Texas Women’s Foundation (TXWF) has announced its second set of grants from its Health Care Access Fund totaling $420,000 to help women and girls access health care in underserved Texas communities in North and East Texas. As part of its Health Care Access Fund, Texas Women’s Foundation launched the Reproductive Freedom Initiative in 2022 to deliver urgent and long-term women’s healthcare programming to communities that desperately need resources.

With eight grants given earlier in the year totaling $487,125 in rural Texas communities, the Foundation has now awarded a total of $907,125 to 15 deserving organizations.

In this round, the Foundation awarded seven grants totaling $420,000 to carefully vetted community health care clinics:

• Collins Family Planning Clinic (Fort Worth)
• Genesis Prime Care (Marshall)
• Gulf Coast Health Center (Port Arthur)
• Health Services North Texas (Denton)
• Crossroads Family Clinic (Mount Enterprise)
• Parkland Health Foundation (Dallas)
• TAN (Triangle Area Network) Healthcare (Beaumont)

These clinics are providing services in these priority areas:

• Hiring of OB/GYN and other critical healthcare providers
• Full access to all types of birth control, including long-acting, reversible contraceptives, at an affordable cost
• Prenatal care, women’s healthcare and other staffing needs
• Family planning, prenatal, obstetric and postpartum medical visits for uninsured, low-income women
• Funds to hire a Women's Health Coordinator/Community Health Worker to conduct outreach to educate women on healthcare access and availability

For more information on specifics of each grant, see attachment.*

Dena Hughes, CEO of Triangle Area Network Healthcare, said, “The funds awarded through the Texas Women’s Foundation are critical to the ongoing availability of and access to critically important pregnancy prevention tools that are both safe and effective. We are excited to partner with TXWF to ensure Southeast Texas women and their families know that they are not alone in navigating and managing their reproductive healthcare options.”

Marsha Thigpen, M.D., executive director of Gulf Coast Health Center (GCHC) Inc., added, “Gulf Coast Health Center, Inc. would like to thank Texas Women's Foundation for the grant funds received. GCHC will be able to improve the care delivered in our Women's Health Department, more specifically will be able to improve monitoring our patients as we expand our services to include obstetrics with improved quality ultrasound equipment.”

Janice Brown, executive director/nurse practitioner of Collins Family Planning Clinic, said, “This grant will enable us to purchase and provide LARCs for women immediately. They will also be able to receive the care and planning they need from our healthcare professionals.”

According to Dena Jackson, Texas Women’s Foundation interim president and CEO, “It is getting more difficult for Texas women to secure safe and affordable reproductive health care. As a result, Texas Women’s Foundation has stepped into the gap to provide access to affordable contraception, prenatal care and women’s services to ease the burden.”

To learn more about the Reproductive Freedom Initiative and to make a donation, visit https://txwf.org/reproductive-freedom-initiative/.

About Texas Women’s Foundation:

Texas Women’s Foundation is Transforming Texas for Women and Girls, empowering them to build stronger, more equitable communities. One of the world’s largest women’s foundations, the Foundation raises funding from a broad base of donors, including individuals, foundations and corporations. In Fiscal Year 2022, these resources supported more than $7.1 million in investments that advance economic security and leadership for Texas women and girls through groundbreaking research, advocacy, grants and programs. Since inception in 1985, the Foundation has invested $74 million in women and girls, including $60 million since 2011. The Foundation’s statewide research on issues affecting women and girls provides decision-makers and lawmakers with critical data to inform policies, practices and programs in the state. Its advocacy, grantmaking and innovative programs support solutions that help Texas women and girls thrive. In addition, Texas Women’s Foundation is an acknowledged leader and advocate in the gender lens investing movement and has deployed 100 percent of its assets – endowments, operating investments and donor-advised funds – in a gendered impact portfolio that yields strong financial returns and social benefits to women and girls. For more information, visit www.txwf.org, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram or donate online. 

*Attachment

Collins Family Planning Clinic (Fort Worth)

This grant supports 13 healthcare professionals and the purchase of long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCS). Collins Clinic provides a medical home and reproductive health services to medically underserved clients in two clinics in Tarrant County. Services include education, cost-effective health screening, health education, affordable health examinations, individual family planning, confidential testing, prompt treatment and accessible referrals to community resources.

Genesis Prime Care (Marshall)

This grant will support Genesis Prime Care in hiring an OB/GYN, and other health care providers, to conduct gynecological examinations, provide prenatal care and treatment, prescribe contraceptives, order and review lab work, counsel and provide pre-conception patient health education, nutrition and prenatal information. The key services supported will be Family Planning, Prenatal and Well-Women. Of significance, Marshall and the surrounding communities in Harrison County (Hallsville, Elysian Fields, Waskom, Harleton, Karnack, and Scottsville) have not had reproductive, gynecological services locally since 2018. This rural area also has a high prevalence of low-income residents and residents below federal poverty levels.

Gulf Coast Health Center Inc. (GCHC) (Port Arthur)

The grant will improve the care for prenatal patients with the purchase of a new updated ultrasound machine to deliver more precise prenatal care at their main location. The grant will continue to expand usage of the existing machine in the rural locations such as Jasper, which has a high teen pregnancy rate and no specialized health care. GCHC is also expanding its women's health services beyond the main center site in Port Arthur, and the grant will support women’s health mid-level providers to travel to the rural sites in Jasper, Orange and Silsbee to improve care delivered to the most rural residents and provide on-going training to providers at those locations. A nonprofit, GCHC is also a Federally Qualified Health Center offering comprehensive health care services to uninsured, underinsured, low-income and indigent residents of Hardin, Jasper, Jefferson, Newton, and Orange Counties since 1978.

Health Services North Texas (Denton)

The grant will support Health Services North Texas’ (HSNT) Reproductive Healthcare Program with the purchase of 50 LARCs and support the cost of 400 family planning, prenatal, obstetric or postpartum medical visits for uninsured, low-income women. LARC devices will be provided free of charge to uninsured, low-income women and services are provided regardless of immigration status. Funding will cover the gap between the actual fee and the reduced fee for the services identified. Funding will primarily impact women in rural areas of Denton County with 75 percent of recipients being Hispanic women.

Crossroads Family Clinic (Mount Enterprise)

This grant will support the hiring of a Women's Health Coordinator/ Community Health Worker to conduct outreach to women about the availability of family planning services, pap smears, cervical cancer screenings and annual health screenings such as mammograms. This person will travel to communities to provide health education, promote women’s reproductive health services and become a trusted community figure to serve as a liaison to those most removed from services such as the migrant workers in the area where language is also a barrier to accessing services. The clinic is a Federally Qualified Health Center that has served the needs of uninsured and underinsured residents of East Texas since 2003.

Parkland Health Foundation (Dallas)

The grant will support the expansion of the Family Planning program to increase appointment availability, contraception access and informed choice and connecting patients to care. A new Family Planning Team will be added to support Saturday clinics in an effort to increase appointment availability. A traveling team will conduct contraception physical examinations; screening pap smears; testing for STIs and HIV; pregnancy testing; counseling and education about birth control; preconception and nutrition; immunizations; diabetes and cholesterol screenings. Postpartum patients will also be able to access IUDs before being discharged from the hospital. Those participating in the Extending Maternal Care After Pregnancy program will also be able to access contraception. To accomplish the Family Planning goals stated above, Parkland is working with various colleges, organizations and the Red Bird community on education and outreach.

TAN (Triangle Area Network) Healthcare (Beaumont)

The grant will support TAN Healthcare in expanding access to all types of contraceptives on initial health care visit at an affordable cost; purchasing contraception supplies to maintain an inventory (including long-acting reversible contraceptives); and in providing staff training to ensure the skill set is available for LARC services. In Southeast Texas, there is only one health center funded for family planning services, making it challenging for women to access much needed family planning and ancillary support services. More than 60 percent of TAN Healthcare patients are at or below the federal poverty level, lack adequate transportation for medical appointments, and are often uninsured or underinsured.