Las Cruces programs receive Paseo del Norte grants

Families and Youth, Inc. (FYI) and the New Mexico State University Foundation, Inc., both based in Las Cruces, were recent recipients of grants from the Paso del Norte Health Foundation (PDNHF), the foundation said in a news release.

FYI received two grants totally nearly $292,000. A $177,526 grant will support the LC3 behavioral health collaborate in its “efforts to improve the Doña Aa County mental health and substance use systems of care through action teams working on specific policy, program and practice improvements,” the news release said.

A $114,204 grant to FYI will provide the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) with “evidence-based programs to build better lives for people affected by mental illness through education, advocacy and support,” PDNHF said.

The NMSU Foundation received a grant of $90,209 “to implement the Autism Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS) for at least 50 participants. PEERS can improve the mental health of teens with autism by helping them make friendships and critical social connections,” the news release said.

The three grants were among 11 totaling $1.6 million that PDNHF announced in December.

PDNHF “was established Sept. 29, 1995 from the sale of Providence Memorial Hospital to Tenet Healthcare Corporation,” according to pdnhf.org. It was “seeded with an initial $130 million from the proceeds of the sale,” the website said.

“In September 1996, the board adopted a three-year strategic plan establishing its mission to “effect long-term improvements in the health status of the population in the Paso del Norte region through education and prevention” and vision to “ensure that the people of the binational, tri-state region have the knowledge, resources, support and environment to live healthy, happy and productive lives.”

Contact PNHF Associate Program Officer Sandra Day at 915-218-2617 and sday@pdnfoundation.org.