SHARON — When Sharon Hospital was sold to for-profit Essent Healthcare Inc. in June 2003, state law required that the $16 million in proceeds be transferred to a nonprofit organization with a similar purpose — to promote healthier individuals and communities.
To meet that mandate, Foundation for Community Health (FCH) was formed to steward that mostly unrestricted windfall for the benefit of the rural, 17-town region, where Northwest Connecticut and the Greater Harlem Valley in New York meet, served by the hospital.
Fast-forward two decades and the Sharon-based philanthropic organization, under the stewardship of Nancy Heaton, its president and CEO, has granted more than $21 million through 609 grants to 118 organizations and invested thousands of staff hours to support better health to communities, many of which have historically been underserved.
An auditor’s Dec. 31, 2022, financial statement showed the foundation’s total assets at $32.6 million.
In 2023 alone, FCH’s 20th anniversary, the foundation awarded more than $1.6 million in grants to 30 grantee partners, including $650,000 to help establish the North Canaan Health Center. Since 2017, FCH has awarded about $2 million toward the North Canaan Health Center. The long awaited opening is expected in spring 2024.
Support also extended beyond the grants. FCH helped its grantee partners secure $1.9 million in additional grant funding and nearly $36,000 toward programs. Eight executive directors received one-on-one leadership support, and four sessions of the foundation’s Community of Practice assisted nonprofit leaders.
“Our goal has really been more focused on strengthening the capacity and sustainability of these organizations so they can do their work more efficiently,” said Heaton.
Conditions that influence health span beyond medical care, such as access to food, safe and stable housing, and the opportunity for positive childhood experiences. According to FCH, “On average, 45 percent of renters in our community pay more than 35% of their income on housing.”
“The pandemic shone light on all the issues and cracks and needs, and how fractured our system is,” noted Natashea Winters, FCH’s director of programs and learning.
2023: a ‘year of newness’
Heaton described 2023 as “a year of newness,” with new tools to capture support beyond the grant, new community members including two new board members and one new staff member, and five new grantee partners.
Based on feedback from its grantee partners, FCH developed a Community of Practice for Nonprofit Leaders, offering one-to-one leadership support to executive directors of organizations. The foundation also helped grantee partners secure nearly $2 million in additional grant funding.
“I think it speaks to the value we can provide. We call it support beyond the grants,” Winters noted. “No two organizations are the same. It’s part of the uniqueness of our region and uniqueness of our foundation.”
Neither are the communities served by FCH the same. For instance, she said,“Dover is our largest community and our neediest community.”
The organization’s board of directors comprises representatives from throughout its vast region.
In 2023, two new faces joined the FCH board: Dover Plains, New York, resident Jill Fieldstein, business manager of the Louis August Jonas Foundation in Rhinebeck, New York; and Dr. Zachary McClain of Falls Village, medical director of the Wieler Health Center at The Hotchkiss School in Lakeville.
Extending support to nonprofits’ leaders
Last October, FCH granted $81,500 to eight nonprofits through its Capacity Building Grant Program. Since its start in 2021, the program has granted $423,070 to 21 organizations by supporting important work including strategic planning, infrastructure needs, leadership support and organizational restructuring,
FCH has been “a consistent supporter” of Greenwoods Counseling & Referrals Inc., which provides affordable mental health care, education and related services throughout Litchfield County, according to its executive director John Simoncelli.
The $15,000 grant his organization received from FCH last October helped with a much-needed expansion, Simoncelli explained.
“We’ve grown a lot in the seven years since I’ve been here. When we started, we had about four employees and now we have 25,” he explained. “We’ve maxed out our space in Litchfield.”
The recent grant was instrumental in the opening of a satellite office in Torrington, “and eventually in Winsted as well.” With the new offices, he said, comes a need to hire staff, rent the spaces and furnish them: “That’s what the money is being used for, these expansion efforts.”
Simoncelli praised the work of FCH. “They’ve been a part of our growth all along, and I can’t say enough about how they have evolved their grantmaking process. In my mind it has been revolutionary. I feel that Natashea has a great sense of what we do and how the money is being spent.”
Helping seniors, protecting immigrants
The Lakeville-based Chore Service Inc. was the recipient of a $12,000 grant from FCH last fall. The funding, said Executive Director Jane MacLaren, has been critical for helping seniors and disabled residents live safely and independently in their homes.
“Our federal funding has been reduced by 33%, which is difficult as the need is increasing. Last year we served 137 clients in seven towns and provided part-time work to 30 workers and 5,181 hours of service,” MacLaren noted.
“The foundation’s support has been instrumental to Chore’s commitment to increasing community impact, maintaining organizational health and long-term financial viability. Many people do not have the means to pay for services, so they call Chore. We provide services regardless of ability to pay, so for many, we are a last resort to remaining at home.”
A $15,000 Capacity Building Grant was also distributed to the Columbia County Sanctuary Movement in Hudson, New York.
“We are really grateful for this fund,” said Diana Laura Cruz, co-executive director of programs and services. “CCSM has experienced a rise in racist and xenophobic attacks against our immigrant community. Funds have been able to support our staff to rest and recover while also giving us the opportunity to train community members to keep us safe.”
This story has been updated to correct Natashea Winters' name and title.
Image courtesy of Foundation for Community Health
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PUBLISHER'S NOTICE: Equal Housing Opportunity. All real estate advertised in this newspaper is subject to the Federal Fair Housing Act of 1966 revised March 12, 1989 which makes it illegal to advertise any preference, limitation, or discrimination based on race, color religion, sex, handicap or familial status or national origin or intention to make any such preference, limitation or discrimination. All residential property advertised in the State of Connecticut General Statutes 46a-64c which prohibit the making, printing or publishing or causing to be made, printed or published any notice, statement or advertisement with respect to the sale or:rental of a dwelling that indicates any preference, limitation or discrimination based on race, creed, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, marital status, age, lawful source of income, familial status, physical or mental disability or an intention to make any such preference, limitation or discrimination.
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My name is Mia, and I will be a freshman at Northwestern University this fall, where I will be majoring in journalism. I first began working with The Lakeville Journal through the revival of Housy’s student newspaper, HVRHS Today, last spring. There I first discovered journalism as a career, and The Lakeville Journal’s Summer Internship program. What began as a fun extracurricular has turned into a passion and career path in journalism I can’t wait to pursue.
I am relatively new to this area, having moved here from Long Island five years ago. I feel that writing for The Lakeville Journal helped me really get to know this community. From going hula-hooping at the Hunt Library to discussing how to dispose of 55 gallons of melted ice cream with Grassland’s owner, I’ve learned so much about local journalism and the people that make up this area.
Not only this, but the chance to have articles published opened doors for me that I could never have dreamed of. From a summer academy with the New York Times in the city last summer, and now my dream school to study journalism in Chicago, I’ve found that local journalism has a much farther reaching impact than just this community. The experiences and opportunities I’ve had here were the focus of my senior year capstone project, which won the Pinnacle Award for Capstone Excellence. None of this would have been possible without the skills and values I learned from working at The Lakeville Journal.
I’d like to thank The Lakeville Journal’s staff for all their work with the internship program. Local journalism is incredibly important, and I will always be grateful to have gotten to be a part of this paper.
My name is Allison Gollenberg, and this fall I’ll be a senior journalism major at the University of Connecticut. There, I’ve written about everything from tick populations to tactical urbanism. I decided to study journalism because I love to learn, and with this kind of job, every day I get to research something new. I get to talk to all sorts of people, to make sense of an eclectic selection of topics each week, and it’s super fulfilling to share what I learn with the world as a writer.
Growing up here in the Northwest Corner it sometimes felt like I was from the sleepiest place on earth. But looking at it with a journalistic eye has made me realize there’s a lot going on everywhere I go. This summer I could be found zipped inside of an inflatable whale, traipsing through a rail yard in the rain, dancing to colonial era music or at board of selectmen meetings where I was the only attendee who wasn’t also a selectman—and I got to do it all in pursuit of a good story. It was a great reminder that you have to keep your eyes wide to the world around you. Once you do, you see there’s a story behind everything.
I’ve spent a long time trying to figure out what exactly I want to do with my life— the only things I’m really able to say about myself are that I get bored easily and I think people are the most fascinating thing we’ve got. In a selfish way, I love this work because it lets me try on a bunch of different hats, to be nosy for a paycheck. In a less selfish way, I love this work because it keeps me in touch with the workings of the world around me, and I get to keep others informed through what I write.
Hi, my name is Annie Prinz, and I’ve lived in Lakeville full-time for almost 12 years. This fall, I will be starting my senior year at The Hotchkiss School. Before attending Hotchkiss, I spent my ninth-grade year at Indian Mountain School, after graduating from Salisbury Central School, where I attended middle and elementary school.
From a very young age, I’ve maintained a love for reading. As I’ve gotten older, that love has also translated into an enjoyment of writing. Whether through journaling or more academic forms of writing in my humanities classes, I’ve found that it’s where I feel most engaged and excited. To be honest, apart from watching Rory in Gilmore Girls, I hadn’t thought much about journalism.
However, when I found the information for this program back in the fall, it sparked my interest. I love the town I’ve grown up in, I enjoy writing, and I love meeting new people, so I figured what better way to do all of that than through this program? Six weeks ago, I was intimidated entering a room where I was the one with the least amount of experience, but it ended up being the greatest opportunity for me to grow and learn.
My time at The Lakeville Journal has shown me some of the most important components of what it means to be a journalist, specifically in a smaller community like ours. I can confidently say that I am walking away from this experience feeling so much more connected to the place I call home. Throughout this program, I’ve been able to work on my ability to build connections with strangers, ask important questions, look at a story from a completely different perspective, and so much more.
I know that all of the experiences and conversations I’ve had because of this program are uniquely meaningful, and I feel very grateful for that.
My name is Phoebe Tobin, and I’m a rising senior at Loomis Chaffee in Windsor, CT, though I live in Lakeville. Prior to Loomis, I attended Indian Mountain School, where I revived the school newspaper, formally discontinued in the 50s, entitled Le Scoop, and served as editor-in-chief. At Loomis, I write for our student-led publication, The Loomis Chaffee Log.
I’ve always been someone who loves writing, though throughout the earlier years of my life I was drawn to creative rather than journalism, writing fantastical stories about creatures of my own invention and journeys through time. At IMS, within my idea and eventual execution for the newspaper, I found the stories that happen on earth with the people around us. A curiosity for the stories of those I saw every day, and seeking out what could count as “newsworthy” solidified my love for journalism and is what brought me to spending my summer with The Lakeville Journal.
Interning at The Lakeville Journal gave me a new insight into the community I thought I understood just by existing around it in a bubble of my own convenience, speaking only to a circle of people I knew and few beyond that. In six weeks, I’ve attended many events I truthfully never would have known about beyond a posted sign, like Sharon’s 4th of July Celebration and the Jane Lloyd Fund Clambake, and experienced the greater depth of my community through the stories of those I talked to. Additionally, showing up at big events alone, bugging total strangers with questions as I practically shoved a recorder in their face is not something that necessarily came naturally. But as I did it more and more, I improved significantly and will take a new confidence from it back to Loomis and beyond.
This internship confirmed for me that journalism is something I hope to keep exploring, no matter what I choose to study down the road, and I’m so grateful for the chance to spend my summer getting to know my community a little better.
I am a rising senior at Ithaca College studying television, photography and digital media production with a concentration in photography and a minor in journalism. On campus, I have worked with our independent, student-led newspaper, The Ithacan, as a writer, videographer and photo editor. Photography has always been important to me as someone who loves storytelling, and from a young age I knew I loved documenting moments of time through the camera. I find it fascinating that we can show so many perspectives through one series of images. At Ithaca College, I knew I wanted to be involved in something that could further my passion. Joining The Ithacan was one of the best decisions I have made. Being a part of the newspaper not only taught me more about photography, but it introduced me to journalism, where I can hear and share more stories with the local community.
I grew up in Dover Plains, New York, and have truly cherished the opportunity to report on my hometown this summer. While growing up, I did not know much about my town or the news surrounding it. Through this internship program, I have learned so much about my home while talking to people in the community. I was also given the opportunity to write for Compass, where I wrote stories about music performances, art showings and vibrant members of our community.
While being a part of the internship program this summer, I gained so much knowledge from the incredible editors and reporters. My love for storytelling only grew, and I am so grateful to Nathan Miller, Natalia Zukerman, Christian Murray, and everyone at the Lakeville Journal for their support and kindness.
I was born and raised in West Hartford and am a rising senior at Marist University. On campus I am a Managing Editor and City/National Section Editor for the Marist Circle. My time at Marist has been essential to my development as a writer and a journalist. However, my connection to Dutchess County is not new. My dad was raised in Poughkeepsie, meaning I grew up making frequent trips to the area to visit my grandparents or my aunt and uncle, who still live in town. When the time came to decide where to attend college, Poughkeepsie felt like a second home and one I knew I could thrive in.
I have always considered myself a writer but was unsure how best to use my skills. I didn’t know much about journalism, let alone consider it a possible career path until my senior year of high school. The part of the job that I didn’t anticipate was the social interaction, though it has quickly become my favorite aspect.
This summer I have had the pleasure of exploring a different side of the area during my time with The Millerton News. I was assigned the Town of North East and Village of Millerton as my coverage area and have since had the privilege of meeting many new people and exploring the beautiful area. From The Moviehouse to zoning board meetings, I have learned so much both about the town and journalism itself.
This internship has taught me so much about the triumphs and tribulations of being a journalist. Learning how to apply what I have learned in classes has been an irreplaceable opportunity. I want to give a huge thank you to the entire Lakeville Journal/Millerton News staff but particularly Nathan Miller and Graham Corrigan for their incredible guidance during this experience.
My name is Sophie Gardiner and I’m from New York City. I’m a rising sophomore at Northwestern University, where I study Journalism, Classics and Political Science. At school, I’m a reporter on the city desk for The Daily Northwestern and a member of the College Democrats. As a person deeply interested in the intersection of communications and politics, I also work on political campaigns in the broader Evanston area.
This summer, I’ve had a great experience diving deeper into journalism, particularly because of how local and community-focused The Millerton News is. I’ve had a strong passion for journalism for as long as I can remember, both because of its purpose as the Fourth Estate and because of my love for writing. Interning with The Millerton News has solidified my conviction in journalism as essential to a thriving community and it’s been really rewarding to gain hands-on experience in such a meaningful way. I’ve also learned a lot about how a newsroom operates, which makes me excited to continue exploring the industry in all its capacities – from social media to publishing and law.
My skills have undoubtedly improved from my time at the paper: always keeping my eyes open for a good story, asking the right questions and more. When I return to Northwestern in the Fall, I’m excited to bring my sharpened skills to the Daily. I’m also excited to join more magazine-style publications, where I’ll focus on the type of long-form feature writing I’ve enjoyed so much here. I’m so grateful for my experience this summer and I cannot thank everyone at The Lakeville Journal and Millerton News enough.
When I’m not in a newsroom or library, you can typically find me curled up with a good book, trying new restaurants with friends or going on long walks with a good playlist.
I’m Florida born and raised and a rising senior at Loyola University New Orleans. Salisbury has been a summer destination for me since 2010. Every July for as long as I can remember, we packed our bags and escaped the brutal Florida heat staying with family.
I’ve been studying journalism and working at Loyola’s paper, The Maroon, for three years now. The highlight of my college newsroom has been serving as the paper’s editor-in-chief for the last year. During that year, we were awarded finalist for the Society of Professional Journalist’s Best All-Around Student Newspaper for colleges under 10,000 students. I was thrilled.
When it was time to search for summer internships, my great-aunt and Salisbury resident proposed The Lakeville Journal. So, I applied and kept my fingers crossed. I was elated when the internship offer hit my email.
Being a student journalist in a big city, I was excited to have the opportunity to learn in a small town setting, and I did learn so much. I’ve spent the summer writing for The Millerton News, and working mainly out in Millbrook. Under the guidance of fantastic editors and surrounded by talented student journalists, the educational experiences I’ve gained this summer are immeasurable.
Not only have I learned more about the mechanics of writing, I’ve learned how to be a better listener and reporter. I made real connections. I got to know the owner behind the store, the planning behind the project, and the people behind the community.
If you had told me in March that I’d know more about aerated concrete than the average person, I would have laughed in your face. But, I was fortunate to meet two talented men who taught me about the extremely interesting building material.
I’m excited to bring all the knowledge I’ve learned this summer back to New Orleans, where I’ll finish my final semester of college this fall. I cannot express enough gratitude to this program and all the people involved for giving me the most interesting and educational summer I’ve ever had.
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