Southeast Pa. Family Planning Council wins grant renewal

Beating out a challenger, the Family Planning Council of Southeastern Pennsylvania has won renewal of the federal grant that has been its lifeblood for 42 years.

Melissa Weiler Gerber, the council's executive director, announced the three-year, $15.7 million award in an e-mail to the 26 hospitals, health centers, and clinics that will use the money to provide birth control, STD tests, and breast exams.

"We are honored to be able to continue our work together through this lifesaving, life-changing program that has been a cornerstone of the Family Planning Council's reproductive and sexual health work for over 40 years," Gerber wrote.

The council received the full amount it requested from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, minus a 5.6 percent cut mandated by federal budget sequestration. The Title X grant begins June 30.

A bigger nonprofit with little experience in family planning, Philadelphia Health Management Corp., also applied for the grant. It enlisted consultant Dorothy Mann, who headed the council for 33 years until her retirement in 2010. The challenge by PHMC, which receives some funding from the council, raised eyebrows and questions.

"We are extremely grateful for all of the support we received from you throughout this process," Gerber wrote in her e-mail.