San Antonio nonprofit Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc. said on June 7 it is investing $129.9 million this year to advance health equity across South Texas through direct services, development of community partnerships and advocacy.
According to a news release, MHMST’s funding for 2022 represents an increase of 14.2% from 2021 as the nonprofit strives to help uninsured people across its 74-county service area.
Officials with Methodist Healthcare Ministries said they seek to address systemic inequities and socioeconomic barriers by supporting direct patient-care services, strategic operations and advocacy work in their service area.
The $129.9 million figure includes $30.6 million in community grants to more than 90 partners to help them extend their mission to nurture resilient families statewide.
Grants address one of the following giving areas: access to health care, mental and behavioral health; programs to adopt social determinants of health screening tools; food security/systems; digital inclusion; and cross-sector collaborations to strengthen health equity, MHMST officials said.
“For over 25 years, Methodist Healthcare Ministries has been blessed to have the resources we need to make this type of impactful investment in the communities we serve as we endeavor to fulfill our mission of ‘Serving Humanity to Honor God,'” MSMST President and CEO Jaime Wesolowski said.
The news release said as a private, faith-based, not-for-profit organization, Methodist Healthcare Ministries puts the earnings it receives as 50-50 co-owner of the Methodist Healthcare System to fund community-led efforts and promote public policy changes that advance a “level playing field for healthy living—now and for generations to come.”
According to the release, San Antonio-based Family Service is one of Methodist Healthcare Ministries’s longtime partners and is again benefitting from MHMST’s investments this year.
Receiving more than $850,000 from MHMST this year, Family Service administers several programs, such as Por Las Familias Rurales (For the Rural Families), a program that addresses suffering among children at risk of child abuse and neglect. The program also aims to improve mental health outcomes by working with families in rural areas to build parenting and coping skills.
Another Family Service initiative, the Early Childhood Wellbeing Program, provides mental health services to children. Additionally, Family Service oversees the Edgewood Connected Beyond Classroom Initiative, which will work with MHMST, Texas A&M University-San Antonio and Edgewood ISD to co-create the Digital Inclusion Scholars Program to help close the digital divide on San Antonio’s Southwest Side.
“Family Service helps individuals and families overcome the multifaceted challenges in their lives that affect their long-term health, quality of life and life potential,” Family Service President and CEO Mary Garr said in a statement.
In addition to the annual grants to partners, Methodist Healthcare Ministries said it has allocated nearly $14 million toward strategic initiatives that amplify its overall goals designed to disrupt the cycle of intergenerational poverty.
