Central Coast Service Area Provides $271,821 in Grant Funding for Community Non-Profits
Representatives from each organization were invited to a breakfast on
February 13, 2017 at Marian Regional Medical Center in Santa Maria, CA where they were presented with checks to help aid in the critical health and human services they provide to county residents.
Grants are awarded through a Community Grants Program created by the Central Coast Service Area’s parent company Dignity Health. The intent of the annual community grant program is to help non-profit organizations with an interest in building healthier communities by improving health and living conditions. Criteria for this funding cycle were based on the following priority areas identified in the hospitals Community Benefits Report and Plan and Community Health Needs Assessment: Access to Healthcare including Mental Health; Education; Homelessness/Housing; Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke; and Cancer Prevention and Screenings.
This year, the Dignity Health Community Grants were awarded to the following local Accountable Care Communities:
Collaboration to Focus on Unmet Health Needs of the Underserved in North SLO County
Program Description: SLO Noor Foundation will expand free medical services to the underserved and uninsured through a weekly clinic at Canyon Creek Apartments located in Paso Robles to serve the North County of SLO and provide expanded services through SLO Noor Clinics in San Luis Obispo.
Fiscal Agent: SLO Noor Foundation
Members of Accountable Care Community (ACC): Alliance for Pharmaceutical Access, Inc., People’s Self-Help Housing, Paso Robles, French Hospital Medical Center
Planned Impact: The program will help alleviate the five factors known to contribute to, or be barriers to, health care access that puts Paso Robles at greatest health needs in the county.
Affordable shared housing provision and housing skills training toward housing security and improved health outcomes for San Luis Obispo County
Project Description: Changing lives by connecting people and homes. HomeShare SLO creates affordable housing as it facilitates matches between providers—people with an extra room—with seekers—people in need of housing.
Fiscal Agent: HomeShare SLO
Accountable Care Community (ACC): Options Family of Services, Transitional Food & Shelter, French Hospital Medical Center.
Planned Impact: The HomeshareSLO program aims for improved health through improved housing security. An increasing percentage of the San Luis Obispo County population struggles with housing security. HomeshareSLO matches and skills training aims to bridge the gap between the over housed (20% of seniors, according to AARP and HUD estimates) and the under housed, creating both affordable housing and social support networks with existing housing stock, thereby leading to mentally and physically healthier residents.
Homeless Youth Project
Project Description: The Homeless Youth Project proposes to focus services on homeless youth in both the Santa Maria and 5 Cities regions. The project will provide outreach within the local school districts to identify homeless youth, and Good Samaritan Shelter will provide two after school programs that focus on improving academic outcomes among homeless youth in Santa Maria (located at the shelter campus on Morrison Avenue and a new program located at Rancho Hermosa housing complex on Inger Street), while 5 Cities Homeless Coalition will focus on academic tutoring and targeted case management amongst unaccompanied youth within the 5 Cities region.
Fiscal Agent: Good Samaritan Shelter
Accountable Care Community (ACC): 5 Cities Homeless Coalition, Fighting Back Santa Maria Valley, United Way of Northern Santa Barbara County, Marian Regional Medical Center and Arroyo Grande Community Hospital.
Planned Impact: 100% school age youth will attend the after school program; 30% of children residing at Rancho Hermosa will engage in after school program; 60% of homeless youth engaged in the Reading Plus Program will improve their reading level by one grade level; 30% of homeless youth will improve their reading level by two grade levels; 50 of unaccompanied youth referred to 5 Cities Homeless Coalition will engage in case management and academic tutoring.
20 Now Santa Maria
Program Description: The project will identify 20 chronically homeless people a year (in partnership with Marian) with comorbidity (drug and alcohol, mental health, physical disabilities, severe illness) and house 10 per year with supportive services. This work impacts homelessness and housing and will increase access to mental health services.
Fiscal Agent: United Way of Northern Santa Barbara County
Accountable Care Community (ACC): Central Coast Collaborative on Homelessness (C3H), Transitions Mental Health Association, Housing Authority of the County of Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara County Public Health Department Health Care for the Homeless, and Marian Regional Medical Center
Planned impact: Improve the health and well-being of the uninsured through screening for early detection and education. Reduce/avoid Emergency Room visits for uncontrolled diabetic hyperglycemia and preventable cardiac events for at-risk patients via on-going monitoring, assisting patients gain self-management skills, and proactively promoting health education offerings.
Dignity Health Central Coast
Dignity Health Central Coast is comprised of five hospitals, all recognized for their quality of care, safety and service, primary care offices, premier ambulatory surgery centers, technologically advanced imaging centers, outpatient services and comprehensive home health services. Hospitals in the Dignity Health Central Coast region include Arroyo Grande Community Hospital in Arroyo Grande, French Hospital Medical Center in San Luis Obispo, Marian Regional Medical Center in Santa Maria, St. John’s Pleasant Valley Hospital in Camarillo and St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard. Each hospital is supported by an active philanthropic Foundation to provide additional funding to support new programs and services, as well as to advance the community’s access to health care.
Publish date:
Wednesday, February 22, 2017