LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / February 12, 2019 / This fall, Kaiser Permanente pledged community grants to help increase underserved communities' access to healthier food, create economic and educational opportunity, and ensure equitable care. These investments all underscore Kaiser's commitment to empowering healthy communities.
Delivering on this commitment, Kaiser Permanente recently announced that in the coming months it will award grants totaling over $15.5 million to national and community-based charitable organizations that work to provide access and care to improve health conditions in Kaiser Permanente-served communities.
One of the organizations supported by these grants is IRCO Africa House, an organization that provides culturally and linguistically-specific services. With the grant, IRCO Africa House will train African-American immigrants and refugees as community health workers in Oregon and Southwest Washington. In Washington, grants will also help the National Alliance on Mental Illness Washington hire a statewide Youth Outreach Coordinator, and expand its peer-led 'Ending the Silence' program to support mental health among students, teachers, and parents in Washington state. The Maui Economic Development Board will expand STEM programming in schools and after-school programs thanks to the Kaiser Permanente grant, while ProCureWorks will increase access to healthy, sustainable, and regionally-sourced food in schools and health care systems in California.
'Improving community health is core to our mission and the work we do,' said Community Health Committee board chair, Cynthia Telles PhD. 'By working with communities to identify priorities and solutions, we can better address and resolve the root causes of poor health.' In order to serve those most in need and to work to improve community health and equity, Kaiser Permanente awards quarterly community grants. Kaiser Permanente contributed more than $2.8 billion to improve health and wellness in communities across the country in 2017 and will continue these efforts in the years to come.
CONTACT:
john.e.nelson@kp.org
SOURCE: Kaiser Permanente
View source version on accesswire.com:
https://www.accesswire.com/535143/Dr-Cynthia-A-Telles-Investing-in-Community-Health
