ABOUT THE FOUNDATION

The Viola W. Bernard Foundation was established initially in 1968 as the Tappanz Foundation to provide seed money for innovative mental health programs with a particular emphasis on families and children. The mission of the Viola W. Bernard Foundation remains to support innovative programs that address the interplay between social conditions and the psychological health of children and families. The Foundation is a $5 million estate making grants of $200,000 each year.

Following Dr. Bernard's leadership in the field of community and social psychiatry, the grants we support emphasize individual psychosocial services as part of larger programs in community psychiatry. In addition, we consider research programs in our area of interest.

Recognizing that new social situations create new psychological needs, we anticipate grant requests for mental health programs that evolve out of emerging issues and changing needs, requiring innovative approaches: for instance, the transition from welfare to work, from dependency to independence, from delinquency and rebellion to cooperation. Opportunities for grant support continuously emerge around foci of social conflict that often involve the police, school support and social agencies.

ABOUT DR. VIOLA BERNARD

Dr. Viola W. Bernard (1907-1998) dedicated her life to a conception of psychiatry that broadened the traditional definition of patient-therapist psychiatry to encompass the impact of the social environment on the individual. Graduating from Cornell Medical College in 1936, she began her psychoanalytic and psychiatric training at Columbia University, with which she remained affiliated for the rest of her life. Dr. Bernard brought her skills to bear on the social problems surrounding her, pioneering the field of community and social psychiatry, in which she led psychiatrists in utilizing their training to address the psychological problems embedded in the social environment. For instance, she co-authored a major paper on the psychological effects of the nuclear arms race, and another on the psychological effects of racism. Concerned about the psychoanalytic community's limited reach, she worked tirelessly to broaden the access of disadvantaged communities to the skills of psychiatry and psychoanalysis. She focused considerable energy on children's mental health and led efforts to help adopted and foster children become better integrated into their new surroundings.

Her psychiatric concerns mirrored her societal and political efforts, and these included her opposition to McCarthyism in the United States in the1950s, rescuing children from Nazi Europe in the 1930s and 1940s through the Wagner-Rogers Bill, and other national efforts. (See PBS special , "THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: AMERICA & THE HOLOCAUST.")

In addition to her efforts to improve the society in which she lived, she was a leader in the mainstream psychiatric movement, serving as Vice President of the American Psychiatric Association.

• http://www.columbiapsychoanalytic.org/
  
• http://www.psychoanalysis.org/

Dr. Bernard served as a distinguished professor of psychoanalysis and professor emeritus at Columbia University, where she founded the School of Community Psychiatry. Dr. Bernard's archives are housed at the Columbia University School of Public Health, and contain 450 collated volumes, as well audio and video records, on the social history of New York City and national programs of social change, in addition to her psychiatric work, research, philanthropy, and biographical and personal papers. Selected items from the archive are on special display at Columbia University through January of 2005 (available here).

Some of her work is also archived at the NIH's National Library of Medicine. Among the many awards she received for her work, she was honored by the American Psychiatric Association with both its Distinguished Service Award (1983) and its Special Presidential Commendation (1986), by the American College of Psychiatrists with its Distinguished Service Award (1986), and by the Association for Psychoanalytic Medicine with its Daniel's Award (1985).

• New York Times Obituary, April 6, 1998
• Columbia Faculty Remembered: Viola Wertheim Bernard (1907-1998), by Nicholas P. Christy '51
• Tribute by Dr. Perry Ottenberg in The Bulletin, a publication of the Association for Psychoanalytic Medicine (index only)

HOW TO APPLY

Grant applications are considered twice a year, in October and March. The deadlines are August 31st for the October meeting, and January 31st for the March meeting. Applicants will be notified as to whether their application has been granted by written notice within approximately 30 days after Board action.

Grant award amounts will vary and depend on the scope of the project proposed.

Grant applications should be submitted in five (5) copies to:

Perry Ottenberg, M.D.
Dr. Perry Ottenberg
601 Walnut Street
Suite 960
Philadelphia, PA 19106
215-829-0727 (phone)

Faxed or e-mailed applications will not be accepted.

APPLICATION GUIDELINES

Funding Priorities:

1. Grants are generally limited to projects or programs for children and young people with a mental health component.
2. Grants provide funding for innovative programs that address the interplay between social conditions and psychological health of children and families.
3. Only one proposal from an organizational entity will be funded at a given time.
4. Applications from individuals will not generally be considered, although in rare cases an exception may be granted.
5. There is a preference for projects and programs in the New York City tri-state area, where site visits are practicable if deemed desirable.

Content of the Proposal:

Proposals should meet the funding priorities of the Foundation. Proposals should specify how they will further the work of Dr. Bernard and the Foundation generally. Proposals should specify how the project is innovative. Proposals should also specify how initial funding will be useful and whether future funding from other sources is anticipated.

Proposals should specify:

1. The nature of the organization.
2. Its primary source of funding.
3. Proof of not-for-profit tax-exempt status under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code.
4. A clear, concise description of the project for which funding is sought, including the purpose of the entity and project, method, history, target population, staff and qualifications, and accomplishments to date.
5. A statement of why support from the Foundation is critical.
6. A description of the evaluation component of the project and, for an ongoing project, the results of past evaluations.
7. A statement of the significance or potential significance of the project.
8. The institutional budget of the applicant, together with a separate budget of the project itself.
9. Funds on hand for the project. If the project budget is substantially greater than the amount sought from the Viola W. Bernard Foundation, a statement of the additional sources from which the balance will be obtained and the methods by which the project budget will be reduced if full funding is not forthcoming.

Post-Grant Requirements:

Applicants funded must meet the following requirements during the period for which funding is granted. Failure to do so will usually result in denial of further Foundation support and, in serious cases, possible demand for refund of the sums granted:

1. A report on the progress of the project and the use to which the grant was put must be submitted 10 months after notification of the grant. At a minimum, this report shall include:
   1. demonstration of ongoing monitoring of the project; and
   2. an outcomes evaluation of whether, to what extent, and how the project objectives have been achieved and the impact of the project.
2. Demonstrated ongoing efforts, if applicable, of obtaining other sources of funding to sustain the project.
3. Timely notification to the Foundation should circumstances require the applicant to terminate the project, and an accounting of the funds granted by the Foundation.

In order to conserve Foundation assets, the Foundation does not issue published reports, nor grant individual interviews to applicants. The Board of Directors may choose to conduct a site visit to the program either before or after approval of a proposal.

EXAMPLES OF PAST RECEIPIENTS

The Foundation has funded numerous projects and programs since 1968. Several recent projects include:

• The Yale University Program on Domestic Violence that intervenes between police and troubled children in New Haven and has been replicated in 40 other cities.
• A mobile mental health unit that is dispatched around the city of New York to provide assistance to children in crisis.
• The Howard Center in Vermont, a therapeutic child care center and school intervention program..
• A September 11th Trauma Study conducted by a panel of mental health experts with the goal of producing one or more monographs on the psychological impact of September 11th on New York City's children.
• The Adoption History Project - site introduces the history of child adoption in the United States by profiling people, organizations, topics, and studies that shaped adoption during the twentieth century.

FOUNDATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS Dr. Perry Ottenberg, President Joan Wofford, Vice President Cary A. Koplin, Treasurer Stephen Wise Tulin, Secretary Dr. Peter B. Neubauer, Trustee Carrie Wofford, Trustee Jennifer Wofford, MSW, Trustee Eric Brettschneider, MA, JD, Trustee