AmeriHealth Caritas Foundation Grant to Support Community Resiliency in Shreveport Area

Thanks in part to a grant from the AmeriHealth Caritas Foundation, residents of southeast Indiana will for the first time be able to get behavioral health care quickly without visiting a hospital emergency room.

The AmeriHealth Caritas Foundation is helping build stronger, more resilient communities by supporting out-of-school activities for youth that lay a strong foundation for healthy childhood development. The Foundation awarded a $100,000 grant to Community Renewal International that will provide funding for daily youth programming at its Friendship HouseOpens a new window locations in Shreveport and Bossier City.

Community Renewal International operates 10 Friendship Houses in six Shreveport and Bossier City neighborhoods marked by crime, substance use disorder, lack of quality housing, and poverty. All of these are examples of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)Opens a new window, which research has linked to poor health outcomes later in life.

Community Renewal International’s approach mitigates these experiences by growing mutually enhancing, positive, and caring relationships with students, their families, and their neighbors. This approach is best exemplified in the organization’s Friendship Houses.

The AmeriHealth Caritas Foundation grant will help Community Renewal International provide enrichment programming for children at each Friendship House location. Participants learn skills that help them develop socially, spiritually, academically, and physically. The goal is to turn children away from harmful influences around them and set them up to be mature, responsible adults.

A recent study by the Shreveport Police Department showed that areas within a 30-40 block radius of a Friendship House have experienced a 52% average reduction in crime.

“The Friendship Houses do important work to strengthen community connection. This helps children overcome the many challenges they face while supporting their parents and neighbors in that effort,” said Loretta Dumontet, M.D., behavioral health medical director for AmeriHealth Caritas Louisiana, a Healthy Louisiana Medicaid managed care health plan. “The AmeriHealth Caritas Foundation’s support will allow more children to develop the tools and relationships for a strong foundation for future success.”

Community Renewal International opened its first Shreveport Friendship House in 1997 in the city’s Cedar Grove neighborhood.

“This significant investment in our Friendship Houses will create new opportunities for growth in hundreds of children and youth in our most disadvantaged neighborhoods,” said Community Renewal International Director of Development Jimmy Graves. “We greatly appreciate the AmeriHealth Caritas Foundation’s generosity and dedication to building resilient children and families in our communities.”

AmeriHealth Caritas Foundation officials presented the grant at Community Renewal International’s newest Friendship House in Shreveport’s Martin Luther King, Jr. neighborhood.

About Community Renewal International
Community Renewal International (CRI) envisions a world that is a home where every person is safe, loved and living into their highest potential. Established in 1994 in Shreveport, La., CRI employs simple approaches of building and growing positive caring relationships across communities.
“Connecting People – Changing Lives – Transforming Communities.”