Children’s Nebraska receives $5.51M grant from the James M. Cox Foundation

The Behavioral Health & Wellness Center at Children’s Nebraska is celebrating a milestone gift: a $5.51 million grant from the James M. Cox Foundation. The funding will support innovative, high-tech solutions to improve mental health outcomes and care experiences for children and teens across Nebraska and the region. The Foundation is the charitable arm of Cox Enterprises, the parent company of Cox Communications, and named after the company’s founder.

The Behavioral Health & Wellness Center, set to open in January, will provide a full continuum of care to improve physical and mental health and wellbeing to ensure youth and families can access the care and immediate support they need, regardless of the level of crisis they are experiencing. With its innovative model of care, healing design and co-location with pediatric medical services, the facility is a first for the region and nationally distinctive.

As part of the Center’s continuum of care, funding from the James M. Cox Foundation will bring together Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) therapeutics, therapeutic gaming and on-demand, in-room sensory controls into an innovative care model to support patients’ emotions, coping and resilience. The grant also funds a new virtual program that will safely and securely connect families to quality trusted care from their desktops at home or mobile devices on-the-go.

“This visionary investment will provide meaningful support and empowerment to countless youth in crisis, when they need it most,” said Chanda Chacón, MPH, FACHE, President & CEO of Children’s Nebraska. “This is more than innovation; it’s a bold transformation of what pediatric behavioral health can look like when compassion, science and technology come together. We are incredibly grateful to the James M. Cox Foundation for its commitment to improving our communities and the lives of children and families.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control, suicide remains the nation’s second-leading cause of death for teens. The mental health crisis is especially acute in Nebraska, where one in five youth have been diagnosed with a condition requiring treatment, surpassing the national average. ^[1]

“Cox and Children’s Nebraska are united by a shared mission: to empower and provide opportunities to everyone we serve,” said Kim Rowell, market vice president for Cox Communications Nebraska/Iowa. “With this generous support from the Foundation, we’re now deepening our longstanding partnership and taking a transformative step together toward a brighter, healthier future for all youth throughout our region.”

^{[1] Source: 2020-21 National Survey of Children’s Health, National Outcome Measures, as published by Voices of Children in Nebraska, 2022 Kids Count in Nebraska Report, 2022, Omaha, NE: 31.}