The Healthier Kids For Our Future program offers personalized and tailored solutions that address childhood challenges, through local partnerships and volunteer opportunities to support program initiatives in communities.
Healthier Kids for Our Future - Mental Health Grants
In 2019, Cigna launched Healthier Kids For Our Future, a five-year, $25 million initiative to improve the health and well-being of children around the world—with an initial focus on food insecurity—in recognition that regular access to nutritious and sufficient food is the starting point for a healthier, more productive life. In 2020, we are expanding the initiative to include good health and well-being with a focus on mental health.
The Foundation's goal is to supplement existing mental health programming, and help close gaps both within and outside the school environment to address loneliness, anxiety, depression, and suicide prevention. They will fund programs that foster collaboration between stakeholders including school administrators and teachers, clinicians, and local and national nonprofits to address mental health and emotional well-being challenges for children.
Partners are encouraged to leverage one or more of the following evidence-based programs:
- Trauma Informed Practices (TIPS)
- Social Emotional Learning (SEL)
- Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS)
Healthier Kids for Our Futures - Food Insecurity Grant
One of the focuses of the Healthier Kids for The Future initiative is to address childhood hunger and improve nutrition. Research has shown that food insecurity can significantly affect a child's short and long-term health, and may lead to poorer health outcomes later in life.
The Foundation wants to work with organizations that are on the ground, in the communities, working to address food security throughout the world. They have learned that schools—at least in the U.S. and in many countries—are a focal point for addressing this issue and in most cases, already have programs supporting at-risk populations. With that in mind, they want to fill the gaps that exist in and outside the school environment.
The Foundation is looking for programs that attempt to address these, and other gaps, in delivering food and nutritional education to children. The Cigna Foundation is looking for programs that bracket or augment in-school efforts in the following areas:
- Community-based programs that support children and families' access to healthy meals and nutritional education outside the school setting, on weekends and during the summer
- Food and nutritional programs that provide support for expecting mothers and caregivers
- Support for programs that address the needs of pre-school children
- Health provider/clinician efforts that provide nutritional education to patients and/or food as prescription programming
- School-based programs that enhance or augment state and/or federal assistance efforts
No history of funding is available.
In 2019, the foundation teamed up with schools and community groups to reduce food insecurity–connecting our partners with the resources they need to solve this worldwide challenge.
In 2020, the foundation will added programming to address the mental health and emotional well-being of children, with emphasis on loneliness, anxiety, depression, and suicide.