The Health Trust Awards $2.9 Million in Grants in FY08

40 Organizations Awarded Funds to Support Health and Wellness in Silicon Valley

 

August 7, 2008, CAMPBELL, CA - The Health Trust has just announced it awarded $2.9 million in grants during Fiscal Year 2008 to 40 different organizations in Santa Clara County to support community health and wellness activities. 

The Health Trust awarded funding to a diverse group of organizations; the majority of these target their services to low-income, medically underserved residents of Santa Clara County who are at high-risk of obesity, diabetes, and other chronic conditions. Many of these residents also lack access to health insurance or culturally and linguistically appropriate health care services.

Several recent grants are specifically designed to support the three new strategic initiatives of The Health Trust launched in January of this year.  The Healthy Living Initiative focuses on reducing and preventing obesity through better nutrition and physical activity. The Healthy Aging  Initiative focuses on creating independence for seniors through better access to care and communities of support. The Healthy Communities Initiative focuses on making access to health care, safe neighborhoods and environments that support healthy living available to everyone in our diverse culture.

Below is a partial list of grants awarded to projects that support each of the three new Initiatives.

 

Healthy Communities

Community Health Partnership in conjunction with Santa Clara Valley Health & Hospital System (SCVHHS) and VMC Foundation, $40,000, Latina Cancer Kiosks

To deliver targeted bilingual health education on cervical cancer to Latinas and other low-income women through on-site, interactive, multimedia touch-screen kiosks at selected clinics in Santa Clara County.

Stanford Medical Youth Science Project (SMYSP) at Overfelt High School, Opening the Windows to Real World Science and Health Careers - $25,000 

To create, test, and disseminate video interviews with local, ethnically diverse science and health professionals discussing their work in the context of health disparities as a real-world introduction to high school biology classes.  The DVDs will be made available to teachers in 17 biology classes reaching over 500 students at Overfelt High School with the goal of disseminating it to all schools in the East Side Union High School District.

 

Asian Immigrant Women Advocates (AIWA), Health Access for All Campaign - $25,000

To provide health access information to 200 women enrolled in workplace and computer literacy classes; train 20 leaders to obtain multilingual translations of program materials for a state insurance program that can benefit high-risk, medically underserved constituents; and engage 75 women in statewide health policy and coalition work to advocate for universal health care coverage.

 

Healthy Living

Santa Clara Valley Medical Center (VMC) Foundation, Early Childhood Feeding Dynamics Project, $110,000

To support an early-intervention pilot project “Salud Para Juventud” designed to “catch“ high-risk, low-income Latino children (ages 2-5) served by the safety net hospital system before poor feeding habits become ingrained.  The project will train pediatric providers to consistently apply the evidence-based Feeding Dynamics Model to their regular interactions with parents during well-child exams.

 

Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Cruz and San Benito Counties and Community Pantry, Nutrition Education and Food Stamp Outreach Project - $25,000

To hire an Education and Outreach Coordinator at the Community Pantry in Hollister that will provide culturally-appropriate nutrition education to approximately 3,000 low-income clients in San Benito County.  The partnership project will also conduct outreach and advocacy to increase the number of people accessing the underutilized Federal Food Stamp program.

Silicon Valley Leadership Group, Fit4Work/Fit4Life - $25,800

To support a newly launched wellness initiative involving 40 different companies engaged in workplace wellness programs.  Participants meet monthly to review best practices, hear from experts in the field, and share challenges and successes.  The initiative will develop a toolkit to assist Silicon Valley companies create or improve their own wellness programs.

 

Healthy Aging Initiative

Yu-Ai Kai, Hospital to Home Planning Grant - $75,000

In partnership with the Santa Clara County Minority Senior Providers Consortium and O’Connor Hospital, Yu-Ai Kai will work with consultants to plan, develop, and test a volunteer case management model to facilitate successful hospital-to-home transitions for ethnic older adults. 

 

Peninsula Stroke Association, Inter-Generational Stroke Education Program - $10,000 (including $5,000 in co-funding from Council on Aging Silicon Valley) 

To support the expansion of a program that will educate 1,000 individuals and distribute 7,500 multi-lingual stroke awareness pamphlets and brochures throughout Santa Clara County.  Funding will be used for staffing, program planning and coordination, volunteer training and community outreach activities.

Santa Clara Valley Blind Center, Living with Vision Loss Client Services - $25,000 (including $10,000 in co-funding from Council on Aging Silicon Valley) 

To hire a part-time Rehabilitation Services Instructor to retrain visually impaired seniors to improve their functioning through adaptive skills training, including cooking techniques, walking/stretching/yoga exercise programs, and medicine management in order to increase their independence and reduce institutionalization.

In addition to these grants The Health Trust awarded funds to: Santa Clara Family Health Plan; Family Supportive Housing; Planetree Library; South Bay Children’s Medical Center; San Jose Public Library; Stanford Medical Youth Science Program; Latinas Contra Cancer; and Santa Clara Valley Medical. The Health Trust also continued its support for School Health Clinics of Santa Clara County and RotaCare Free Clinics which improve access to health care for children and families and programs like Team Up for Youth and Generations Wellness Centers that promote on-site physical activity and nutrition programs at local schools, community centers, and neighborhoods in partnership with Healthy Silicon Valley. 

To view a comprehensive list of grantees and learn more about funding guidelines, please visit our website at http://www.healthtrust.org

About The Health Trust

The Health Trust is a nonprofit foundation that provides grants, services and advocacy to support its vision of Silicon Valley as the healthiest region in America.  In January, The Health Trust announced a $30 million investment in three initiatives – Healthy Living, Healthy Aging, and Healthy Communities.  For more information, visit www.healthtrust.org.

             

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For more information contact
Todd Hansen
The Health Trust
408.559-5582
ToddH@healthtrust.org