In 2014, the Stewart Trust collaborated with the Pew Charitable Trusts to merge the Stewart Cancer Research Fellows program with the Pew Biomedical Scholars program, creating the Pew-Stewart Scholars for Cancer Research program.
Each year, nominations are solicited from all NCI-designated Cancer Centers, and other academic centers with a strong focus on cancer research. Five are selected by a scientific advisory committee of nationally known cancer experts, and each scholar receives four years of funding (thus 20 Scholars in the program each year). The Scholars have broad discretion to innovate in approaches that range from genetics, structural biology, pharmacology, and informatics among others. Annually, the 20 Pew-Stewart Cancer Scholars meet with Pew Biomedical Scholars to collaborate and exchange ideas.
Christ House
Care of homeless persons with cancer
Food & Friends
Meals to DC persons with cancer
Nueva Vida
Services for Latinas with cancer
Sibley Memorial Hospital Foundation
Cancer Peer Support Pilot Program
AppleTree Institute for Education Innovation
Early childhood mental health
Bright Beginnings
Therapeutic services and home visiting for homeless children
Capital Caring
Pediatric hospice care
Children’s National Medical Center
Mental Health Policy Lab and Autism Care
Community of Hope, Inc.
General operating for pediatric care
Easter Seals Greater Washington-Baltimore Region, Inc.
Comprehensive therapy and nursing services for young children with disabilities
Educare
Therapeutic services for children
House of Ruth
Comprehensive therapy services at kidspace
Kids First, Inc.
Pediatric orthopedic surgical trips
La Clinica del Pueblo, Inc.
General operating for pediatric care
Mary’s Center for Maternal and Child Care, Inc.
General operating for pediatric care
National Rehabilitation Hospital
NCCR’s national therapeutic recreation program
Potomac River Clinic
Auditory verbal therapy program
Prevention of Blindness Society
Children’s vision program
Reginald S. Lourie Center for Infants & Young Children
Mental health component program; expansion of therapeutic programming
Rosemount Center
Bi-lingual speech-language therapist and mental health clinician
Special Love, Inc.
Camp Fantastic
St. Coletta
Speech and language therapy
The Barker Adoption Foundation
Crisis Pregnancy Counseling Program
Wendt Center for Healing and Loss
Child healing to improve learning and development (C.H.I.L.D)
The Stewart Trust occasionally makes investments that are larger than the average grant size when the Trust sees an opportunity to leverage a significant, strategic impact in support of the Trust’s mission. Some examples of the Trust’s work include:
Proton Therapy Collaboration
In 2013, the Stewart Trust pledged $1 million for a proposed joint pediatric radiation oncology and dedicated pediatric proton beam facility for Children’s National Medical Center, Sibley Memorial Hospital, and Johns Hopkins University. Proton therapy is more precise and less toxic than conventional radiation therapy and has been shown to be beneficial for specific types of patients, including children with cancer and adults with tumors near vital organs.
The Trust’s investment leveraged significant government and foundation funding for a pediatric gantry/“vault” to provide highly specialized cancer treatment for children in Washington, DC, and related research.
Dr. Matthew Ladra was selected to lead the pediatric proton therapy program at Sibley Memorial Hospital in 2015. The Johns Hopkins National Proton Therapy Center at Sibley is currently scheduled to open in 2019 and will be a critical resource for cancer patients in the Washington, DC, region and beyond.
Children’s National Community Mental Health Core (CMHC)
In 2018, The Trust invested $1 million to create the Children’s National Community Mental Health Core (CMHC). Nationally and in Washington, DC, 1 in 5 children has a diagnosable mental disorder and 1 in 10 has a serious mental health problem that is severe enough to impair how they function at home, school, or in the community. Mental health is optimally addressed across the physical health care, social support, and education delivery systems using a whole-child, family-centered approach.
CMHC is grounded in the research core and Collective Impact models, and will build on the existing work of the DC Collaborative for Mental Health in Pediatric Primary Care. The goal of the CMHC will be to increase the scope and impact of Children’s National community-based mental health activities with a specific focus on expanding and leveraging community partnerships to improve access to quality care and create transformative sustainable systems changes to improve child mental health in Washington, DC.
Teen Pregnancy Prevention Efforts
Since 2000, the Trust has participated in a broad community effort to prevent teen pregnancy, led by its grantee D.C. Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. The Campaign reports that since 1999, the DC teen pregnancy rate has fallen a remarkable 75 percent, yet reductions in some communities were not significant.
In late 2016, the Stewart Trust, in collaboration with providers and other funders (such as the Naomi and Nehemiah Cohen Foundation, the Cafritz Foundation, the Meyer Foundation, the MARPAT Foundation, and the Preservation for Affordable Housing) called for a needs assessment to address this and related issues.
As part of a competitive selection process, the Trust worked with the Washington Area Women’s Foundation to select the George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health to conduct the assessment in 2017. Read the assessment.
Health Care in Disadvantaged D.C. Communities
Led collaborations of D.C. foundations and non-profits to win matching grants under the competitive Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) “Local Initiatives Funding Partners Program” for new health clinics in economically disadvantaged sections of the District. Resulted in new capacity for medical care of thousands of city residents.
Adoption of Abandoned Infants
Led public-private collaboration to reduce time required for adoption of abandoned infants, resulting in more rapid stability for the child at a crucial formative time. Results: substantial increase in the number of abandoned infants per year being placed in permanent homes, in one-third the time previously required, and nearly tripling the number of D.C. adoptions processed annually.
Elementary School Reading Initiative
Led trial initiative to improve reading skills and scores of elementary school students in the District. Stewart Trust funded research of best practices to improve reading, and for screening methods to determine children with special needs. Provided results to D.C. School system leaders and advocated for additional screening of children for reading impairments and funding of intensive reading improvement program.
Hospice Service to Economically Disadvantaged
Initiated and led a Hospice collaboration to control a costly rivalry between D.C. hospices and improve service to the poor, including pediatric hospice. Results included a joint media campaign to encourage more hospice use by minorities, reduction in duplicative administrative efforts, lower per-patient “unit costs,” improved financial stability of the hospices, and eventual merger of two hospices.
Cancer Research
Planned and executed an innovative cancer research program leveraging the Trust’s resources to establish a competitive selection program for cancer research “pilot projects”. Seven universities participated, including Johns Hopkins, Harvard, and Columbia, resulting in over 250 pilot research projects selected from some 1,000 proposals, leading to scores of NIH follow-on grants and published research papers. This program was modified into the Stewart Cancer Scholars Program, and ultimately the Pew-Stewart Cancer Research Scholars Program initiated in 2014.
Children’s National Medical Center Healthy Generations Program
The Alexander and Margaret Stewart Trust in partnership with The Summit Fund and the Philip L. Graham Fund, made a commitment to be the lead local partner for the establishment of the Children’s National Medical Center Healthy Generations program which was seeking matching funds from the Robert Wood Johnson Local Initiative Funding program. The Healthy Generations program joined Children’s in partnership with a coalition of service providers to provide primary care for teen parents and their children, as well as social and mental health services, career counseling, parenting training, and home visitation. The Healthy Generations program is still a thriving medical program at Children’s National today.
Children’s National Medical Center MRI Grant
The Stewart Trust committed funds to add a second MRI machine at Children’s to help alleviate the back-log in diagnosing young patients. The addition of the MRI machine allowed Children’s to double the number of patients seen. The Trust funding was leveraged in order for Children’s to seek bond funding from the District of Columbia which not only helped with the purchase of the MRI but additional medical equipment such as a CT scanner and cardiac catherization lab equipment. The largest private investment for the MRI Machine helped transform Children’s MRI suite and Neuroradiology program.
