Utah Group Will Receive $900,000 From RWJF in 2003 to Help Identify CHIP-Eligible Children

Officials from the child advocacy organization Utah Children on Nov. 11 announced they will receive a four-year $900,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation next year to help identify uninsured children who are eligible but not enrolled in the state's CHIP program, the Salt Lake Tribune reports. According to Karen Crompton, executive director of Utah Children, about 40,000 Utah children are uninsured but eligible for CHIP or Medicaid. The state's CHIP program covers 20,685 children, and the state Department of Health hopes to enroll "several thousand" more children during the current enrollment period, which ends Nov. 22. Crompton said that some funds from the grant have been designated for pilot projects in the Salt Lake and Granite school districts and the South Valley Community Boys & Girls Club. In addition, some of the funds will go toward coordinating services and funding the Covering Kids Coalition, which investigates ways to alter how state officials identify uninsured children (Santini, Salt Lake Tribune, 11/12).