For more than 25 years, United Way of Anchorage has provided unrestricted annual funding to health care nonprofits. Our grants have furthered causes and created specific results. They’ve empowered nonprofits to envision new ways to meet our community’s health needs and helped make them happen. The work that we fund ranges from expanding outreach to covering gaps in services to offsetting non-billable costs. The health care nonprofits that we support offer Alaskans many services, and an important one is mental health care. Learn more about healthy community.
Consider, for instance, Alaska Behavioral Health (AKBH)—a clinic that has received our grants. Like us, AKBH is committed to health care access and knows that normalizing mental health treatment reduces its stigma and encourages more Alaskans to pursue it. When people receive timely and ongoing treatment for mental health concerns, they’re more likely to stabilize and make safe choices. In fiscal year 2025, we gave AKBH close to $29,000. The funding, made possible by our generous donors, helped Alaskans who were facing mental health challenges to get care and continue their treatments.
According to Joshua Arvidson, the Chief Operating Officer at AKBH, “United Way has sent a positive message about people seeking mental health care.” He notes how we support thinking of mental health care simply as health care. Because AKBH’s perspective aligns with United Way’s, we make great partners.
“What United Way gives us has filled gaps and improved our services,” says Jessica Cochran, AKBH’s Director of Communications. “We’ve used it to buy a minivan to transport clients, to keep our doors to our Power Center open longer, and to stock our therapeutic areas with free snacks and drinks.” How do these purchases help?
The minivan makes it possible to transport children to and from AKBH’s Little Tykes Therapeutic Program, removing a barrier to kids getting the help they need. Power Center gives at-risk 13 to 24-year-olds a place to drop in and receive peer-driven support. The food offers calm to people engaging in counseling sessions. Keeping people cared for encourages them to continue receiving treatment, which thereby supports positive mental health outcomes.
Fortunately, in Alaska, referrals aren’t required for mental health care. Anyone can call AKBH or any health care provider to schedule appointments. However, as is true for all health care, there is always more work to do. The more United Way can do to support health care access, the stronger our community will be. “It’s meaningful that United Way cares about our work,” says Joshua, mentioning AKBH’s thankfulness is about more than receiving funding from us. “It’s about people getting the care they need.” By donating to United Way, you can help us fund grants and create solutions that improve our community.