ACAM Collaborative Health Benefits Access Program Expands with Episcopal Health Foundation Funding

Alliance of Community Assistance Ministries, Inc. (ACAM) is honored to announce the receipt of a $241,000 grant from the Episcopal Health Foundation. This continued partnership with Episcopal Health Foundation will allow the ACAM Collaborative Health Benefits Access Program (HBAP) to move to the next phase of achieving its goal to increase benefit application assistance for vulnerable families.  

Alliance of Community Assistance Ministries, Inc. (ACAM) is honored to announce the receipt of a $241,000 grant from the Episcopal Health Foundation. The Episcopal Health Foundation was established in 2013 and is based in Houston. With more than $1.2 billion in estimated assets, the Foundation is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation that operates as a supporting organization of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas. EHF works to improve the health and well-being of the 10 million people in the 57 counties of the Diocese by investing in communities through grant-making, outreach to Diocesan churches and critical research to advance community health.

This continued partnership with Episcopal Health Foundation will allow the ACAM Collaborative Health Benefits Access Program (HBAP) to move to the next phase of achieving its goal to increase benefit application assistance for vulnerable families.  HBAP is a targeted effort to expand the local areas served by these much-needed services, which help ensure that families have access to the health care that is vital to their autonomy and quality of life.    

In its first year, the HBAP collaborative expanded benefit access services at five ministry partners located across the Greater Houston area.  In this second year of the HBAP project, three of these ministries will receive funding from the Episcopal Health Foundation as part of the HBAP collaborative: Katy Christian Ministries, Humble Area Assistance Ministries, and Wesley Community Center.  Two partners, whose benefit access programs have reached self-sufficiency, will rotate off the collaborative project and continue providing these services at their respective organizations.  In 2015, Interfaith of The Woodlands will join the Collaborative and will receive funding and technical assistance to implement a benefit assistance program of its own.

Each partner will focus on individual program improvements and measuring the impact of HBAP services on clients’ effective utilization of the healthcare system.  Additionally, the collaborative and former ministry partners will use their combined experiences to identify efficient and effective strategies that can help other organizations implement similar programs.    

ACAM is proud to continue this partnership with the Episcopal Health Foundation and, through this collaborative, better serve unmet healthcare needs in the Greater Houston area and surrounding regions.