Who We Are

Since its founding in 2001, the Brandywine Health Foundation has provided over $8.1 million in grants to non-profits improving the health of the greater Coatesville area.

In early April 2008, the new Brandywine Center, on the 700 block of Lincoln Highway in Coatesville, opened its doors to reach out to our neighbors in need of primary care, dental and mental health services who have had no comprehensive medical home – until now. The 48,000 square foot, 4-story center provides 24 units of affordable housing to low income seniors as well. This is the first major development project in the City of Coatesville in more than three decades.

We are proud that just over $13 million in financing and donations for the Center have been raised to date. It has been the foundation’s goal to minimize the amount of charitable private fundraising required for the building, using the foundation’s assets to leverage as much in public and private financing as possible. Including furniture and equipment, the Closing the Gap Campaign goal is $1,705,845, of which $1,438,127 has been raised.

Thanks to extremely generous grants of $82,500 from the William Penn Foundation, $20,000 from ArcelorMittal and $10,000 from the United Way of Chester County, the community planning process geared towards launching the Coatesville Youth Development Initiative is well underway.

Chaired by foundation board member Harry Lewis and underscoring one of the major components of the foundation’s strategic plan, the initiative’s purpose is to help the hardest-to-reach young people in our community succeed in life.

We are optimistic we will be able to implement a program in 2009 that will help us make inroads with the following goals:

• To improve the overall health of young people in the Coatesville area, ages 12-24, by addressing the broader social issues that prevent them from growing into productive, contributing adults;
  
• To develop a network of quality, year-round out-of-school programming and activities that facilitate young people's skill development, reduce juvenile criminal activity, aid in the improvement of school test scores and high school graduation rates, and help young people develop the leadership skills they will need to make a positive contribution to society; and
  
• To lay the groundwork for future community and economic development efforts in the Coatesville area by using the focus on improving opportunities for young people to develop a strong network of community leaders committed to working together on future Coatesville improvement projects.

The foundation continues in its 9th year to provide grants to programs our donors can trust will reduce the number of uninsured people in our community, fight pervasive barriers to care, and help as many residents as possible afford the medicines they need. For more information about the foundation’s grant making priorities, click on the Grants link.

For detailed information about the foundation's history, click here.

What We Believe

We’re passionate about health and inspired by the generosity of many friends, volunteers and partners. With this critical support, together in 2005 we succeeded in making primary healthcare and preventive dental care available to our area’s uninsured and underserved residents, thanks to the arrival of the ChesPenn Health Center, Inc. and Community Dental in Coatesville. We are also tremendously proud to give these two agencies, as well as the Child Guidance Resource Centers and Human Services, Inc. a permanent home with the new four-story building: the Brandywine Center which opened spring 2008.

We believe that the foundation’s resources will help our community take the big leaps forward needed to address critical health issues. We believe that by working with others we can improve health for all neighbors in the greater Coatesville area by improving access to high quality health care and empowering individuals and families to take control of their health thereby leading healthier, more active lives.

What We Do

The Brandywine Health Foundation brings people, organizations and resources together to improve the health and health care of all people in the greater Coatesville area. We partner with non-profit organizations, individuals, businesses, government leaders and other foundations to find solutions to critical health issues.

Our primary focus is to provide grants and to serve as a resource to non-profit organizations working to improve access to healthcare, dental health, prescription coverage, and mental health services to the uninsured and under-insured. Other priority funding areas include nursing scholarships and injury-prevention services.