April 2020 

Thank you to all of our many partners, funders, local leaders and community members who have joined us to support nonprofit organizations, small businesses and vulnerable populations in Northern California, Sacramento and the San Joaquin Valley through our three regional COVID-19 response funds. To date, donations and pledges total $4,337,926 and nonprofit partners have received $2,047,787 to provide critical support in their communities. Additional funds will be disbursed as pledged funds are received.

“We did our first food distribution at Forty Acres in Delano – the place where Cesar Chavez started the farm worker movement, providing meals for over 1,000 individuals. It has been an extremely difficult time for our communities, but we are so fortunate to deploy our staff to provide much needed assistance. We are so very grateful.”

Ester Cadavid, MPH, PhD
Development Director
UFW Foundation

In the weeks and months ahead, our work together will transition from support for immediate relief to recovery – and, eventually, sustainability – for our vulnerable neighbors, community businesses and low-wage workers. The response funds remain open and we encourage additional funders and donors to join us in this important work for our communities.

Northern California COVID-19 Response Fund
Total pledged amounts and donations to date = $250,763
Total amount distributed to date = $103,000

Donate4Sacramento COVID-19 Regional Response Fund
Total pledged amounts and donations to date = $1,208,530
Total amount distributed to date = $1,044,787

San Joaquin Valley Health Fund COVID-19 Response Cluster
Total pledged amounts and donations to date = $2,878,633
Total amount distributed to date = $900,000

The Center donates plastic ponchos
In addition to grant support to community partners through the San Joaquin Valley Health Fund COVID-19 Rapid Response Cluster fund, The Center at Sierra Health Foundation provided five federally qualified health centers in the San Joaquin Valley with 1,300 plastic ponchos for their health providers to use as disposable personal protective equipment. The ponchos were used as health centers provided patients with care, including drive-up COVID-19 testing.

COVID-19 resources
We’re posting resources on the Sierra Health Foundation web site and The Center web site. We encourage our partners and community members to access these resources and share them widely.

Foundation and Center operations and programs
Our operations and programs are continuing remotely. Please reach out to your program officer if you have questions about reporting due dates, work plan modifications or other matters.

Congratulations to 26 community partners in 21 counties throughout California that have received awards up to $1 million to develop or increase youth substance use disorder prevention, outreach and education. The Elevate Youth California statewide program is providing $21.5 million in funding and technical assistance for these partners to increase youth understanding of substance use disorder and reduce community and individual stigma of use and treatment, while supporting mentorship and peer-led supports that lift up youth empowerment and leadership with a focus on impacting policy, systems and environmental change.

The Center at Sierra Health Foundation was awarded the California Department of Health Care Services Proposition 64 Youth Substance Use Disorder Prevention Program contract. Now known as Elevate Youth California, the program connects youth ages 12 to 26 and their families to programs that include wraparound care in communities disproportionately harmed by past and current drug policies. The project will run through November 2022.

More than 13,000 vulnerable individuals in Sacramento have received food over the past five weeks through the Black Child Legacy Campaign’s COVID-19 response efforts. Community Incubator Lead organizations in the campaign’s seven neighborhoods of focus are serving families through drive-by food pick-ups and drop-and-go deliveries. Partners include the Sacramento Food Bank, the City of Sacramento, Sacramento County, Sierra Health Foundation, The Center at Sierra Health Foundation, Donate4Sacramento, the Board of State and Community Corrections, and Sacramento Kings player Harrison Barnes and his wife Brittany. Download the COVID-19 Response infographic and the list of service locations.

Black Child Legacy Campaign partners joined Black birth advocates across the nation to commemorate the third annual Black Maternal Health Week, April 11-17. As part of this important week, Kindra Montgomery-Block, Associate Director of Community and Economic Development for Sierra Health Foundation and The Center, wrote Black Mothers and Our COVID-19 Legacy for online publication Medium. In the article, she highlights four actions Black mothers can take to come out of the pandemic stronger.

Since 2019, the City of Sacramento, The Center and community organizations have partnered to provide youth and families with fun, safe and community-building popup activities across Sacramento every Friday and Saturday.

The Youth and Community PopUps have gone virtual as partners pivot to digital options for communities to come together for fun and learning. Activities include online workshops, raffles, challenges, art projects, cooking classes and more. Virtual events include support for social, mental and emotional health, providing the area’s young people and their families with opportunities to stay connected.

Image: Virtual Art PopUp youth submission, courtesy of Impact Sac.

The Center at Sierra Health Foundation is seeking an experienced team to conduct an evaluation of the Asthma Mitigation Project. Proposals are due by May 7 at 1 p.m. Learn more and access the request for proposals on the Asthma Mitigation Project web page.

With the 2020 Census under way, we’re joining census outreach partners to significantly increase self-response rates. California’s self-response rate currently is 56 percent versus 54.6 percent nationwide. The Census Bureau tracks self-response rates by state, county, congressional district and Tribal area on its Response Rates web page.

In the News

The Bakersfield Californian
Let’s get the valley counted; participate in Census 2020
Op-ed by Dolores Huerta, founder and president of the Dolores Huerta Foundation, and Chet P. Hewitt, president and CEO of Sierra Health Foundation and The Center

The Fresno Bee, The Sacramento Bee
California planned $187 million on face-to-face promotion of the census. Then coronavirus hit

While fear can be a powerful motivator, we believe empathy is the best defense to protect our humanity. As our Asian American and Pacific Islander communities face amplified racism and xenophobia, and African American, Native American, Latinx and other communities are challenged by enduring health and economic inequities deepened by COVID-19, compassion and commitment to change are more important than ever.

The economic, physical, mental and emotional health of our families, our communities and state depend on the health, safety and possibility of every single one of us. We will continue our commitment to health and racial equity for everyone, and we hope you will join us in calling out racism and discrimination in all forms and supporting measures that prioritize the wellness of all Californians.

Articles and Resources

Dr. Claire Pomeroy, Sierra Health Foundation and The Center Board of Directors member and president of the Lasker Foundation, joined Dr. William F. Owen, Jr. and Dr. Richard Carmona to co-write Failing Another National Stress Test on Health Disparities, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

Another JAMA article by Dr. Clyde W. Yancy, COVID-19 and African Americans, looks at evidence of potentially egregious health care disparities.

Sierra Health Foundation and The Center President and CEO Chet P. Hewitt is quoted in this Fresno Bee article: Coronavirus kills California blacks and Pacific Islanders at excessive rate, numbers show.

A PBS docuseries, Asian Americans, will air on May 11 and 12. The Center for Asian American Media and Washington, D.C., PBS station WETA will host a Digital Town Hall – Asian Americans in the Time of COVID-19, today, April 30, from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. The town hall will include a panel discussion on the threats and challenges to the Asian American community as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Major funding for Asian Americans is provided in part by Wallace H. Coulter Foundation, which is a funding partner of our San Joaquin Valley Health Fund.