance abuse, or other services through Hill Country Clinic. Financial assistance for Y membership is provided so that no-one is turned away due to financial circumstances. Many Shasta Co. youth face significant barriers, and research has shown that there are many academic and behavioral benefits to after school programs. By helping Shasta County youth build connections in a safe and violence-free environment, and offering referrals via community partners for mental health and substance abuse services as needed, Shasta Y aims to help youth develop foundations for physical and social-emotional health. 
• United Way of Northern California: $51,360
  • Program: Shasta Micro-Shelter Collaborative - This project addresses Mercy Medical Center’s CNHA-identified priorities of system navigation, housing and basic needs, substance-use services, safe and violence-free environments, and community connections. We facilitate coordination among local experts in the field to ensure access to information and resources for Shasta’s most vulnerable unhoused community members and facilitate transition to safe and healthy futures. All Shasta residents have access to Shasta 211’s 24/7 helpline, where we screen callers for potential challenges, including substance use disorders (SUD), unmet basic needs, and trafficking. Two micro-shelter communities (MSC) managed by UWNC and St. James provide stable shelter for up to 13 residents at a time, addressing three pillars: health, income, and finally long term housing. As residents move to transitional or permanent housing, the program offers additional support in securing items needed for basic household activities. The project will provide navigation for 100 Shasta residents and housing for 26 individuals, while coordinating cross-sector community connections in collaboration with social service agencies, as well as businesses and public resources.
• Youth Violence Prevention Council of Shasta County dba Youth Options Shasta: $55,000 
  • Program: Youth Violence Prevention Council of Shasta County dba Youth Options Shasta - This project will address the needs of the youth population who are at-risk of or experiencing harmful substance use and violence in Shasta County. Youth Options Shasta will provide evidence-based/promising practices education and training programs, including the Safety-First program to address substance use, Aggression Replacement Training to address anger and violence, Youth Peer Court to resolve offences that have been charged, and Parent Conversations to help parents provide support. The organization and programs are based on the theory of "restorative practices" to model the behavior we want from youth and their parents. This program will provide screening and programs to at least 75 youth and 50 parents. Pre- and post- tests will measure changes in knowledge and behavior and will help youth develop tools that will reduce risky behaviors. We include a program for parents to assure that they are aware of what their children are learning and can help them in that learning. 

Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital - Grass Valley

• Bright Futures for Youth: $95,000
  • Program: Home Away from Home Meals - the project will connect youth with positive social determinants of health in a community partnership to mitigate factors that contribute to poor health outcomes while improving access to basic needs such as food, housing, and physical and mental health supports. The purpose is to use the power of food, healthy meals and nutrition education, and allow groups of youth to prepare and cook their own meals in a supervised, educational, and family-like setting. It will create a positive social, physical, and economic environment for a minimum of 75 vulnerable youth, ages 11-25, at-risk of or experiencing housing and food insecurity in Nevada County. The project supports youth feeling safe in their community, which is fundamental to overall health. It will increase access to physical and emotional health networks for adolescents and young adults in The Friendship Club (TFC) and the NEO Youth Center. TFC will connect with program participants on a regular basis to ensure that they have access to appropriate health services as needed. In addition, we will utilize our Peer Program Youth Leadership and staff to provide communication and connections to our youth on a confidential basis.

St. Elizabeth Community Hospital - Red Bluff 

• Family Service Agency dba Family Counseling Center: $30,000
  • Program: Group and Individual Mental Health Support for Uninsured - With the requested funds FCC will focus on two populations; teenagers 14-17 yrs old and elders 65+ yrs old. We first will seek to provide 100 fully funded sessions to those within these two populations. For the 65+ community, Medicare does not offer coverage for mental health. More than half of our clients at this time live at or below the poverty level. This support will help Tehama County residents struggling with depression, anxiety, grief/loss, PTSD, etc. Beyond this we will be offering group therapy focusing on the two above populations; teens 14-17 yrs old and elderly adults 65+. Most insurances do not cover the cost of group therapy. Three, six week groups for both teens and the over 65+ population will be offered at no cost to clients. These groups will be projected at reaching a total of 100+ people. The focus of these groups will be to offer education on mental health, coping skills, building healthy support systems through the modeling of having a healthy group dynamic, creating healthy friendships, and much more. To measure an increase in overall mental well-being, anonymous surveying will be done at the beginning of each session/group meeting and at the end.
• United Way of Northern California: $47,500 
  • Program: Connected Tehama: Community Centered 211 Outreach - this project addresses priorities of mental/behavioral health and substance-use (MH/SU) services, basic needs, and community connections. Connected Tehama reduces barriers to these priorities through United Way of Northern California (UWNC) programs, including 211 Tehama and outreach. Stigma about addiction, mental illness, and poverty is a key barrier to treatment in rural communities - for service providers, family members, and individuals experiencing MH/SU chronic illness. Building on a recent UWNC project, newly developed materials to address stigma will be distributed at outreach events, through the 211 Tehama website, and on social media. Additionally, we will provide education about harm reduction and available services. Available to all residents, the 24-hour helpline screens callers for concerns, including MH/SU and unmet basic needs, and connects them with vital resources and services.

You can learn more about the Community Health Improvement Grants, here. 

About Dignity Health 
Dignity Health is a multi-state nonprofit network of 10,000 physicians, more than 60,000 employees, 41 acute care hospitals, and 400-plus care-centers, including community hospitals, urgent care, surgery and imaging centers, home health, and primary care clinics in Arizona, California, and Nevada. Dignity Health is dedicated to providing compassionate, high-quality, and affordable patient-centered care with special attention to the poor and underserved. Dignity Health is a part of CommonSpirit Health, a nonprofit health system committed to advancing health for all people and dedicated to serving the common good. For more information, please visit our website at www.DignityHealth.org.