WPHF and OCPS Celebrate 29 Years and Nearly $24 Million-Worth of Partnership Improving Health Resources for Students

The Winter Park Health Foundation’s leadership team proudly presented a $710,000 check this week to the Foundation for Orange County Public Schools, continuing a nearly 30-year partnership to fund programs that place mental health counselors and nurses in more than a dozen schools across Eatonville, Maitland and Winter Park.

“This $710,000 this year alone is an investment in our children,” said WPHF President and CEO Nicholas Abrahams, addressing the Orange County School Board at its January 14th meeting. “We are grateful for [the OCPS] team and all the work that they do on an annual basis to make sure that these dollars are going where they’re needed.”

The collaborative effort between WPHF and OCPS is known as the Coordinated Youth Initiative (CYI).  Since the launch of CYI in 1997, WPHF has provided nearly $24 million in grant funding to help improve the mental and physical wellbeing of students in the Foundation’s three focus communities.

CYI consists of the following three central programs:

• CHILL Counseling Program – school-based mental health counseling focused on prevention and early intervention for 6th through 12th graders at no cost to families

• School Nursing Services – hiring of Licensed Practical Nurses or Registered Nurses to provide a higher standard of care for students at school

• School-Based Health Centers – locations at Glenridge Middle and Winter Park High staffed with Nurse Practitioners to assess, treat and prescribe needed medications to students whose families lack adequate health care coverage or access to providers

The Coordinated Youth Initiative is the Winter Park Health Foundation’s longest-running initiative, serving more than 10,000 children annually at the following schools:

• Elementary – Aloma, Baldwin Park, Brookshire, Cheney, Dommerich, Hungerford, Lakemont and Lake Sybelia

• K-8 – Audubon Park

• Middle – Glenridge and Maitland 

• High School – Winter Park 9th Grade Center and Winter Park High

Orange County School Board Chair Teresa Jacobs thanked WPHF for partnering with the school district’s foundation “to fund and provide so many healthy opportunities for our students.”

“As you can tell, they are doing a lot to make a difference in our community and in our schools,” she said.

It is a contribution WPHF is committed to keep prioritizing, drawing inspiration from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model and the belief that Healthy Kids Make Better Students and Better Students Make Healthy Communities.

For additional information, please reach out to WPHF Director of Communications Alex Aguilera at [email protected].