HFNJ Renews Focus on Youth Mental Health in Second Quarter 2025 Giving

Two of the grants – a $153,500 grant to Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy and a $40,650 award to Greater MetroWest Day School Initiative Mental Health Partnership – are second-year renewal grants stemming from the Foundation’s 2024 initiative to strengthen the behavioral health supports available to adolescents in the Jewish community of Greater MetroWest, NJ. Under this campaign, organizations which serve children and teens in the local Jewish community were invited to apply for support. Between the initial first-year grants and second-year renewal grants, a total of $1,073,439 has now been awarded through this special initiative over two years.

“We are proud that our initiative to strengthen behavioral health of Jewish adolescents, which stemmed from conversations with the community in 2023, continues to provide critical support at this fragile moment in our community’s history” said Michael Schmidt, Executive Director and CEO of The Healthcare Foundation of NJ. “Our grants this quarter demonstrate that when HFNJ sees an important need, it remains committed with ongoing funding and support.”

The majority of the other grants awarded in the second quarter of 2025 also address multi-faceted behavioral health needs – each dealing with different populations affected.  Community Hope will receive $101,243 to support continued mental health programming for veterans who are at risk of homelessness. A $118,699 grant to Wynona’s House targets a particularly vulnerable population – children at risk of abuse and neglect – by supporting a third year of the Prevention By Design program. A $152,500 grant to Postpartum Support International and a $150,000 grant to Center for Family Services will provide mental health care and supportive services to expectant mothers and young families to ensure that children build the foundations of lifelong physical and mental health.

To support the information ecosystem around mental health care, HFNJ is making a $100,000 grant to WNET / NJ Spotlight News to support the mental health beat, led by award-winning reporter Bobby Brier. As a nonpartisan nonprofit committed to providing accurate and timely information, NJ Spotlight News helps ensure that New Jersey’s public and policymakers will have the information they need to make wise decisions on policies governing mental health services.

The remainder of the grants given this quarter address the medical needs of residents of the greater Newark area. The largest award of the quarter is a $153,500 award to YCS to launch a robust autism evaluation and treatment program in Newark, East Orange, and Orange. Vision to Learn and Breakthrough T1D will each receive $50,000 grants to provide screenings and vision care for children attending Title I schools in Newark, Orange, Irvington, and Elizabeth, and expand a type 1 diabetes (T1D) screening and monitoring program for urban communities at the Children’s Hospital of New Jersey, respectively.

The full list of the grants awarded in the second quarter of 2025 is as follows: