Skip to Main Content
Back
Press releases 7 minute read

Legacy Foundation of Kentuckiana Awards More Than $2.3 Million in Grants to Support Healthy Communities in the Louisville Area

All categories Press releases CHI Saint Joseph Health
legacy foundation

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (May 2025) – The Legacy Foundation of Kentuckiana (LFK) has announced the approval of 23 grants totaling $2,350,000 to support charitable programs that foster healthier communities for residents in the Louisville area, focused particularly on the needs of vulnerable populations.

These funds will support organizations across Jefferson, Shelby, Bullitt, Nelson and Hardin counties in Kentucky and Clark County in Indiana. Through these grants, LFK reaffirms its commitment to strengthening local health and well-being by addressing some of the region’s most pressing challenges.

“These grants represent more than just funding – they reflect our commitment to creating lasting impact in communities that need it most,” said Robert Waterman, chair of the Advisory Council, Legacy Foundation of Kentuckiana. “By investing in organizations doing vital, on-the-ground work, we’re helping to build a healthier, more equitable future for everyone in our region.” 

Organizations receiving grants this year are: 

  • 2X Game Changers: ($50,000) Jefferson County – Funds will support the Future Healers program, which engages children (ages 4-13) and their parents in therapeutic education activities with University of Louisville medical students to focus on healing.

  • Bethany Haven: ($75,000) Nelson County – Capital support to build a comprehensive Day Shelter to provide a safe space for Bardstown's local homeless population to access services, basic facility needs, and a place to sleep for those who work the night shift.

  • Catholic Charities of Louisville: ($50,000) Bullitt, Hardin, Jefferson, Nelson, and Shelby counties – Support for their Bakhita Empowerment Initiative (BEI), which responds to the problem of human trafficking in the Commonwealth of Kentucky through prevention education and wraparound case management.

  • Dare to Care: ($100,000) Bullitt, Clark, Jefferson, and Shelby counties – Support for their Kids Cafe program, which provides free, nutritious meals for children in after-school and summer programs.

  • ECTC Foundation: ($100,000) Hardin and Nelson counties – Funding to support ECTC's Allied Health programming, which addresses workforce needs by providing enhanced support services to improve student success rates, allowing more students to complete high-demand credentials.

  • Education Justice: ($25,000) Jefferson County – To provide one-on-one tutoring and mentorship to underserved middle school students, addressing educational inequity while empowering high school tutors to develop leadership skills.

  • Family Community Clinic: ($50,000) Jefferson County – Funding for operating and capacity building to maintain and enhance FCC's operation as a primary care medical provider for low-income and vulnerable people without health insurance through their Primary Care program.

  • Harbor House of Louisville: ($250,000) Jefferson County – Capital support for their Child Enrichment Center, which will provide innovative early learning to children of all abilities - both with and without physical, cognitive, and emotional disabilities--to children in Southwest Louisville.

  • Home of the Innocents: ($250,000) Bullitt, Clark, Hardin, Jefferson, Nelson, and Shelby counties – To support the "We'll Be the Change" campaign, which will build new facilities to expand the Complex Care Center for children and young adults with complex medical conditions that require 24-hour care.

  • Hosparus Health: ($250,000) Bullitt, Clark, Hardin, Jefferson, and Shelby counties – Capital support for their new Hosparus Health Inpatient Care Center, which will be a 30,000 square foot state-of-the-art home-like facility for hospice patients needing special care.

  • La Casita Center: ($75,000) Jefferson County – Funding for operating and capacity building of La Casita Center, which enhances the well-being of Louisville's Latinx community through education, empowerment, advocacy and wellness.

  • Lincoln Foundation: ($75.000) Bullitt, Clark, Jefferson, and Shelby counties – Support for their Whitney M. Young Leadership Initiative, which helps talented students from underserved communities succeed academically.

  • Louisville Ballet: ($50,000) Bullitt, Clark, Hardin, Jefferson, and Shelby counties – To support community dance programs that deliver transformative arts experiences to children and adults, while dramatically improving educational attainment, health and well-being with a strong focus on under-resourced communities.

  • Meredith-Dunn School: ($25,000) Jefferson County – To support a campus expansion that creates an inclusive, state-of-the-art environment tailored to support students with learning differences, fostering their growth through specialized spaces.

  • Nelson County Community Clinic: ($50,000) Nelson County – Funding to support capacity building and to expand NCCC's Kentucky Prescription Assistance Program (KPAP) and Medicare Benefits Counseling for under-resourced residents of Nelson County.

  • Parks Alliance of Louisville: ($250,000) Jefferson County – Capital project support, which completes construction of the final 15 acres of Alberta O. Jones Park to achieve the community's vision to transform seven city blocks of vacant property into a vibrant hub of community life.

  • SOS International: ($25,000) Bullitt, Clark, Hardin, Jefferson, Nelson, and Shelby counties – Funding to support the SOS Education Program, which provides hands-on allied health career instruction for underserved high school and post-secondary students, inspiring a new, diverse generation of healthcare workers.

  • The Center for Women and Families: ($50,000) Bullitt, Clark, Jefferson, and Shelby counties – To provide trauma-informed advocacy and support for individuals, families and communities affected by intimate partner violence and sexual assault.

  • The Housing Partnership, Inc.: ($100,000) Jefferson County – Capital support to build-out the first floor of the Gateway on Broadway building (affordable senior housing on floors 2-5), which will allow HPI to move their offices into the communities they serve.

  • USA Cares Inc: ($25,000) Bullitt, Clark, Hardin, Jefferson, Nelson, and Shelby counties – Support to accommodate the growth of USA Cares' mission to provide post-9/11 military veterans, service members, and their families support, which includes new offices at their headquarters building.

  • Visually Impaired Preschool Services (VIPS): ($100,000) Bullitt, Clark, Hardin, Jefferson, Nelson, and Shelby counties – Support for their Early Childhood Intervention Program, which delivers in-home services for children birth to three with visual impairments and blindness.

  • Volunteers of America MidStates: ($250,000) Jefferson County – To support the Community Care Campus, which will create a centralized location for Louisville's unhoused individuals to access a variety of housing services.

  • YMCA of Greater Louisville: ($75,000) Jefferson County – Support for YMCA's Early Learning Readiness program, which equips parents as first teachers, fostering holistic youth development and community well-being through proven, hands-on strategies and wrap-around support

Each funded project was selected based on alignment with LFK’s mission and demonstrated impact in promoting health equity, community resilience, and holistic wellness.

Through these partnerships, LFK aims to foster long-term change and create a more supportive and connected region for all.

For more information about LFK and its initiatives, visit legacyfoundationky.org.

About the Legacy Foundation of Kentuckiana

Originally established as a fundraising foundation in the 1980s, it supported the facilities, services and programs of Jewish Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky. Over time it became the Jewish Hospital and St. Mary’s Foundation, and then in 2019, when the former Jewish & St. Mary's Healthcare facilities were divested to the University of Louisville, it became a community grantmaking foundation known as the Legacy Foundation of Kentuckiana.

The Legacy Foundation of Kentuckiana (LFK) cultivates healthy communities for all, especially those who are vulnerable, through impact-driven philanthropy. The Foundation makes charitable grants in six area counties: Jefferson, Shelby, Bullitt, Nelson, and Hardin in Kentucky, and Clark in Indiana. LFK is part of CHI Saint Joseph Health in Lexington, which is part of CommonSpirit Health, a national healthcare system.

About CommonSpirit Health

CommonSpirit Health is one of the nation’s largest nonprofit health care systems with more than 1,000 care sites and 140 hospitals in 21 states. CommonSpirit Health provides care at locations across the country through brands you know and trust.