The Wellmark Foundation Funds Three Mini-Grants in South Dakota

June 20, 2007

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Contact:
Angela Feig
515.245.4551
feigab@wellmark.com

(Des Moines, Iowa) –The Wellmark Foundation funded three mini-grant requests totaling $28,665 to improve the health status of South Dakotans. Organizations receiving awards in the funding priority areas of depression, diabetes and health literacy were:

• The Indigenous Diabetes Education Alliance (IDEA) in Rapid City, SD, received $8,850 in grant funds to implement a diabetes education prevention program. The IDEA will conduct a series of monthly after-school seminars to educate Native American youth on the importance of nutrition, exercise and making healthy lifestyle choices. The seminars will be presented in formats that are culturally sensitive to Native American customs and traditions.
• The Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation was awarded a $9,920 grant to continue a diabetes and health literacy initiative underway in Sioux Falls, SD. These next phases will provide parents/guardians, grandparents and child care providers with information to encourage healthy feeding of young children in South Dakota.
• The University of South Dakota will use a $9,895 grant to conduct a health literacy assessment among rural and underserved populations in South Dakota. Results will be presented to the South Dakota Academy of Family Physicians to provide context for further discussion and refinement of health literacy assessment efforts, with the ultimate goal of improving health literacy among these South Dakota populations.

The Wellmark Foundation has provided more than $12.16 million to fund 363 health-related grants in Iowa and South Dakota since 1997, including a total of $1,243,864 to date in 2007.

The Wellmark Foundation is a private, non-profit foundation created by Wellmark, Inc., doing business as Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Iowa. Visit The Wellmark Foundation's Web site at www.wellmark.com/foundation for a list of grant recipients and grant application instructions. Capacity-building grants are due September 12, 2007. Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield and The Wellmark Foundation are independent licensees of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.