This is the fourth year of the Action Grant program. The Irsays created the grants as a part of Kicking The Stigma, an initiative they launched in 2020 to raise awareness about mental health disorders and to remove the stigma often associated with these illnesses.
The announcement was made in advance of this week's training camp joint practices with the Arizona Cardinals, during which players from each team will take part in a joint service project and raise awareness prior to Saturday's preseason game vs. the Cardinals at Lucas Oil Stadium.
"Raising awareness about the importance of mental health is extremely important as we battle this mental health crisis in communities across our state and country," said Kalen Jackson, Colts Vice Chair & Owner. "It's equally imperative to support the people and organizations providing direct care and services to those in need. We created our Action Grants to do just that and also to encourage others in our community to get involved."
The 2024 recipients are:
- American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Indiana Chapter. This grant will support AFSP's 'L.E.T.S. Save Lives' program which focuses on suicide prevention within Black communities, addressing unique cultural and social challenges that may affect mental health and access to support. In addition, the grant will also fund the "Talk Saves Lives" program which tailors suicide prevention strategies to the Latinx and Hispanic communities, considering linguistic, cultural and systemic factors.
- Boys and Girls Club of Morgan County (Ind.). This grant will support accessibility to mental health professionals at the facility and mental health programming.
- Brooke's Place (Indianapolis). This grant will to provide peer-to-peer school and community-based grief support to children, teens, and young adults in central Indiana who have experienced the death of a loved one.
- Cancer Support Community Indiana. Funds from this grant will support continued education opportunities for their full-time mental health professionals, an intern supervision program, and provide mental health interns the opportunity to gain experience in the industry.
- Coburn Place Safe Haven (Indianapolis). Funds from this grant will offset individual therapy costs for the Health & Wellness Program which offers culturally responsive programming to domestic abuse survivors that provides them with the tools and support they need to reach their physical, mental, emotional and relational health goals.
- Courageous Healing (Ft. Wayne/Indianapolis). Courageous Healing's mission is to restore, strengthen, and facilitate healing through culturally centered mental health services and supports. The grant will support programming that serves uninsured, underinsured, and low-income populations, with an intentional focus on targeting minority populations.
- Fight For Life Foundation (FFLF) (Indianapolis). Funds from this grant will support a collaboration between FFLF and Preventia to offer an innovative model to support teacher mental health and wellbeing at Building Dreams partner schools.
- Girl Scouts of Central Indiana. This grant will support GSCI in their effort to harness the unique power of its troop and camp networks to provide more than 4,000 Central Indiana girls with research-backed, adult-supported mental health programming in a safe and trusted environment.
- Girls Inc. of Greater Indianapolis. This grant will support the implementation of a new internship program which will be directed specifically to mental health support for girls and program participants.
- HOPE Family Care Center. Funds from this grant will support free counseling sessions to the uninsured and underinsured of Hamilton, southern Tipton, Madison and Boone counties.
- HVAF of Indiana. HVAF houses, supports and advocates for veterans and their families to achieve a better quality of life and serves veterans experiencing homelessness and those at risk of homelessness. The grant will support HVAF's therapy program, which offers intensive therapy services through a full-time licensed mental health clinician.
- IDONTMIND (National). Funds from this grant will support its "Ask A Therapist" series. Ask a Therapist is a compilation of questions about mental health submitted by the IDONTMIND audience and answered by licensed and experienced therapists.
- Irvington Counseling Collective (Indianapolis). This grant will help make mental health services available to those who seek it through providing low barrier counseling services, engaging in stigma reduction efforts, community outreach and creation and management of multiple mental health related mutual aid funds for Indiana residents.
- Mental Health America of Indiana. This grant will support the creation and implementation of the Indiana Bell Seal for Workplace Mental Health program which is a national certification program that recognizes employers committed to creating mentally healthy workplaces.
- Paws and Think (Marion/Hamilton counties). Funds from this grant will support Paws and Think's Youth-Canine program, conducted in collaboration with the Marion County Juvenile Detention Center and Fishers Youth Assistance Program, to offer youth transformative opportunities for growth and personal development.
- Postpartum Support International Indiana. This grant will help increase the number of providers in Indiana with adequate training in perinatal mental health so they can effectively serve women and families with evidence-based care.
- Project Healthy Minds (National). This grant will support the continued implementation of Project Healthy Mind's free digital mental health marketplace.
- Recovery Café Muncie. The grant will help expand Recovery Café's peer-to-peer programming, in addition to providing training and materials needed to add additional peer recovery coaches.
- Southlake Community Mental Health Center (East Chicago). The grant will be allocated strategically to support Southlake Community Mental Health Center's transportation program and ensure its continued operation.
- The Children's TherAplay Foundation (Carmel). This grant will help provide mental health support through occupational therapy interventions and enhanced by trauma-informed care training, to children with disabilities who experience, or are at risk of experiencing, mental health disorders.
- Indiana Center for Prevention of Youth Abuse and Suicide. This grant will fund youth suicide prevention programming to teach youth how to recognize signs of depression in themselves or someone else and what to do if they or a friend is struggling with thoughts of suicide.
- The Milk Bank (Indiana). This grant will support an awareness campaign aimed at providing crucial support and resources for bereaved families coping with infant loss. The campaign aims to destigmatize conversations around infant loss and encourage individuals to seek help when needed.
- Indiana University. Funds from this grant will support the implementation of the recently released Spanish Mental Health First Aid (SMHFA) program (Primeros Auxilios de Salud Mental (MHFA) de Adultos para las Comunidades Hispanohablantes) in the growing Latino communities of Indiana.
- U Bring Change to Mind (Indiana University). This grant will support a new effort to revive campus culture with and through an emphasis on mental health by implementing the "What's up with the Purple Elephant?" campaign.
Through the Action Grants and personal donations by the Irsays, more than $31 million has been committed to expand treatment and research and raise awareness in Indiana and beyond. Friends and fans can learn more or donate at KickingTheStigma.org.
