Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield awarded $3.75 million in Blue Fund grants Wednesday to 20 nonprofit organizations and community partners across Western New York.
The grants will support programs focused on behavioral, maternal and cardiovascular health, along with efforts to strengthen the region’s healthcare workforce. Highmark’s New York president, Jessica Cox, said improving health extends beyond the doctor’s office.
“It's not just about a copay anymore," she said. "It's really about impacting people's lives. It's really about understanding conditions and holistic health. It doesn't matter if it's mental health, spiritual health, economic health.”
Michael Ball, Highmark’s vice president of community affairs, said more than 200 applications for the grant were submitted this year.
“This year was our most competitive grant cycle to date, so this is our ninth year of Blue Fund, and each year it gets more competitive. Of course, that's a reflection of just how much need there is in the community," he said.
Among this year's Blue Fund recipients is Big Big Table, a pay-as-you-can restaurant on Buffalo’s West Side. Board member emeritus Stephanie Smith said its $150,000 grant will help the organization expand.
"We are preparing to grow into a larger space, and Highmark's Blue Fund will be a huge part of helping to resource that growth as we prepare to scale up our staffing and our operations," she said. “It'll still take some time, but we have been laying the foundation for a new space so that we can double our meal capacity, double our dining room capacity, and continue to welcome everybody to the table.”
Resurrection Life Food Pantry received a Blue Fund grant in 2023 to help build a drive-thru, improving access for clients with mobility challenges. Executive Director Kim Marzello said the award also helped attract other funders.
“They believed in us; they gave us credibility because Highmark believed in us," she said. "Other foundations and corporate partners began to believe in us, too.”
Ball said that kind of partnership can also help organizations that aren’t selected to receive the grant.
“Where we can, we try to connect those that we can't support with other funders, whether it's at the local level or the state level or the national level, so we really try to at least make connections where we can, even if we can't support them through Blue Fund," he said.
Ball said Blue Fund applications typically open in February or March.
