VPIRG & Partners Receive $150,000 to Implement Catamount

The Vermont Campaign for Citizens Health Education Fund and VPIREF (The 501 c3 arm of VPIRG) announced this morning that they were awarded two grants. The first, $100,000 from The Public Welfare Foundation enables the Campaign to hire and train canvassers who will go to villages and towns across the state in order to educate and inform people on how to enroll in Catamount Health and other state programs. The second, $50,000 awarded to VPIREF from The Nathan Cummings Foundation is to further work on implementation and outreach efforts for Catamount while looking towards a future of expansion. $10,000 of this award has been given to the Vermont Campaign for Citizens Health Education Fund in order to assist with the hiring and training of canvassers.

These two grants open the door for VCHCSEF and VPIREF to expand their work on ensuring a healthy and affordable future for all Vermonters. Paul Burns, our executive director here at VPIREF stated, “This grant offers critical support that will allow us to watchdog the implementation of this new program and work to expand its benefits to more Vermonters in need.”

The VCHCSEF Team was joined this morning at a press conference announcing these to grants by Susan Besio, Director of Health Care Reform and Implementation for the state, and Representative Steve Maier of Middlebury chair of the House Health & Welfare Committee and Co-Chair of the Commission on Health Care Reform. Both were very generous in their praise for the work the Campaign has been doing and stated their high hopes for continued partnership, commitment, and success.

For ya'lls info: The Nathan Cummings Foundation is a nationally recognized philanthropic organization devoted to social justice issues. The Public Welfare Foundation “pursues a strategy of "service, advocacy, and empowerment" for meeting basic human needs and promoting democratic participation for people around the globe.”

--Sean Sarah, Field Associate