The Power of 2016 ANNUAL REPORT Serving Greater Waterbury and the Litchfield Hills The Palace Theater, Waterbury’s premier performing arts center, raised essential dollars through Give Local Greater Waterbury and Litchfield Hills, hosted by the Foundation. PHOTO BY LOUIS BELLOISY, COURTESY OF THE PALACE THEATER COURTESY OF THE PALACE PHOTO BY LOUIS BELLOISY, 471 NONPROFIT GRANTS TOTALING LEADERS TRAINED 471 NONPROFIT GRANTS TOTALING in organizationalLEADERS $2.4 developmentTRAINED skills in organizationalTHROUGH OUR $ AWARDED2.4 TO NONPROFITdevelopment ADVISORY INSTITUTE skills THROUGH OUR AWARDED TO 47NONPROFIT1 ADVISORY INSTITUTE NONPROFIT GRANTS TOTALING LEADERS 282 TRAINED NONPROFIT in organizational Throughout our 93-yearORGANIZATIONS2 history,82 A shared NONPROFIT $2.4 development skills donors, nonprofit organizationsORGANIZATIONS and THROUGH OUR AWARDED TO NONPROFIT ADVISORY INSTITUTE commitment neighbors have worked side-by- side with us to build stronger, more DONORS 282 to tackling vibrant communities in our region.GAVE NONPROFIT 778 DONORS ORGANIZATIONS Thanks to people like7 you,7 we8 GAVE local challenges GIFTS haven’t stopped. 1,057 1,057GIFTS together TOTALING DONORS+ In 2016, with extraordinaryTOTALING political 740078 GAVE+ and social change across the 400 MILLION GIFTS country as a backdrop,$3 our.2 sharedMILLION TOTALING 1,057 TOTALING TO $CHARITABLE3.2 FUNDS commitment to tackling local challenges together has beenAT TOa THE unifying CHARITABLE FOUNDATION FUNDS TOTALING + AT THE FOUNDATION 400 force and a catalyst for community triumphs. $$992233,,000000 MILLION $3.2 TOTALING In these pages, we celebrate your giving, your creative energies and TO CHARITABLE FUNDS AT THE FOUNDATION your spirit of collaboration—the lifeblood of thriving communities— $923,000 that benefit us all. Your unifying efforts serve as a beacon toward the future. $$11,,223300,,000 NONPROFIT forfor ORGANIZATIONSORGANIZATIONS 221155 ININ OUR REGION$1,230,000 1 NONPROFIT for ORGANIZATIONS 215 IN OUR REGION For Greater Waterbury Kids, A Doctor’s Visit is an Open Book “Will I get a book today?” “that, on average, the language skills of grows,” said Dr. Linda Matthew of Alliance That’s a question often heard by pediatricians children from low-income families are 12- Medical Group in Waterbury. in bustling clinics throughout Greater 14 months behind by the time they get to Angela Barrows, a physician’s assistant at Waterbury as they greet young children for kindergarten.” St. Mary’s Hospital in Waterbury, concludes, their checkups. Reach Out and Read aims to change that “When hardly a day goes by without a Much to the delight of children, the answer through a proven approach that taps into the child asking for a book, you know you have is nearly always “YES!” thanks in part to trusted relationship among children, parents reached some level of success.” Connecticut Community Foundation’s grant and their medical providers and reinforces Yes, they have. to Reach Out and Read, which gave 2,300 the idea that reading aloud to young children books to more than 1,150 children in Greater 15-20 minutes per day is the best way to Waterbury through their medical providers in foster early literacy skills. 2016. The brand-new, high-quality books are They train medical providers in the region often classics, such as How Do Dinosaurs Say who treat under-insured families and provide Goodnight? books for them to give to children while Since many families served by Reach Out and educating parents on the importance of Read can’t get to a library or afford books, reading aloud daily to their children. often books received from their medical It’s working. Reach Out and Read Connecticut Community Foundation providers are the only ones children have. “This is an invaluable ‘win-win’ opportunity “The research is clear,” says Christine Garber, to encourage the family to read to their child, United Way of Greater Waterbury director of development for Reach Out and to discuss a child’s development and to create Bridge to Success of Greater Waterbury Read of Connecticut and Massachusetts, a home library for the child as he or she Greater Waterbury medical providers 2 PHOTO COURTESY OF REACH OUT AND READ 3 PHOTO BY DORIAN MODE PHOTOGRAPHY 4 A Warm Welcome at New Community Health Center in Naugatuck “We are only five miles from Waterbury, but residents have to endure burdensome travel we can screen for depression, and right there it might as well have been 50 miles for some to another city or town for care since many our medical doctor just walks across the hall people. It was still a barrier, not having a local doctors don’t accept state insurance. and personally introduces the patient to the medical provider close by.” Seeing the need, many community behavioral health team. We call it a ‘warm Janet Ciarlegio, office manager at StayWell partners—led by StayWell and the federal handoff.’” Health Care’s new community health center government—rolled up their sleeves, Ciarlegio added “We treat people as whole in Naugatuck continued, “Now people can and Connecticut Community Foundation people, and serve people from all walks of walk here!” pitched in with a $49,000 grant from its life who can’t qualify for any kind of health The new clinic is giving local residents access Saunders Fund that equipped four of the insurance—undocumented, transgender, to much-needed health care. clinic’s medical exam rooms and a dental workers in their 40s and 50s, people with suite. Necessary exam tables, digital scales, disabilities and many older adults. One After renovating a storefront church autoclaves, thermometers, vital sign monitors, person hadn’t had her teeth cleaned in 20 at 30 Church Street in the center of a blood analyzer, a 360-degree dental x-ray years! She was so grateful.” Naugatuck, StayWell opened the gleaming machine and more now enhance the rooms. clinic in August 2016 and it has rapidly become a health care hub. In the first full The new health center provides “one stop year of operation, StayWell projects that shopping”—medical, dental and behavioral 2,456 people will receive 7,900 medical, health services in one location, including dental and behavioral health visits. prenatal and gynecological care and StayWell Health Care psychotherapy. Need blood drawn? Why Naugatuck? It’s a community with Saunders Fund at Connecticut There’s a phlebotomy lab on-site. Community Foundation growing health care needs. The prevalence of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, colorectal Don Thompson, StayWell’s CEO, said, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services cancer mortality and pediatric asthma are “We were intentional about creating a higher than the national average. Opioid clinic where all services are integrated. For Ion Bank Foundation addiction is on the rise, too. And, many example, if a child comes for a physical, Wellmore Behavioral Health 5 From Waterbury to Argentina, Empowering Latinas to Take Charge of Their Health Quite by accident, they met in church. Breast cancer is the leading cause of death pastor asked her to speak in her church One, a tenacious breast cancer survivor, for Latinas in the United States. And, about breast health, Iglesias was there. determined never to let other women stay compared to white women, Latinas are The Foundation’s grants gave Madre Latina in the dark about their own health. The more likely to be diagnosed with breast and Are You Dense the tools to develop and other a forthright Latina, all too familiar with cancer at a later stage—when treatment publicize the video at workshops and medical outdated cultural norms that encourage is less effective. offices and through community partners women to put themselves second. Iglesias explains, “In our culture, asking with websites, brochures, social media and With grants from Connecticut Community questions sometimes means you are rude. national media in English and Spanish. Foundation, Nancy M. Cappello, Ph.D., They don’t teach Latinas to ask questions. Said Iglesias, “We teach mothers, you have founder and director of Are You Dense in Many Latinas put all their energies into the key to your own life. If you ask for help, Woodbury, and Yoellie Iglesias, director of children. They are always the last people on you can get it.” the list. So one of the things Madre Latina Madre Latina in Waterbury, developed an View the video at http://bit.ly/2p2qwt7 education campaign aimed at Latinas, tells them is that if you love your children urging them to speak up, ask questions and your family, you need to be the first and assertively take charge of their own person on the list.” breast health. Cappello founded Are You Dense, a They produced an educational video in nonprofit breast health organization, after English and Spanish that is now being viewed her late stage cancer was diagnosed. She Madre Latina later learned that her dense breast tissue, all over Greater Waterbury and by audiences Are You Dense which had reduced the reliability of regular as far away as Puerto Rico and Buenos Connecticut Community Foundation mammograms, gave her a higher likelihood Aires. Featuring breast cancer survivors and Harold Leever Regional Cancer Center physicians, it empowers women, in Iglesias’s to have a missed, delayed and advanced Hispanic Coalition of Greater Waterbury words, “to be aware, to ask questions and stage breast cancer. She focused her energies Yale School of Public Health be smart” about their health. on educating other women, and when her 6 PHOTO BY DORIAN MODE PHOTOGRAPHY 7 PHOTO BY DORIAN MODE PHOTOGRAPHY 8 Confronting Fears, Finding Balance and Improving Health “Jane” was once a master gardener. Changing simple behaviors, setting to run fall-prevention programs for older But outside her window, fabulous blooms achievable goals and exercising in groups people in those towns.