Vitalyst Health Foundation Awards $25,000 Spark Grant to Develop Program to Improve Health Equity for Recently Incarcerated Women

Bridges Reentry is honored to announce the organization has received a $25,000 one-year

grant to support the Bridges Reentry project called “Health Equity for Recently Incarcerated Women.”

The grant provides funding to plan and coordinate a care system for formerly incarcerated

women reentering society and fill the gaps of inequitable health care with partners and

resources, focusing on mental health and trauma, addiction relapse protocols, and steps to

family reunification.

The target population is women released from Perryville State Prison in Goodyear, AZ. A

systemic change will make health care more accessible to this population and provide

comprehensive statistical evaluations that measure improvements in social determinants of

health domains including access to food, health, insurance, housing, income, and

transportation.

Bridges Reentry will collaborate with Patient Sortal, Imagine Therapy, and Marcella Wilson,

PhD. Each of the collaborators have experience working with the formerly incarcerated

population and have expertise in developing the first standard of care, curriculums, and

analytics for universal application across health, human services, government, education, and

faith-based organizations.

Marcella Wilson, PhD has more than 30 years’ experience in healthcare administration,

nonprofit management, behavioral health, criminal justice, and public-sector programming. Her

current focus on leading a national social-change movement with a new standard of care,

Transition to Success™, will provide a framework for Bridges Reentry to involve additional

community stakeholders and future partners in the work of equitable health care for this

population of the formerly incarcerated.

Approximately 2,000 women are released each year from Perryville State Prison.

When women are released from jail or prison, they are often ill-prepared to reencounter the

serious problems they faced prior to incarceration, such as domestic violence, an unstable

family life, difficulties in school, limited work experience, financial issues, poverty, substance use

disorders, mental health issues, a lack of vocational skills, and parenting difficulties.

“We are thrilled to receive this grant to support the development of this critical program

addressing the whole woman with the physical and mental healthcare she needs as she

courageously meets the challenges of reentry.” Gay Romack, Founder and Executive Director.

About Vitalyst Health Foundation

Vitalyst Health Foundation is on a mission to inform, connect, and support efforts to improve the

health of individuals and communities in Arizona. Over its history, the foundation has invested

more than $134 million and established itself as a key thought leader, convener, and catalyst of

key initiatives – ranging from statewide health policy and systems to housing collaboratives.

Learn more at http://Vitalysthealth.org.