NIHCM Foundation Awards Over $200K in Grants to Support Health Care Journalism

Washington, DC – October 10, 2014 – NIHCM Foundation has awarded $215,000 to eight organizations through the first cycle of its new journalism grant program announced earlier this year.

Grants will provide general support for investigative health reporting, fund educational opportunities for health care reporters, and enhance public engagement campaigns around documentary films on the health of Americans.

“NIHCM’s inaugural journalism grantees are the best in class—high-integrity organizations with exceptional track records of positive impact,” said NIHCM Foundation’s President and CEO, Nancy Chockley. “We are delighted to support their continued success, and we look forward to exploring new funding opportunities as our grant program evolves.” The Foundation intends to award $1 million in journalism grants over five years.

The 2014 grants are as follows:

• USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism's Reporting on Health ($60,000) - to support the “Health Matters” webinar series, focused on helping journalists share resources and strategies for covering complex health care topics
• The Center for Investigative Reporting ($35,000) - to support the center’s public health and safety reporting, which combines data analysis, cutting-edge technology and storytelling to arm citizens with information on the health of their communities
• The Center for Public Integrity ($35,000) - to support the center’s health reporting, which includes investigations that reveal abuses of power, corruption and betrayal of public trust by powerful public and private institutions
• ProPublica ($35,000) - to support investigative reporting in the public interest, specifically the newsroom’s high-impact reporting on the U.S. health care system and the implementation of the Affordable Care Act
• The Health Coverage Fellowship ($20,000) - to support a journalist in the 2015 class of the fellowship, a program of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation that includes a nine-day conference and a year of mentoring by an experienced health care reporter
• National Association of Black Journalists Media Institute on Health ($10,000) - to support a workshop at the 2015 Media Institute on Health, a conference for journalists aimed at improving reporting on the impact of health care reform and other health issues in underserved communities
• "The Raising of America" documentary ($10,000) - to support the national public engagement campaign for this California Newsreel documentary series exploring the positive individual and societal effects of ensuring a strong, healthy start for all children
• "The Homestretch" documentary ($10,000) - to support outreach and community engagement for this Kartemquin Films & Spargel Productions documentary that explores broad social issues, including mental health, through the stories of three homeless teens

About NIHCM

The National Institute for Health Care Management (NIHCM) Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to improving the health of Americans by spurring workable and creative solutions to pressing health care problems.