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The David and Lura Lovell Foundation Awards $1.2 Million in 2016

The David and Lura Lovell Foundation awarded $1.2 million in grants during 2016 to support projects related to mental health, integrative health and wellness, and youth access to the arts.  A new area of interest, gender parity, is currently under development. Since its founding in 1994, the Lovell Foundation has awarded more than $14 million in grants to nonprofit organizations in its core focus areas and for projects of special interest to second and third generation family members.

The Lovell Foundation was established with proceeds from the sale of the Colton Chemical Company in Toledo, Ohio, which David Lovell founded and grew for 25 years. When he died unexpectedly at the age of 66, his wife Lura and daughter Ann moved the foundation forward. It is based in Tucson, where Lura lived part time before her death in 2013, and Ann Lovell, board chair, has lived since 1989.

2016 awards in the foundation’s main areas of interest include:

Mental Health

  • $120,000 to Arizona Public Media (AZPM) toward development of a 60-minute documentary on the mental health of teens and youth. Production will include in-depth, diverse and thoughtful storytelling that engages viewers emotionally and exposes them to new perspectives, as well as an extensive community engagement project.
  • $35,000 to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) of Greater Toledo: $5,000 toward support of the Kidshop workshop for children who have a mental health diagnosis or a family member with a mental health diagnosis, and $30,000 toward support of education programs for families who have a loved one living with a mental illness.

Integrative Health and Wellness

  • $300,000, payable over two years, to the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine to develop the Integrative Health Self Care program (IHSC), a user friendly, online, interactive integrative health resource for the public. Developed with a motivational interviewing frame, it will search to uncover an individual’s motivation for lifestyle change and increase patient health and wellness. Collaboration with multiple partners will facilitate IHSC delivery to underserved populations nationwide. A coordinated research project will track IHSC effectiveness.
  • $25,000 to Interfaith Community Services (ICS) in Tucson, in sponsorship of their 2016 Annual Conference – Faith Communities & Well-Being: Mind, Body, and Spirit, which is an integral component of ICS’s whole health programming. The conference targets faith community staff and lay leaders, health professionals and the general public.  Esther Sternberg of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine was a keynote speaker at the April event.
  • $50,000 to Tucson’s Elizabeth’s Health Center in support of their Behavioral Health Department, which plays a critical role in serving uninsured and under-insured patients at discounted rates. Insurance reimbursement helps, but is insufficient to subsidize these services. Lovell Foundation funds will also add 20 additional hours each week for the Licensed Certified Social Worker on staff.  This grant will enable St. Elizabeth’s to see additional patients and provide better supervision for their interns.
  • $200,000 to the University of Arizona College of Nursing for continued funding of the Integrative Nursing Faculty Fellowship (INFF) program. Within a three-year timeframe, INFF will establish the fellowship program, develop integrative nursing curriculum tools, establish a collaborative network of peer nursing colleagues, and build inter-professional relationships.
  • $8,000 to ProMedica Health System in Toledo, Ohio, toward funding of the 13th Annual Integrative Medicine Conference, Wellness across the Age Spectrum. The conference includes a free evening community event and full-day Continuing Medical Education conference designed for physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals.
  • $35,000 in 2016, plus $75,000 payable from 2017-2020, to The Victory Center toward providing additional units of service to cancer patients and survivors. Integrative therapies and programs supplement any medical treatment survivors may be seeking.  Participants range in age, diagnosis and economic status.  For 20 years The Victory Center has served cancer patients, survivors and family members in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan at no cost.

Youth Access to the Arts

  • $8,000 to Tucson’s Invisible Theatre for Project Pastime, an interdisciplinary arts program designed to increase understanding and acceptance of the diverse qualities and gifts of mentally and physically challenged young people. Participants at Doolen Middle School receive twice-weekly instruction in music, drama, and dance for eight months each year. This culminates in a powerful and inspiring production of an original musical called THE ME INSIDE OF ME, which the students help to create as well as perform for community and school audiences.
  • $15,000 to the Toledo Museum of Art (TMA) toward the Art After School (AAS) program, serving children within local neighborhoods facing socio-economic and educational life challenges. AAS offers children who would otherwise have no means to come to TMA opportunities to learn about art, take classes, and connect with working artists.  AAS fosters skills in critical thinking, problem solving, communication and collaboration, and cultivates empathy.  The program partners with local youth service organizations and schools to provide free gallery and studio experiences throughout the school year and during the summer.
  • $70,000, payable over two years, to the Toledo Symphony Orchestra (TSO) toward Community Music Lessons (CML) and Young People’s Concerts. CML students are exposed to technical skills, performance expectations and a level of professionalism otherwise unavailable to them, and teachers double as mentors.  CML students participate in an annual spring recital.  TSO also invites students in grades 4-8 to Young People’s Concerts designed to incorporate lessons learned in the classroom with music.
  • $10,000 to the Tucson Museum of Art to advance the positive impact of the Family Destination Project by supporting the growth and improvement of its three existing components – Picture This!, the Creative Space, and Activity Guides – and the introduction of a fourth, a pilot drop-in program called School Break Sketch-In: a direct response to requests from families for more arts enrichment opportunities during school breaks and holidays. School Break Sketch-In will become an integral part of the Family Destination Project, providing greater opportunities for children to imagine, create and learn.
  • $15,000 to the Tucson Symphony Orchestra (TSO) as continued funding for Music in the Schools/Young People’s Concerts, which connect the classroom to the concert hall for more than 13,000 third through eighth graders from 90 schools, primarily in Tucson. This nationally-recognized program provides teachers with a standards-aligned education curriculum and in-school performance by TSO ensembles, and culminates each spring with the Young People’s Concerts performed by the full orchestra at the Tucson Music Hall.
  • $20,000 to the University of Arizona Foundation for the benefit of UA Presents – Lead Guitar. Lead Guitar students learn technique, music reading, theory, performance skills, and ensemble playing. Through these skills, they develop self-discipline, self-esteem, and the ability to work as a team – attributes that help them realize success throughout their lives. Lovell funding will support Lead Guitar programs in three additional schools, for a total of five, including Catalina High School, Amphitheater Middle and High Schools, Summit View Elementary and Roberts-Naylor K-8.