Willa Carson Health and Wellness Center opened in 1997 in the North Greenwood community of Clearwater, offering free health care to uninsured and low-income adults in Pinellas County. Pinellas Community Foundation (PCF) has supported that work since 2000, through 31 grants totaling $450,451. In recent years, that steady support has helped the center meet a growing need among its neighbors: mental health care close to home, at a clinic they already know.
One Nurse’s Promise to North Greenwood
The center began with Willa Livingston Carson, a retired nurse. After a local resident who needed health care died while waiting for a bus, Mrs. Carson resolved that her neighbors should have a free clinic close to home. The original center opened on May 4, 1997, at the North Greenwood Apartments. Through incredible dedication and hard work, Mrs. Carson then secured $300,000 to build a permanent facility, and the center moved in 2000. Her work was later recognized with a Points of Light award in 2006.
First known as the North Greenwood Health Resource Center, the clinic now carries her name and her mission: to provide culturally sensitive, quality healthcare in a friendly environment.
PCF’s first grant to the center came in 2000. From then through 2012, PCF provided general operating support every year, along with five grants for capital improvements and equipment. It was practical help for a clinic that charged its patients nothing and depended on volunteer physicians and nurses.
Staying Connected Through a Pandemic
The pandemic was hard on a clinic built on volunteers. Fundraising events were canceled, and many volunteer physicians and nurses had to step away. The number of people the clinic saw fell from an average of 91 a month to 30.
The center kept adapting. In 2020, support from the Pinellas CARES Nonprofit Partnership Fund helped it contract with two African American mental health professionals, so residents looking for a counselor who reflected their community could find one.
In 2021 and 2022, two PCF grants, including an Operating Grant, supported the center’s monthly Lunch & Learn workshops, which pair a healthy lunch with sessions on nutrition, physical activity, and stress management. The center reported that 89% of participants improved their score on the Perceived Stress Scale, and 57% increased their physical activity after four months.
The workshops offered something else, too. At a November 2022 session on holiday stress, the conversation turned to loss and loneliness. Shirley, who was 80, shared that she was preparing to spend Thanksgiving alone. After the meeting, another participant invited Shirley to spend the day with her family. The session had become something closer to a support group, with participants trading advice on getting through the holidays without loved ones.
Strengthening the Clinic Behind the Care
In 2022, a PCF grant supported the executive director position held by Kimberley Nunn-Crawford, a licensed mental health counselor who grew up in North Greenwood. With a full-time executive director in place, the center secured funding for a part-time nurse practitioner, ended its waitlist, and went from zero volunteers to three. Average attendance at the monthly Lunch & Learns rose from 13 to 24.
A 2022-23 Operating Grant then helped the clinic expand medical care for uninsured Pinellas County residents. The center reported that most patients could see a provider within 48 hours, with same-day appointments generally available for more urgent needs.
The Social Opportunity Works Fund provided operational support in 2023 and 2024. Reporting on the 2024 grant, the center described formal collaborations with local health organizations, community coalitions, and academic partners, a 35% increase in interagency referrals, and new on-site lab testing through a partnership with BayCare Labs.
Federal recovery funds* took care of physical needs. An A1C analyzer lets patients have their blood sugar tested on-site during a visit. The same award paid for new waiting room chairs and a Wi-Fi booster for telehealth visits.
A second award of federal recovery funds replaced the roof and two front windows and secured the cabinets in the triage room. Two hurricanes and permitting delays pushed back the roof work, but the project finished within budget. The center reported a building that is safer, more comfortable, and more energy efficient.
Flexible Support, Care That Could Move
By 2023, the center’s mental health services had a waitlist, and its counseling was provided by a volunteer licensed mental health counselor. The center applied for a 2023-2025 Operating Grant from PCF with one stated purpose: to expand mental health services. They received $30,000 over two years.
The plan built on what the clinic already did. Every medical visit includes a two-question depression screening. When the results point to a need, the provider introduces the patient to a counselor before they leave, a “warm hand-off” that makes it more likely the patient will agree to therapy. A new partnership with New Vision Behavioral Health added counseling appointments on-site and by telehealth.
The first year brought a lesson. Adults who took part did well: 82% reported improved coping. But many patients who screened for mild depression were not interested in services, and about 36% of participants did not complete them. Some patients were initially hesitant to use the clinic’s therapy services.
Because of the operating support, the center could respond. It took services off-site to a nearby after-school program, where elementary-aged children joined psychoeducational groups focused on coping. Parents and the therapist observed better problem-solving and emotional regulation.
The second year brought another adjustment. Group leaders saw that young people were learning strategies but not yet using them, so the program added role-playing and real-world projects. The center reported that 80% of youth improved their coping and their knowledge of self-regulation strategies, at closer to eight months than the four it had planned for. Among adults, 90% reported improved mood or emotional health within four months.
The reach grew as well. When the center applied in 2023, its mental health services reached 24 people. In 2024, the number was 63. In 2025, it was 110 people across 2,180 visits, most of them by young people in the weekly groups.
The center also reported less stigma around seeking help, as people felt more comfortable getting care in a familiar place. Patients told staff they appreciated the option to see an African American provider, which matters at a clinic in the heart of North Greenwood.
What Partnership Looks Like
A blood sugar analyzer, a roof, a director’s salary, and a counselor’s hours are all very different kinds of help. Over the years, PCF’s partnership with Willa Carson Health and Wellness Center has provided what the center said it needed: steady operating support in its early years, counseling during the pandemic, leadership capacity, equipment and repairs, and flexible operating dollars that let the center take mental health care to where people were.
The work continues. A 2026-27 Operating Grant supports weekly “Wellness Wednesdays” groups for young people at the Artz 4 Life after-school program and individual counseling for adults at the clinic, free of charge. A 2026 Senior Citizens Services grant supports the center’s Senior Wellness Support Program.
Nearly three decades after Willa Carson opened the doors, the center she founded is still finding new ways to bring care to its neighbors in Pinellas County.
Inspired by what is possible in Pinellas County? Learn how to establish a fund at Pinellas Community Foundation and put your giving to work: pinellascf.org.
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* Federal recovery funds refers to the ARPA Nonprofit Capital Project Fund.
