Kaiser Permanente Contributing Funds to Support Community Health
Kaiser Permanente understands that total health extends beyond the doctor’s office or hospital, to the places where people live, work, and play. We also understand that building healthy communities requires financial backing for supportive resources and services.
Last year, Kaiser Permanente Northern California provided more than $40 million in grants and donations to nonprofit, community based organizations and agencies. In the fourth quarter of 2017 alone, Kaiser Permanente Community Benefit funded more than 50 substantial grants to support diverse community health needs.
In addition to state and regional grants, local CB contributions include:
Family Justice Center Sonoma County (FJCSC), Ensuring Comprehensive Services for Victims of Family Violence: Funding allows FJCSC to remain fully staffed with two full-time navigators, three full-time victim advocates, a full-time attorney, and a full-time bilingual legal assistant to support family violence victims. The goal is to enable clients and their children to live stable, well-adjusted lives ($95,000 grant for 1 year).
Partnership for Children and Youth (PCY), HousED Northern California Learning Community and Action Network: Funding allows PCY to support Marin and 12 other Northern California housing providers with training, coaching, quality assessment, and communications support. Goal is to expand and increase the quality of housing-based learning programs, reaching low-income children in at least 120 affordable and public housing developments ($300,000 in funding over 2 years).
SF-Marin Food Bank and Redwood Community Health Coalition, Building Local Outreach Capacity (BLOC): Aims to increase CalFresh (California’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP) so participating organizations can enhance service and delivery capacity to provide high-quality outreach and effective application assistance for eligible individuals and families (year-long grant totaling $1,194,000 supports 15 regional grantees).
Redwood Community Health Coalition (RCHC), Regional Clinic Consortia: One of six CB Northern California consortia grants that support community health centers to grow and successfully: meet patient choice demands; accommodate patient expansion under the Affordable Care Act; advocate for access to health coverage for low-income Californians; implement payment reform focused on value-based care; and address health needs of the uninsured ($250,000 in funding per consortium over 2 years).
Sonoma County Regional Parks Foundation, Park Accessibility for Resilient Communities (PARC): Aims to increase accessibility in communities facing inequitable access to safe parks and open spaces, and significant usage disparities by ethnicity, age, and gender (particularly in low-income and underserved communities). Developed with community input, incorporates sustainable programming and maintenance (year-long grant totaling $750,000 to support 10 regional grantees).
In response to the North Bay fires and a growing homelessness crisis, Community Benefit also fast-tracked the following grants and donations:
Mental Health Groups for Patients Affected by North Bay Fires, Santa Rosa Community Health Centers (SRCHC): Support for up to six months of weekly and monthly mental health groups for patients impacted by the Sonoma County fires. Includes administrative and outreach support, and bilingual trauma and depression groups, therapy for adults and families, and access to evaluations by licensed psychiatrists for high-risk patients ($200,000 cash donation for 6 months).
UndocuFund for Fire Relief in Sonoma County, Grant Makers Concerned with Immigrants & Refugees (GCIR): UndocuFund was established to assist undocumented residents who were displaced, lost wages and jobs, and suffered other losses due to the North Bay fires—including many undocumented wine and hospitality workers. GCIR is the fiscal sponsor of a $250,000 cash donation for 6 months.
Vista Clinic Fire Recovery, Santa Rosa Community Health Centers (SRCHC): Funding to assist 24,000 patients and 180 employees of Vista Clinic (SRCHC’s largest site), which was severely damaged by fire. Assistance to include providing patient transportation to other sites, covering the loss of payments, and providing post‐trauma support ($50,000 cash donation to help meet immediate needs).
