W.K. Kellogg Foundation Awards $240,000 Grant to School-Based Center
The Center for Excellence in Health Care Journalism Will Provide Health and Disparities Training for Journalists
Columbia, Mo. (May 4, 2016) — The W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) has awarded a three-year $240,000 grant to the Center for Excellence in Health Care Journalism, the educational arm of the Association of Health Care Journalists. The center and the association are based at the Missouri School of Journalism.
The funding will continue to support the association’s annual conference and a Web-based reporting curriculum on social determinants of health and disparities.
WKKF joins the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust as “endowing sponsors” of the association’s annual conference. The conference is the premier training event for journalists interested in health and health care reporting. The Web funding is a continuation of WKKF’s support of AHCJ’s core topic curriculum. The curriculum includes a variety of areas considered essential for reporters to master if they are going to cover health and health care.
“The W.K. Kellogg Foundation recognized several years ago how important social determinants of health and health disparities were in the daily coverage of journalists,” said Len Bruzzese, executive director of AHCJ. “This coverage brings nuance and context to what otherwise might be strictly science reporting or local policy coverage. It points to education, income, neighborhoods, transportation and social networks, as well as more general access-to-care issues.”
Bruzzese is also an associate professor in the journalism school.
“As the media business model changes, it’s increasingly important to support opportunities for journalists to learn, discuss and hear insights about critical, timely issues,” said AJ Jones, chief policy and communications officer at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. “Support of AHCJ’s annual conference gives journalists the training to better report on the health inequities that affect the health and well-being of all children and families.”
The Association of Health Care Journalists is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing public understanding of health care issues. With about 1,500 members across the United States and around the globe, its mission is to improve the quality, accuracy and visibility of health care reporting, writing and editing. The association and its Center for Excellence in Health Care Journalism provide training, resources and a professional home for journalists. Offices are based at the Missouri School of Journalism.
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF), founded in 1930 as an independent, private foundation by breakfast cereal pioneer, Will Keith Kellogg, is among the largest philanthropic foundations in the United States. Guided by the belief that all children should have an equal opportunity to thrive, WKKF works with communities to create conditions for vulnerable children so they can realize their full potential in school, work and life.
The Kellogg Foundation is based in Battle Creek, Michigan, and works throughout the United States and internationally, as well as with sovereign tribes. Special emphasis is paid to priority places where there are high concentrations of poverty and where children face significant barriers to success. WKKF priority places in the U.S. are in Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico and New Orleans; and internationally, are in Mexico and Haiti.
Updated: September 25, 2020