SWACH Awards Over $800,000 to Advance Rural Health Equity Across Southwest Washington
Vancouver, WA — Southwest Washington Accountable Community of Health (SWACH) is excited to announce that we’ve awarded more than $800,000 to community-based organizations. These organizations strongly represent work being done across Klickitat and Skamania counties, and rural parts of Clark County to improve rural health outcomes.
This funding is part of SWACH’s Strengthening Rural Health in Southwest Washington campaign, a collaborative effort led by the organization’s Community Health Improvement (CHI) department. The initiative supports innovative, community-driven approaches to addressing health equity in rural areas.
Following a competitive application process, SWACH selected six proposals that demonstrate strong alignment with community needs and a clear commitment to advancing access to care.
Award recipients include:
CultureSeed – Building infrastructure to enhance youth mental health programming through outdoor therapy and capacity-building.
Prevent Coalition/ESD 112 – Promoting mental and physical wellness for youth through prevention efforts.
Recovery Café of Clark County – Expanding pop-up Recovery Café sites into rural areas for peer support and connection.
Washington Gorge Action Programs & Klickitat County Childcare Committee – Supporting residents in becoming licensed childcare providers to fill a regional workforce gap.
Washington Gorge Action Programs & KLINK – This proposal establishes a mental health and wellness hub to expand services through colocation and telehealth.
XChange Recovery – Offering transportation to rural residents for behavioral health and substance use services.
“We are excited to provide focused, continued investment in rural Southwest Washington,” said Nichole Peppers, SWACH Executive Director. “These projects provide critical access to care, while helping our communities build and grow thriving resources. At SWACH, we recognize that there is more work to be done to provide equitable access to care in our rural communities. We are proud to support these agencies as they work to grow quality resources designed to specifically address the needs of rural Southwest Washington.”
SWACH’s investment aims to foster sustainable partnerships, bridge service gaps, and strengthen the broader rural health network across Southwest Washington. The campaign is also part of SWACH’s larger goal of improving access to culturally responsive, community-based care.
As part of SWACH's work to support rural health initiatives, we have reached an agreement to provide administrative support and project management of the Klickitat Opioid Abatement fund process. More information about that initiative will be available in July.
