Collaborating to Support Our Community

In late 2021, as the mental health crisis among children and adolescents intensified, the City of Stamford, Department of Health & Human Services, Stamford Public Schools and a multitude of clinical and community service providers turned to the Vita Health and Wellness Partnership to help address it through a unique, collaborative approach, the Stamford Youth Mental Health Alliance (Stamford YMHA).

The Stamford YMHA addresses the challenges facing our youth, promoting mental wellness through a community-based strategy of awareness and response. YMHA members, representing many Vita partner organizations, focus on early intervention, prevention, and improving access to care.   Our goal is to engage families, youth, and civic organizations in a comprehensive effort to reduce risk factors and increase protection factors. We invite you to visit the Stamford YMHA website, which presents a variety of resources, connections, and calendar of local events.

In March of 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic became our new collective reality, the Vita Health and Wellness Partnership convened a unique Community Table, a network exceeding 100 community agencies to share information, pool resources and solve common challenges. One outcome was the establishment of the Vita Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) initiative to address a gap in the supply of personal protective equipment for Stamford’s essential front-line employees and service volunteers.

The Vita PPE initiative is a collective response to the threat of the coronavirus pandemic. The community providers that comprise the Vita Partnership provide direct services to members of the Stamford population that are, or may be, exposed to COVID-19. Many of these organizations have critical shortages of protective masks and disposable gloves that are vitally important to safe and responsible client contact. By collaborating to address this common, urgent threat, Vita has demonstrated – as it has for the past ten years – that collective action is an effective response to a complex challenge, enabling individual organizations help address the needs of the broader community.