$16.4 million awarded to support Medication Assisted Treatment Access Points
We’re pleased to announce 120 contract awards totaling $16.4 million to organizations throughout California to support Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) Access Points start-up activities and enhancement efforts.
The goal of the MAT Access Points Project is to increase the number of patients with opioid-use disorders treated with medications, counseling and other recovery services. Funded organizations include primary care facilities, hospitals, emergency departments, narcotic treatment programs/medication units, jails, residential centers, tribal health centers, DUI providers, community or county mental health centers, social services providers, community-based organizations or other organizations either building new MAT access or expanding current MAT capacity. Funding can be used to purchase equipment, train staff, recruit staff, make capital improvements, and for other start-up and enhancement costs.
Visit the MAT Access Points web site to learn more. Please e-mail us any questions.
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Responsive Grants Program awards go to 36 organizations to improve health, promote access and reduce health inequity
Earlier this month, we announced the 2019 Responsive Grants Program awards. A total of $515,000 in grants to 36 nonprofit organizations and public agencies will support programs that serve diverse ethnic populations in our 26-county funding region. Forty percent of the funding will support projects serving exclusively in rural areas of the region.
Since launching the Responsive Grants Program in 2008, we have awarded approximately $8.3 million. This year’s awards will support health promotion, mental health, economic development, access to health care, positive youth development, housing, community safety, environmental justice and other community-driven efforts.
Funding decisions were based on the program criteria, geographic representation across the funding region, a minimum 30 percent set-aside for projects serving rural areas, and diversity in types of projects and populations served.
See the grant list with program descriptions on the Responsive Grants Program web page. E-mail us any questions.
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Sacramento Economic Growth and Equity Coalition forms to support community-led economic development
As Sacramento city leaders worked to finalize the 2019-2020 budget, we were proud to join a unique and growing coalition of business and labor leaders, local developers, tourism interests, and philanthropic and nonprofit organizations committed to helping the city build a budget supportive of inclusive community economic development.
That left some people wondering: What exactly is inclusive community economic development? Check out this short animated video, created in partnership with local entrepreneur and artist Art & Soul, to better understand the wealth, health and opportunity gaps that exist in Sacramento neighborhoods and how we can close them through investment in inclusive community economic development.
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Sacramento County Supervisor Phil Serna receives Innovations for Children Award
Sierra Health Foundation’s Innovations for Children Award recognizes outstanding leadership in service to children and families. On June 20, Steering Committee on Reduction of African American Child Deaths co-chairs Chet P. Hewitt and Dr. Natalie Woods Andrews presented the award to Sacramento County Supervisor Phil Serna for his pioneering work to ensure that children, youth and families are safe, supported and connected to the best of communities in Sacramento.
In 2011, Supervisor Serna convened the Blue Ribbon Commission on Disproportionate African American Child Deaths. Alarmed that in Sacramento County African American children die at very disproportional rates compared to other children, the Commission was an effort to activate the Sacramento community and engage resources to do something about it. That effort resulted in the creation of the Steering Committee on Reduction of African American Child Deaths and its community-driven Black Child Legacy Campaign. Supervisor Serna continues to be a strong supporter of this work.
The June 20 gathering in Old Sacramento included an invocation by Pastor Alice Baber-Banks and congratulatory remarks from Joe Debbs, Deputy District Director for Senator Richard Pan; Sacramento Supervisor Don Nottoli; Linda Fong-Somera from First 5 Sacramento; Rachel Rios from La Familia; and Kat Holloway, a member of the Black Child Legacy Campaign’s Youth Participatory Action Research Team.
Photo: Sierra Health Foundation staff join Sacramento County Supervisor Phil Serna at the Innovations for Children Award dinner.
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MBK Sacramento Collaborative honors 2018-19 youth fellows
The My Brother’s Keeper (MBK) Sacramento Collaborative, community partners and families celebrated 14 youth fellows who successfully completed the 2018-19 MBK Sacramento Youth Fellowship at the cohort’s end-of-year celebration at Sierra Health Foundation. During the June 12 celebration, the youth fellows shared their experiences as part of the fellowship’s second cohort, and they presented their research findings on “Understanding Single Parent Homes,” which shed light on the challenges and opportunities Sacramento has to better support children, youth and single parents. A policy brief will be published by the end of this summer.
“It was an honor to recognize the accomplishments of this year’s cohort of MBK Sacramento Youth Fellows,” said Sierra Health Foundation Director of Health Programs Matt Cervantes. “This year’s cohort of 14 young men shared just how meaningful this brotherhood is to their personal growth and development. We’re thankful for all that they’ve done these past nine months and look forward to keeping them connected as we recruit another cohort of young leaders.”
The cohort 3 application will be available in August. For more information about the MBK Sacramento Youth Fellowship, visit The Center web site.
The MBK Sacramento Collaborative is funded by Sierra Health Foundation and the Obama Foundation and is managed by The Center at Sierra Health Foundation.
Op-Ed: Let’s invest in the care of our young people
Sierra Health Foundation President and CEO Chet P. Hewitt and Liberty Hill Foundation President and CEO Shane Murphy Goldsmith call for investments to help heal trauma, prevent violence and inspire healthy youth development in this op-ed published by The Sacramento Bee.
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Sierra Health Foundation hosts meetings with U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams
We were honored to host a series of meetings on June 24 for the Public Health Institute, the Right Care Initiative, Berkeley Public Health and the Center for Healthcare Organizational & Innovation Research.
Surgeon General of the United States Jerome M. Adams, M.D., M.P.H., joined other physicians, public health leaders and community leaders in sessions that included an Opioid Round Table, a Private Sector Health Leadership Round Table, and a discussion on The Spread of Legalization of Recreational Marijuana and its Implications for Public Health, Youth and Equity. Sierra Health Foundation President and CEO Chet P. Hewitt and Vice President of Programs and Partnerships Kaying Hang joined the discussions.
Our Conference and Education Center provides a venue for nonprofit organizations and public agencies to engage in education, training and collaboration in support of their efforts to improve the well-being of individuals and communities. Each year, more than 15,000 people participate in meetings and events at our conference center.
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Community-first funder collaborative model presented at Grantmakers in Health
Sierra Health Foundation Senior Program Officer Ellen Braff-Guajardo presented a “Quick Take” talk on the San Joaquin Valley Health Fund model at the Grantmakers In Health annual meeting in Seattle earlier this month. Ellen’s presentation was based on a report titled Guide to Community-First Funder Collaboratives by Harder+Company Community Research (November 2018), which Sierra Health Foundation and W.K. Kellogg Foundation published to help foundations and other funders understand the value of community-led funder collaboratives and take the steps needed to build and implement them.
While funder collaboratives have emerged as one way for philanthropic organizations to learn from each other, align funding priorities and combine resources to achieve greater impact, the community-first funder collaborative model is an innovative approach for bringing philanthropic and community partners together to invest in community health and well-being by recognizing the expertise and leadership of community partners. The San Joaquin Valley Health Fund model strengthens local movements to advocate for policies and systems that are prioritized by the impacted community and address the root causes of inequity, while recognizing the critical importance of community mobilization and grassroots leadership. For funders, the model offers strategies and structures that provide critical on-the-ground knowledge that can increase the impact of philanthropic investments, and supports true
community engagement and power building.
Read “Equity for All: Building the Infrastructure for Change Through Community-First Funder Collaboratives,” an article in The Foundation Review, December 2018.
Learn more about the San Joaquin Valley Health Fund.
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New staff members join Sierra Health Foundation and The Center
We’re pleased to introduce two new staff members.
Noemi Avalos has joined Sierra Health Foundation as an Evaluation Associate. Previously, she served four years as an Evaluation Fellow with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In that position, Noemi planned and implemented evaluations as part of a team, prepared performance briefs based on agency reports, provided technical assistance on logic models, data collection and other evaluation activities, and supported strategic planning. She has a Bachelor of Science in Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior from UC Davis, and a Master of Public Health from Loma Linda University. Noemi brings a wealth of experience and skill to her new position.
Dayanna Sevilla has joined Sierra Health Foundation and The Center as a Program Assistant based at The Center’s office in Fresno. Raised mainly in the San Joaquin Valley, Dayanna supports the San Joaquin Valley Health Fund, as well as San Joaquin Valley census outreach and advocacy efforts being coordinated through The Center. She has considerable experience working with low-income communities of color both in California and Colorado. Dayanna is an accomplished singer and cajón player, and leads a musical ensemble of women in Fresno who share a passion for Latin-American music and dance.
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Honoring the Legacy and Voice of Young People exhibit engages youth, community
As part of the Juneteenth celebration and Gun Violence Awareness Month, the Black Child Legacy Campaign proudly shared the art exhibit Honoring the Legacy and Voice of Young People: Advocacy Through Arts at Sierra Health Foundation. Each piece in the exhibit was created by Sacramento artist David Blanco Gonzalez and young people from the seven neighborhoods of the Black Child Legacy Campaign through a youth participatory action research process. Each painting honors the life of a child or young person who has been killed in Sacramento County.
The Youth Voice Advocacy project gathered young people to talk about third-party homicide and the violence they have witnessed in their communities. Throughout the project, the youth shared personal stories of their family members, friends and peers who have been victims of violence. Each project group chose one victim to lift up through art who would represent their neighborhood. The families of the victims were invited to meet with their neighborhood’s youth and share their stories of how violence had impacted their family.
The exhibit can be viewed at Sierra Health Foundation, 1321 Garden Highway in Sacramento.
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Sacramento Youth and Community PopUp events expand youth workforce training and development
In a follow-up to our report last month – Youth and Community Pop Ups meet a critical need for positive space and youth development – the City of Sacramento has approved inclusion of Youth and Community PopUps in the 2019 city budget, allowing for continued activities through the end of the year and expansion of youth workforce training and development. To date, more than 1,000 youth have participated in youth and community development activities across Sacramento neighborhoods. To learn more, watch this new video highlighting the partnership of more than 20 community organizations, the City of Sacramento, Comcast and The Center at Sierra Health Foundation.
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