Basic Needs
Human thriving can occur after basic needs for food, shelter, and safety are secured. We try to find niche areas of support in this extremely large arena of need, with a focus on
increasing capacity of key organizations that meet these needs.
The following is a representation of recent grants in the area of Basic Needs in which The Mayerson Family Foundations are involved.
Children's Hospital Medical Center/The Mayerson Center for Safe & Healthy Children
This
Center opened in 2001 at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
The Center brings together under “one roof” a variety of activities
centered on the issue of child abuse and neglect. The Center integrates
the various legal, medical, law enforcement, and child welfare agencies
that converge upon a child when neglect or maltreatment is suspected or
is a reality. This integration spares children the trying experience of
being interviewed multiple times by multiple strangers representing the
various systems. It also improves the integrity of evidence brought to
court for prosecution. Additionally, the Center focuses on generating
important research of the treatment and prevention of abuse and on
providing training on such matters.
This year, the Foundation
provided support to replace and upgrade the technology needed to record
forensic interviews which are used to aid in prosecution, training and
research studies and to provide training and supervision to interns,
physicians, social workers, and law enforcement.
Freestore Foodbank
The
Freestore Foodbank (FS/FB) began operating in 1971 and has grown into
Ohio’s third largest foodbank and the region’s primary provider of
food, personal products and services to help people move toward
self-reliance. Each year, it distributes 10 million pounds of product
to 160,000 people through its 450 member agencies located throughout a
20 county area.
In 1991 The Manuel D. and Rhoda Mayerson Food Distribution Center was
established to enable the expansion of food distribution through out
the region. Since that time The Manuel D. and Rhoda Mayerson
Foundation has supported on-going building maintenance needs of the
Food Distribution Center and technology upgrades. Most recently The
Manuel D. and Rhoda Mayerson Foundation participated in the
Freestore Foodbank's capital campaign by providing support for a
training center to aid food pantries across the region in learning
important skills and techniques unique to food preparation and
distribution.The Injury Free Coalition for Kids at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
Injury
is the number one cause of death and hospitalization of young people
throughout the United States and causes more deaths for children over a
year old than all diseases combined. The Injury Free Coalition for Kids® (IFCK)
at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center is a
hospital-community partnership dedicated to preventing childhood
injuries using a community-based approach. IFCK-Cincinnati’s (IFCK-C)
mission is accomplished by utilizing the national IFCK model to affect
structural and social changes within high-risk Cincinnati communities
by 1) creating safe play environments for children; 2) providing safe,
supervised activities that keep children off the streets; and 3)
providing injury prevention education and materials to children,
parents and communities.
The
Manuel D. and Rhoda Mayerson Foundation provided funding to support the
expansion of the work of the IFCK - Cincinnati to the Price Hill
neighborhood.
Legal Aid Society of Greater Cincinnati: Cincinnati Child Health-Law Partnership
The
Legal Aid Society of Greater Cincinnati, founded in 1908, is a
nonprofit law firm dedicated to reducing poverty and ensuring family
stability through legal assistance. In 2008, Legal Aid established a
medical-legal partnership with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital designed
to improve the health and welfare of low-income children and their
families through proactive legal assistance provided in a health care
setting. The partnership provides patients and their families with
on-site legal assistance for problems that have been identified as
barriers to improved health. In addition to legal services, the
partnership also provide training to clinical staff, residents, nurses
and social workers. The Manuel D. and Rhoda Mayerson Foundation
provided funding to help support the implementation of this program
based on best practices.
The Max Paul Global Integrative Pediatric Brain Tumor Program at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
The
Max Paul Program, initiated in 2007, aims to change the treatment
paradigm for inpatient, outpatient, and school reintegration for brain
tumor patients from a compartmentalized approach to an integrative team
approach dedicated to treating the whole child, and returning the child
to his or her natural environment (home and school), where he or she
can be included as fully as possible in everyday life. It also hopes to
help families and school personnel cope with the trauma of diagnosis of
brain tumor by identifying strategies that will guide the family
through the process of rehabilitation and reintegration, including
working with family and extended family to establish routines for
patient care and ongoing family responsibilities; mentoring families,
teachers, and classmates in dealing from a position of strength and
compassion with issues of compliance, behavior, and relationships.
The Max Paul Program
will be the only program in the tri-state region and among the few in
the country and around the world to implement such a complex global,
integrative approach to the treatment of children with brain tumors.
The Manuel D. and Rhoda Mayerson Foundation provided funding to support
the start-up of this innovative program.