Center for Health Program Management joins Building Healthy Communities partnership

On Sept. 1, our Center for Health Program Management became the new fiscal sponsor for the Sacramento Building Healthy Communities Hub (Sac BHC). Sac BHC is one of 14 collaborative hubs funded by The California Endowment through its 10-year Building Healthy Communities initiative. The Center will provide financial management and administration for the Hub grant, which provides support to the collaborative.

The Hub collaborative consists of community residents of all ages, business associations, community-based organizations, government agencies and other stakeholders who live or work in the Hub’s targeted area in South Sacramento, including Avondale Glen Elder, the Avenues and Oak Park. They are working together to support positive health outcomes through dynamic policy and systems change. Goals include improving school climate, creating better access to health care and better food options, making neighborhoods safer and improving overall health and wellness in the Hub’s area.

As part of this partnership, we are pleased to welcome three new staff members to Sierra Health Foundation: Kim Williams, Alberto Mercado and Shakeya Bell.

Learn more about this work on the Hub’s web site.

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New report looks at employment opportunities for foster care and justice-involved youth

Promising employment programs in California and across the country offer hope and opportunity for young people who struggle against significant odds to access a career path and build a brighter future. Many of these young people have had contact with the foster care and juvenile justice systems, and have experienced overwhelming trauma in their lives.

As part of our Positive Youth Justice Initiative, we commissioned a report from the National Employment Law Project for our Positive Youth Justice Initiative, which is working to transform California’s juvenile justice practice and policy at the county level. Published this month, Advancing Employment Opportunities for California’s Foster Care and Justice-Involved Youth identifies and promotes youth employment programs and policies that benefit vulnerable youth.

The authors surveyed the Positive Youth Justice Initiative county partners, conducted a series of in-depth interviews in the initiative’s four targeted counties and with experts elsewhere in California and around the nation, and reviewed the literature on model youth employment programs. The report describes the diverse funding sources supporting youth employment programs in the counties, the collaborations that have been formed with government and community partners, the strategies that have been employed by individual programs, and the range of challenges they face that can be addressed with the help of additional resources, policy reforms and other measures.

See the report on our Publications web page.

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Sierra Health Foundation receives Pioneer Award from Reinvent South Stockton Coalition

We are honored to be one of Reinvent South Stockton Coalition’s first foundation partners, and humbled to receive the coalition’s Pioneer Award on Sept. 24.

Reinvent South Stockton Coalition is empowering residents to transform their neighborhoods and communities, improving safety, reforming education, creating affordable housing, spurring economic development and promoting health equity. Where others saw deep disparities, the coalition saw opportunities and cultivated partnerships to transform the community.

We congratulate Stockton City Councilmember Michael Tubbs and other coalition members for their leadership and vision, and thank them for lifting up the voices of their fellow residents. By working closely with residents, the coalition is planting the seeds for change that will truly transform the South Stockton community. Your work serves as an inspirational model for us all.

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Report details benefits of insurance coverage, continued barriers to health care access in South Sacramento

For many individuals across the country, the Affordable Care Act expanded opportunities to become insured and to access health care not seen in a generation. However, individual and community experiences across California and elsewhere confirm that health insurance alone does not guarantee timely and appropriate access to care. Many newly insured individuals and families continue to encounter social, economic and health system barriers that limit access to care. For the remaining uninsured, these barriers have increased in many cases.

To identify and document how these barriers affect South Sacramento residents, The Texas Health Institute, in collaboration with La Familia Counseling Center and other community partners, and with support from Sierra Health Foundation, conducted a survey on the health care access experiences of newly insured and uninsured in the area. Their report, In the Wake of the Affordable Care Act: Understanding Community Barriers and Facilitators to Health Care Access, details the realities facing diverse residents as they seek health care in a post-Affordable Care Act environment.

Findings and recommendations from the report were discussed at a community forum on Sept. 23 at the Maple Neighborhood Center in South Sacramento.

Download the report.

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Advocates and allies gather to address immigrant integration at Fresno conference

State and national immigrant advocates and allies came together in Fresno on Sept. 26 for the Second Annual Immigrant Integration Conference. Community-based organizations, community leaders, researchers and policymakers participated in the conference, which focused on the economic, civic, socio-cultural and linguistic integration of immigrants in the Valley. Keynote addresses spoke to the importance of immigrant integration and included Felicia Escobar, Special Assistant to the President for Immigration Policy at the White House; Assemblymember Dr. Joaquin Arambula; and Mariela Melero, Associate Director of Customer Service and Public Engagement Directorate, U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Sierra Health Foundation Program Officer Amparo Cid represented the San Joaquin Valley Health Fund for a panel discussion on “An Immigrant Integration Strategy for the Central Valley,” which also included Sally Kinoshita from the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, Fresno City Councilmember Esmeralda Soria, Gina Da Silva from the California Immigrant Policy Center, and Leoncio Vasquez with Centro Binacional para el Desarrollo Indígena Oaxaqueño. Participants discussed ways to move forward on strategies that will spur the work being done in the areas of health, civic participation and education.

Photo: Program Officer Amparo Cid represented the San Joaquin Valley Health Fund during the Immigrant Integration Conference panel discussion.

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Tahira Cunningham selected for 11th Class of ABFE Connecting Leaders Fellows

ABFE, a philanthropic partnership for black communities, recently named its 2016-2017 class of Connecting Leaders Fellows, recognizing 10 exceptional leaders with track records as catalysts for change promoting effective and responsive philanthropy in Black communities. Sierra Health Foundation Program Officer Tahira Cunningham is among the fellows to receive the honor.

Fellows will each receive a yearlong experience designed to offer customized executive leadership coaching, professional development and personalized service learning projects in their own community. The seven women and three men have vast experience across a range of issue areas including racial and social justice, community engagement, healthcare advocacy, education reform, equitable grantmaking and management.

Tahira manages the California Executives’ Alliance to Expand Opportunities for Boys and Men of Color through the Center for Health Program Management. Learn more on the CEA web site.

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