Editor’s Note: The grant amount was not correctly stated in the original version of this story. We apologize for this error. The amount was confused with a separate funding source total for the expansion project.
Blue Cross-Blue Shield of Illinois has announced that a Jacksonville organization is one of 115 groups that has been awarded a portion of $4.5 million from its Blue Impact grant program.
Tonita Cheatham, Executive Director of Community Relations for Blue Cross-Blue Shield of Illinois says in a press release that the grants will help organizations improve a vast array of community health needs in all 102 counties in the state.
The grants particularly target economic opportunity and stability, nutrition, housing, transportation, outdoor recreation and space, hyperlocal health and human services needs, and creating optimal personal health outcomes for communities in need.
As a part of the grant program, Midwest Youth Services was awarded $25,000 for their expansion project.
Ann Baker, Executive Director of Midwest Youth Services, says the expansion is necessary to continue providing services to at-risk and runaway youth in the region. She says that the overnight support shelter in Jacksonville has seen increased use and now the upstairs offices need more space. Baker says when the overnight support shelter opened at their 2001 West Lafayette Avenue address, it cut the building’s office and storage space in half but it also allowed for a much needed place for at-risk youth to come and spend the night for additional support. Upstairs, Baker says, things have gotten crowded which cuts into privacy to provide one-on-one services – so the expansion of the site is also a necessity.
Baker says a clearer path on what will happen with the current building’s expansion plan here in Jacksonville is expected to be revealed to the public soon.
Recently, Midwest Youth Services expanded their service territory after being appointed the state contracted service provider for Adams, Hancock, and Pike counties. The organization opened a satellite office in Quincy last month.