McCormick Foundation, Major League Baseball Announces Final Grants for Welcome Back Veterans

CHICAGO, Jan. 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Robert R. McCormick Foundation, in partnership with Major League Baseball, awarded the final round of grants from the Welcome Back Veterans (WBV) initiative totaling nearly $1.8 million dollars. WBV supports the behavioral health needs of America's veterans, service members and their families through high quality evidence-based care, family support and education, peer support and connection to resources, and training the behavioral health workforce.  The program was launched in 2008 by Major League Baseball and the McCormick Foundation.

Since its inception, WBV has awarded more than $30 million to support returning service members, veterans, and militaries families. During this period, the initiative funded a national network of Centers of Excellence across a total of seven academic medical centers with the goal of expanding access and improving the quality of community-based mental health care for veterans and their families.

"The Welcome Back Veterans initiative has helped to enhance and expand the network of mental health care provided to veterans as they make the transition home from service," said Don Cooke, Senior Vice President at the Robert R. McCormick Foundation. "The success of this public/private partnership serves as a model for organizations seeking to improve the lives of veterans, servicemembers, and military families."

Over the last ten years, Welcome Back Veterans served more than 10,000 veterans, service members and their families and trained close to 30,000 clinicians to better meet the needs of the veteran and military community.

"We have been proud to work alongside the McCormick Foundation over the last decade to provide veterans, service members and families with assistance for some of their greatest needs," said Melanie LeGrande, Vice President of Social Responsibility, Major League Baseball. "It has been our sport's great honor to support these centers in their tireless work of supporting the individuals and families who have sacrificed so much for our country and society."

Here is the final list of grantee organizations for the WBV initiative:

About the Robert R. McCormick Foundation 
The Robert R. McCormick Foundation works with communities in Chicagoland and across Illinois to develop educated, informed, and engaged citizens. Through philanthropic grantmaking and Cantigny Park, the Foundation works to make life better in Chicagoland. The McCormick Foundation, among the nation's largest foundations with more than $1.5 billion in assets, was established in 1955 upon the death of Col. Robert R. McCormick, the longtime editor and publisher of the Chicago Tribune. Find out more at www.mccormickfoundation.org.

About Major League Baseball Charities
Major League Baseball Charities is a not-for-profit corporation that provides support to local, national and international tax-exempt organizations to directly conduct or sponsor activities for the promotion of good health, physical education, public safety, medical research, literacy, educational or charitable purposes. In addition to supporting Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA), the Official Charity of Major League Baseball, MLB Charities provides support to a number of other national charitable initiatives, including Stand Up To Cancer, Jackie Robinson Foundation, No Bully and the National Network to End Domestic Violence. The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball pays all administrative expenses for MLB Charities.

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SOURCE Robert R. McCormick Foundation