Vermont Business Magazine Mental wellness programs that are destigmatized, easily accessible, and affordable are essential for individuals and communities to thrive. Today’s $2.3 million in behavioral health grants from the Katz Amsterdam Charitable Trust, the family trust of Vail Resorts’ Executive Chairperson, Rob Katz, will increase access to care in nine of the mountain communities where Vail Resorts operates—with a focus on providing tele-behavioral health care, improving services for those in recovery from substance misuse, and creating more equitable access to care for BIPOC communities within these towns. In Vermont, Vail owns Okemo, Mount Snow and Stowe Mountain resorts.
In Vermont, grants include:
• Vermont Community Foundation - $250,000
To support several community non-profits that are working to implement tele-behavioral health services to provide greater access to those in need, to support those in recovery, and develop trauma-conscious programming for racial injustice healing. Sub-grantees include: Capstone Community Action, Community Health Services of Lamoille County, Lamoille Restorative Center, North Central Vermont Recovery Center, Springfield Medical Care System, Susu CommUNITY Farm, Turning Point Center of Springfield and United Counseling Services.
Dan Smith, president and CEO of the Vermont Community Foundation, said: “This generous gift from the Katz Amsterdam Charitable Trust will increase Vermonters’ access to tele-behavioral health care and substance use treatment, and improve behavioral health equity. We are grateful for expanded support for mental health care at the time when depression, anxiety, and other mental health challenges like substance use are at unprecedented levels among Vermont’s children and adults.”
Katz will also donate $32.5 million from SARs exercise to the family’s charitable trust and foundation, as well as over $1 million to non-profits working to expand behavioral health equity to support communities of color in the Western U.S. and almost $1.5 million in grants to support organizations that help promote multiracial civic engagement across the country.
Source: Vail Resorts 12.15.2021