Excellus Utica region seeks applicants for community health awards

UTICA, N.Y. — Nonprofit organizations in the region are eligible to apply for Excellus BlueCross BlueShield Community Health Awards to help fund health and wellness programs. Up to 50 awards with funding up to $5,000 each are available.

The application period opened Feb. 17 and closes March 17. Excellus will announce the winners in May.

“As a nonprofit health plan, our mission is to provide access to affordable health care and continually work to improve the health and health care of residents in the communities we serve,” Eve Van de Wal, Excellus BlueCross BlueShield regional president, stated in a news release. “The company’s Community Health Awards are an opportunity to help support organizations in our community that share our mission of improving access to care and advancing specific health outcomes.”

All nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations in Excellus’ Utica region can apply for an award. The funding is intended to support programs that improve individual and population health and reduce ethnic and racial disparities by impacting economic stability, education access and quality, social and community support, health-care access and quality, neighborhood and built environment, and racial, ethnic, and cultural competency.

Funding requests can also support programs that focus on community needs and impact quality gap closures in behavioral health, women’s health, chronic-condition management, preventive care, well-child visits, osteoporosis, and fall prevention.

For additional information and the online application, visit news.exellusbcbs.com/news-room/community-investments-partnerships.

Excellus’ Utica region includes Clinton, Delaware, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Madison, Montgomery, Oneida, Otsego, and St. Lawrence counties.