The Health and Human Services Working Group is not seeking grant applications for the 2010 Community Impact competitive grants cycle. The program currently supports two focus areas based on the grant making priorities of previous grant cycles: the San Diego Family Asset Building Coalition and the Paradise Valley Community Health Fund program.

San Diego Family Asset Building Coalition

The Health & Human Services Working Group’s research, investigation and grant awards to date indicate that families who are vulnerable to episodic homelessness benefit from financial education that leads to budget management, traditional banking relationships, reduction of debt, improved credit, and increased savings.

From 2004 through 2008, through the Prevention of Family Homelessness Initiative, the Health & Human Services Working Group provided broad support for financial education and asset building programs of community-based organizations serving the residents of the San Diego region.

In 2005, The San Diego Foundation asked its grantees to partner and form the San Diego Family Asset Building Coalition. Each organization, focused on serving particular populations or geographic areas throughout San Diego County, provides financial education and asset-building programming through a combination of classroom training and one-on-one counseling. Together, the Coalition organizations pool their knowledge and resources to achieve greater efficiency and effectiveness in program delivery with the goal of improving the quality of life for individuals and families through the development of their financial and human capital. By adopting common outcome measures, the Coalition aims to demonstrate the impact of its programs and develop a powerful collective voice.

As a true partnership, the Coalition embodies the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Center for Working Families model and, thus, offers access to a full array of client services across the Coalition that may not be available within one organization.

From 2009 through 2010, the Health & Human Services Working Group will focus support on strengthening and expanding the San Diego Family Asset Building Coalition to assure its sustainability.

Paradise Valley Community Health Fund Program

In October 2009, The San Diego Foundation approved grants totaling $3,071,674 to increase access to health care services, with special attention to early intervention of chronic disease and/ or the integration of primary and behavioral care, to organizations providing services in the community surrounding Paradise Valley Hospital located in National City. The grants were funded through the Paradise Valley Community Health Fund, which was seeded with $3 million when Prime Healthcare Services, a for-profit corporation, bought the hospital from Adventist Health in 2007. The San Diego Foundation supplanted the fund with contributions from its own broad and narrow field of interest funds.

Eight organizations received funding for two-year programs which will collectively address the following themes: increased access to care at community clinics through the medical home establishment model; reduced non-emergent use of hospitals’ Emergency Room departments, especially for chronic conditions; increased access to dental and primary care for school aged youth K-12 and residents with no other form of health benefits; increased domestic violence support programming; and increased behavioral health case management services integrated into primary care delivery settings. Grantees include: the California Dental Association Foundation/ University of the Pacific; Metro United Methodist Ministries/ CASBIRT; San Ysidro Health Center; SAY San Diego; Scripps-Whittier Diabetes Institute; Sharp Healthcare Foundation/ Sharp Chula Vista Hospital; South Bay Community Services; and the UCSD Student-Run Free Clinic.

To view a report on the process undertaken by The San Diego Foundation to administer this grant making program, please click here.

In 2010 and 2011, the Health and Human Services Working Group will focus its efforts on supporting this cohort of grantees and monitoring the progress of the grant-funded programs.

For additional information, please contact Robyn Chatten, Manager, Community Partnerships at 619-235-2300 or robyn@sdfoundation.org.