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2025-2026 Kosair for Kids Grants

Countless Kosair Kids will have better outcomes from the start thanks to grants recently approved by the Kosair for Kids Board of Directors. 

Enhancing Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) services across our region was a significant focus this year, with three of the largest grants benefiting NICUs providing care for thousands of children annually.

In total, more than $15 million in Kosair Kids Grants will benefit 91 organizations working to provide healthcare, end child abuse and neglect, find breakthrough treatments through research, and deliver much-needed educational and social service opportunities to at-risk children. 

“The partners Kosair for Kids is supporting with these grants make it possible for us to help tens of thousands of children each year,” explained Barry Dunn, President and CEO of Kosair for Kids. “This comprehensive coalition supports the most vulnerable when they need a champion. They provide moments of joy and hope when kids just need to be kids. Through these grants, we stand by the promise made 102 years ago that we will cooperate and work in harmony with all agencies interested in the welfare of children.”

Five million dollars will fund renovations and expansions of Baptist Health NICUs in Louisville, New Albany, Lexington, and Corbin. The funds will increase critical care across the system that delivers around 25% of all Kentucky babies born each year. 

UofL Health will use its $3 million grant for a major NICU renovation project in Louisville. State-of-the-art equipment and five new private rooms will provide the hospital with what it needs to meet the growing demand for specialized neonatal care.

Baptist Health Deaconess Madisonville will receive $210,000 for care stations and monitors used in its NICU. This equipment will minimize the need to transfer medically fragile babies between equipment during their stay, provide easier access to caregiving, promote family-centered care, and support healthy development. Newborn children and their families across western Kentucky will experience the benefits of this grant.

“We can and must do our part to give vulnerable newborns a fighting chance at a healthy life,” said Ken Reiss, Kosair for Kids Board Chairman. “These grants to NICUs will help provide healing for today and hope for tomorrow.” 

The Board of Directors funded organizations within all facets of the Kosair for Kids circle of care, which includes healthcare, education, research, social services, and child advocacy. The grants reaffirm the organization’s vow to help all children live life to the fullest.

Thanks to a $200,000 grant, Green Hill Therapy will increase the reach of its equine-assisted therapy sessions by 25%. Their programs increase the physical, emotional, and cognitive development of the 1,200 children it serves annually.

The Kosair for Kids Child Advocacy Center (CAC) at Family and Children’s Place in Louisville provides vital services for investigating, treating, and prosecuting child abuse cases. A $150,000 grant will support this effort and the multidisciplinary team that stands ready to help kids at a moment’s notice. One beloved member of that team, Emmie the service dog, is set to retire. This grant will provide for her replacement.

 

Here is a complete list of this year’s Kosair for Kids grantees:

2NOT1 Fatherhood & Families, Inc. $45,000

Academy for Individual Excellence $60,000

Allegro Dance Project $3,700

Archdiocese of Louisville $22,724

Backside Learning Center $15,000

Baptist Health Deaconess Madisonville Foundation, Inc. $210,000

Baptist Health Foundation $5,000,000

Baya Corporation $20,000

Big Brother Big Sisters of Kentuckiana $65,000

Bluegrass Center for Autism $160,000

Boys & Girls Club of Kentuckiana $60,000

Camberwell Grief Sanctuary $14,160

Camp Quality Kentuckiana $30,000

CASA of the Heartland, Inc. $15,000

CASA of the River Region $100,000

Centro Latino of Shelbyville, Inc. $10,866

Children’s Advocacy Centers of Kentucky $75,000

Children’s Home of Northern Kentucky $100,000

Children’s Law Center, Inc. $10,000

Christopher 2X Game Changers, Inc. $130,000

Community Coordinated Child Care (4-C) $39,300

Critically Loved $12,000

Dorman Preschool Center $50,000

Down Syndrome of Louisville $200,000

Dreams With Wings, Inc. $55,000

Duchenne Research Education and Miracle Foundation, Inc. $100,000

Easterseals Bluegrass $8,000

Epilepsy Foundation of Kentuckiana $45,000

Exploited Children’s Help Organization $84,000

Family and Children’s Place $150,000

Family Community Clinic, Inc. $10,000

Family Enrichment Center $50,250

Family Nurturing Center of Kentucky $50,000

Father Maloney’s Boys Haven, Inc. $100,000

Gilda’s Club Louisville $100,000

Green Hill Therapy $200,000

Harbor House of Louisville $135,200

Heuser Hearing & Language Academy $241,500

Hosparus Health $45,000

Huntington’s Disease Society of America – Kentucky Chapter $15,000

J.O.Y. Ministries $15,000

Jewish Community Center of Louisville, Inc. $15,000

Junior Achievement of Kentuckiana, Inc. $25,000

Kentucky CASA Network $70,000

Kentucky Dance Council, Inc. dba Louisville Ballet $35,000

Kentucky Diabetes Camp for Children, Inc. dba Camp Hendon $16,500

Kentucky Hemophilia Foundation, Inc $82,500

Kentucky Kids on the Block $34,000

Kentucky Youth Advocates $750,000

Kids Cancer Alliance, Inc. $75,000

Kids Center for Pediatric Therapies $560,000

Kosair Shrine Center $125,000

KY Center for Special Children’s Services dba Carriage House Educational Services $24,617

KY Circuit Clerks’ Trust for Life $100,000

Lighthouse Promise, Inc. dba Lighthouse Academy at Newburg $7,500

Lincoln Heritage Council, Boy Scouts of America $10,000

Little Lighthouse of Central Kentucky $18,000

Louisville Metro Police Foundation $50,000

Maryhurst, Inc $30,000

Masonic Homes of Kentucky, Inc. $104,000

Meredith Dunn School $75,000

Miracle League of Louisville $24,000

NAMI Louisville $40,000

Nativity Academy at St. Boniface $20,000

Operation Care, Inc. $25,000

Operation Parent $10,700

Orchid House, Inc. $30,000

Pikeville Medical Center $33,911

Ready Fest Incorporated $10,000

Ronald McDonald House Charities of Kentuckiana, Inc. $100,000

Safe Passage $50,000

Shively Area Ministries $35,000

Shriners Children’s Ohio $13,500

Shriners Hospitals for Children Medical Center-Lexington $250,000

Shriners International Education Foundation $111,000

Spina Bifida Association of KY $31,800

St. Joseph’s Children’s Home $125,000

Summit Academy of Greater Louisville $68,285

Sunrise Children’s Services, Inc. $80,000

The Butterfly House of Shelby County $15,000

The Cabbage Patch Settlement House $15,000

The Center of Owensboro-Daviess County, Inc $50,000

The de Paul School $40,000

The REATH Center $15,000

Theta Omega, Inc. $62,500

TIGER Foundation $40,000

University of Kentucky Division of Pediatric Forensic Medicine $475,000

Kosair for Kids Frazier Rehabilitation Pediatric Rehab $47,300

UofL Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit $3,000,000

UofL Pediatric Dentistry $50,000

Visually Interventions and Parental Support (VIPS) $100,000

Youth Golf Coalition, Inc. dba First Tee $25,000