Give an Hour Receives Grant From Major League Baseball and Major League Baseball Players Association to Promote Healthy Families

WASHINGTON, Aug. 26, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Give an Hour has received a generous grant from Major League Baseball (MLB) and Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) to help foster healthy family relationships and break the cycle of domestic violence. The "Healthy Relationships Community Grant" will allow Give an Hour to deploy the Emotional Life Skills® (ELS) program, an education family-based model, to teach mental health resiliency and family violence prevention to vulnerable families. 

For the past 15 years, Give an Hour has provided no-cost mental health services to our nation's most honored heroes: military service members, veterans, and their loved ones. Their licensed mental health providers have donated over 325,000 hours valued at $32.5 million since 2005. And recently, Give an Hour has developed its ELS program to teach people about maintaining positive mental health and well-being.

This grant will allow Give an Hour to expand the Emotional Life Skills® training to support families of health care workers dealing with COVID-19. Based on success with those families, Give an Hour hopes to secure additional funding to further deploy this initiative widely.

"Our vision with this grant program was to invest in high-impact organizations changing lives and communities," said Melanie LeGrande, MLB vice president of social responsibility. "In our second round of funding, the 11 grantees are a diverse group that spans a wide spectrum of programming which supports immigrants, families of COVID-19 frontline healthcare heroes, high school and college students, and survivors of domestic violence. We couldn't be more pleased to provide the organizations with funding to advance their work and outcomes around relationship health."

The Emotional Life Skills® program delivers the skills and tools that will empower family members to better care for themselves and those they love. The program takes an evidence-driven approach to teach life-long skills to improve and maintain emotional well-being. 

"Give an Hour is proud to be a recipient of the MLB and MLBLPA Healthy Community Grant designed to focus on mental health resiliency and foster good relationship skills," said Randy Phelps, Ph.D., CEO of Give an Hour. "Through our Emotional Life Skills platform, we will be able to provide the building blocks to support healthy family functioning and prevent family violence."

"We continue to be thankful to the many organizations whose work focuses on the promotion of healthy relationships," said Leonor Colon, Sr. Director International and Domestic Player Operations. "The organizations that have been selected are doing incredible work, and our Players are proud to support their efforts as they increase resources and expand their reach."

About Give an Hour®

Give an Hour, a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization was founded in 2005 by psychologist Dr. Barbara Van Dahlen. Give an Hour's mission is to develop networks of skill-based volunteer professionals capable of responding to both acute and chronic conditions prevalent within society, with the primary mission to provide free mental health services to U.S. service members, veterans, and their families. In 2015, Give an Hour expanded efforts to address the mental health needs of other populations including those affected by natural and man-made disasters. Thus far, the U.S. network of licensed mental health professionals has provided more than 325,000 hours valued at $32.5 million in services to those in need. www.giveanhour.org

Press Contact:
Sally Charney, [email protected]

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