PRESS RELEASE: Saint Joseph Community Health Foundation Awards YWCA Northeast Indiana $30,000 for Addiction Recovery Services

[FORT WAYNE, INDIANA, JANUARY 13, 2025] – YWCA Northeast Indiana received a $30,000 grant for the Saint Joseph Community Health Foundation to support YWCA’s addiction recovery services in 2025. YWCA’s addiction recovery services help adult women with substance use disorder live in recovery so that they can take back control of their lives. Their residential addiction recovery program is one of only six programs in the state of Indiana that allow women to bring their children with them into the program. 

Grant funding will focus specifically on supporting women who enter the addiction recovery program at YWCA and are pregnant or who become pregnant while in the program. Women with substance use disorder who become pregnant face serious health risks, including death for both the mother and infant. Overdose is the leading cause of maternal mortality in Indiana. The 2023 Indiana Dept of Health Maternal Mortality Review Committee Report found that overdose  accounted for 28% of all pregnancy-associated deaths in 2021.

YWCA’s services are saving lives and making a direct impact on women and children who are vulnerable due to substance use. Paula Hughes-Schuh, CEO of YWCA Northeast Indiana, says, “We are so grateful for the support we receive from the Saint Joseph Community Health Foundation. Funds will ensure women and their babies are healthy so they can begin setting personal and financial goals for their lives based on integrity, dignity and self respect.”

YWCA is grateful to continue to be a funded partner of the Saint Joseph Community Health Foundation.