The Central New York Community Foundation has named Oswego Health Foundation the winner of a $75,000 participatory budgeting grant to support comprehensive mental health initiatives focused on youth and young adults aged 11-20 in Oswego County. The winning proposal, focused on expanding the organization’s outpatient behavioral health programs, school-based therapy services, and its Teen Wellness Group, was selected through a public vote held Thursday, May 28, as part of the Community Foundation’s participatory budgeting initiative celebrating its upcoming centennial.
Voting took place online throughout the day and in person during a live community celebration held at the Children’s Museum of Oswego County. A total of 888 votes were cast.
The winning grant will help Oswego Health enhance staffing and service availability at school-based mental health clinics in Hannibal, Fulton and Oswego, while building on recently expanded services at CiTi BOCES in Mexico. The project will provide early intervention and treatment for youth experiencing anxiety, depression, trauma and other behavioral health concerns, helping them build resilience, strengthen coping skills and access care in familiar, supportive settings. Oswego Health also plans to explore additional community partnerships and future expansion opportunities to ensure more young people receive the mental health support they need regardless of their ability to pay.
“We are incredibly proud of the work our Mental Health and Wellness team does every day to support youth and families throughout our community,” said Michael Backus, president & CEO of Oswego Health. “This grant is especially meaningful because it reflects the confidence and support of our community members, who took the time to cast their votes on our behalf. We are also deeply grateful to the Oswego Health Foundation for its ongoing commitment to securing additional funding opportunities that strengthen and sustain our nonprofit healthcare system. Together, these funds will allow us to expand access to critical mental health resources and ensure young people in our region receive the care, guidance, and support they need to thrive.”
Thursday’s vote marked the culmination of a month-long community engagement process that invited Oswego County residents to help determine how funding should be invested locally. During two participatory budgeting sessions held earlier this month at Camp Zerbe, residents worked to identify pressing community challenges and develop project ideas that would best support local needs. Participants identified comprehensive mental health support for youth and young adults as the community’s top funding priority.
“This process was designed to ensure that residents had a direct voice in shaping solutions for their community,” said Qiana Williams, senior program officer at the Community Foundation. “Community members shared their experiences, identified what they believed was most needed and helped guide this investment from start to finish. That level of participation and collaboration is what makes participatory budgeting so meaningful.”
The ballot also included proposals submitted by Haven of Hope and Fulton Public Library. Participating nonprofit organizations worked closely with Community Foundation staff to refine their ideas and ensure proposals reflected community input gathered during the participatory budgeting sessions.
The Oswego County initiative is the first of five participatory budgeting projects the Community Foundation will host across its service area as part of its two-year centennial celebration leading up to 2027. Collectively, the initiatives will distribute $500,000 in funding through projects selected directly by residents. Additional participatory budgeting initiatives will take place in Madison, Cortland, Cayuga and Onondaga counties.
Participatory budgeting is a community engagement process in which residents help decide how funding is allocated through a structured process of community need identification, prioritization and voting. In partnership with residents, nonprofits and grassroots organizations, participants identify priorities, co-design solutions and ultimately select the project they believe will best address a community need.
To learn more about the Community Foundation’s participatory budgeting initiative, visit cnycf.org/pboswegocounty.
