Collaborative Fund Offers Resources to Support Minority and LGBTQ Mental Health Initiatives

A new collaborative fund backed by an investment and incubation company created by Melinda Gates has been created to boost mental healthcare for minority and/or LGBTQ+ adolescents in the United States, particularly in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Upswing Fund for Adolescent Mental Health is seeded by Gates’ Pivotal Ventures, with support from Panorama Global, a Seattle-based think tank organization. Solomé Tibebu, a behavioral health strategist whose previous roles have included positions in behavioral health and human service consulting, venture capital, corporate development and with behavioral health software firms, is the fund’s director.

The Upswing Fund is accepting applications from not-for-profit provider and service organizations for the purposes of supporting:

• Increased patient capacity
• Short-term program goals
• Investment in technology and telehealth resources

“Adolescents today are living through a number of competing crises that would be extremely destabilizing on their own, let alone together all at once,” Panorama founder and CEO Gabrielle Fitzgerald said in a news release. “In response to the coronavirus pandemic’s devastating effect on youth and adolescents across the country, The Upswing Fund will provide much-needed resources to impactful programs supporting adolescents who are of color and/or LGBTQ+.”

Organizations can apply for grants from the Upswing Fund at: theupswingfund.org.