The Cigna Group Foundation is partnering with nearly 30 local nonprofits in 16 states to fight childhood hunger and support youth mental health

BLOOMFIELD, Conn., Dec. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — To help school-age children and their families better access community resources and support, The Cigna Group Foundation today announced it has committed nearly $3.3 million to reduce food insecurity and support youth mental health. These new grants are part of The Cigna Group Foundation’s Healthier Kids For Our Future® initiative, which has awarded $25 million to nearly 150 nonprofits in the United States since 2019.

“It’s critical that we help students across the country thrive – academically, physically, and emotionally,” said Melissa Skottegaard, chairperson of The Cigna Group Foundation. “The extraordinary organizations are embedded within their local communities, which allows them to know firsthand how to best solve some of these tough challenges. We are energized by the innovation these groups have shown and the continued positive impact they will make.”

Some of the organizations that The Cigna Group Foundation partnered with this year are:

• Partnership for a Healthier America, which aims to transform the nation’s food landscape in pursuit of health equity and believes everyone should have access to food that is affordable, sustainable, nutritious, high quality, and culturally connected. This organization has committed to add 100 million servings of produce to under-resourced communities by 2025, and a Healthier Kids For Our Future® grant will support those efforts in Milwaukee for more than 250 families.
• Mindful Schools, which will use this grant to support its focus on deepening the skillsets of educators at 12 Title I schools across the country so these educators can create long-term sustainability and schoolwide cultures of agency and belonging. This program builds on mindfulness programs that were successfully implemented in these schools over the past two years. 
• Youth Guidance, which serves 14,000 individuals in the Chicago area. This grant expands Working on Womanhood (WOW), a school-based, evidence-backed group counseling and clinical mentoring program that serves girls and young women of color from under-resourced neighborhoods.
• Aurora Mental Health and Recovery, a Denver-based innovative program that serves middle and high school-aged youth and their families by promoting youth resilience and healthy socio-emotional development. With the support of this grant, this program will help foster healthy social-emotional development for local youth through structured skill development workshops and social development activities.

About The Cigna Group Foundation

The Cigna Group Foundation is a private foundation funded by contributions from The Cigna Group (NYSE:CI) and its subsidiaries. The Cigna Group Foundation supports organizations sharing its commitment to enhancing the health of individuals and families, and the well-being of their communities, with a special focus on those communities where employees of The Cigna Group live and work.

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SOURCE The Cigna Group