Grants strengthen local agencies for both day-to-day and emergency response services
11/16/2017 – November 16, 2017, St. Helena, CA —The Napa Valley Vintners (NVV) announced today it has granted another $6.2 million to 18 community nonprofit health partners. Each year, funding from the NVV touches the lives of more than 100,000 clients of Napa County nonprofits in the areas of community health and children’s education.
The organizations receiving grants in this most recent round of funding provide an array of services throughout the year in the areas of physical and mental health, family support and assistance for seniors. Some examples of how NVV funding has helped create a healthy community include:
- One in five Napa County residents use OLE Health as their primary care provider. OLE Health is the largest recipient of NVV funding and Napa County’s only nonprofit health clinic.
- Every child in Napa County has access to health insurance through the Community Health Initiative of which NVV is the largest local private funder.
The scope of health services and the strength of nonprofits funded in the community health sector also formed a critical foundation of support during, and in the recovery stages, of the area’s recent wildfires.
“We are forever grateful to our nonprofit partners who helped our community during October’s fires,” said Linda Reiff, president and CEO of the NVV. “These agencies provided medical care and basic neccessities such as food and clothing for families, safe places for children during school closures, trauma counseling and assistance for senior citizens, among other emergency services. The NVV’s consistent and strategic approach to funding helps create a framework of stability and resiliency that supports our community in ordinary times and extraordinary times, such as those we just experienced.”
In addition to investing annually in a core group of local nonprofits, following the 2014 South Napa earthquake NVV provided the lead grant of $10 million to establish the Napa Valley Community Disaster Relief Fund, which is managed by the Napa Valley Community Foundation (NVCF). The Community Foundation reactivated the Fund immediately after the start of the recent wildfires.
After the South Napa earthquake, the NVCF, utilizing NVV funding, brought together a number of community service organizations to improve coordination and communication among nonprofits — and between local government agencies, the charitable sector, faith communities and the private sector — for the next disaster. This group is called Community Organizations Active in Disaster (COAD) and several of the nonprofit partners funded in the NVV’s latest grant cycle, like OLE Health, Up Valley Family Centers, Cope Family Center and Aldea Children & Family Services, form an essential part of this network. COAD had a representative in the Emergency Operations Center every day during the fires.
“The silver lining of the earthquake and several decades of support from the NVV is a community health sector that was better prepared to be of service during the Napa Fire Complex,” said NVCF President Terence Mulligan. “As a result, more people are getting the help they need on account of better coordination.”
Examples of this coordination during the wildfires include:
- OLE Health providers, including physicians, nurses, medical assistants and pharmacists, were dispatched to evacuation centers serving as first responders by providing medical services and transportation to clinical and pharmaceutical services.
- Cope Family Center’s trauma-informed staff launched and managed the children’s play area at the Napa Valley College evacuation center, making sure children had a comfortable and safe space for interactive playtime, reading, fun and laughter despite the instability and uncertainty around them.
- The trained staff of Aldea Children & Family Services spent hundreds of hours providing mental health services at evacuation centers and the Local Assistance Center.
- Up Valley Family Centers has been providing bilingual case management and emergency financial assistance for those facing financial hardship due to the wildfires, while also connecting families and seniors to local, state and federal disaster relief.
NVV raises funds for community health and children’s education nonprofits at its annual wine charity event, Auction Napa Valley.
View the list of community health agencies that received the $6.2 million in this grant cycle. NVV will announce recent giving to children’s education nonprofits in December.
Learn more about the NVV’s nonprofit partners and strategic initiatives.
About the Napa Valley Vintners – The Napa Valley Vintners nonprofit trade association has been cultivating excellence since 1944 by inspiring its more than 530 members to consistently produce wines of the highest quality, to provide environmental leadership and to care for the extraordinary place they call home. Learn more at napavintners.com.
About Auction Napa Valley – Since 1981, Auction Napa Valley, the Napa Valley Vintners’ (NVV) annual community fundraiser, has utilized the worldwide reputation of Napa Valley wines and the scenic beauty of the region to enhance the health and wellbeing of the Napa County community. To date, the NVV has invested $170 million from Auction Napa Valley proceeds in local nonprofit organizations. auctionnapavalley.org.
