The Office of Health Equity within the California Department of Public Health, in partnership with The Center, awarded $3 million in competitive grants distributed among 10 community-based organizations across California led by and/or serving communities facing inequities from the COVID-19 pandemic. Learn about their projects below.
Funded Community Partners
Action Council of Monterey County
Monterey County
To create an action cohort focused on peer learning and relationship building to assess and address the root causes of racial inequities in Monterey County. The goal of closing health and racial equity gaps will be utilized through building community voice and power toward systems change.
Arc California
Statewide – 22 chapters
To create an equitable and resilient future for Spanish-speaking Californians with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and their families, through community organizing and cross-organizational collaboration.
California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation
Merced, Sacramento, San Joaquin and Yolo counties
To convene parent leaders and youth with their district staff and other local stakeholders and decision-makers, and have them engage in conversation and advocacy activities to prioritize disadvantaged students’ access to quality education and supportive programs.
Community Coalition for Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment
Los Angeles County
To advance an ongoing, community-centered effort that addresses health equity and COVID-19 recovery in South Los Angeles and other communities disproportionately impacted in Los Angeles County, with the goal of facilitating community engagement, healing and joy.
Dolores Huerta Foundation
Fresno, Kern and Tulare counties
To launch grassroots civic engagement campaigns by designing a comprehensive community needs assessment and administering it throughout the identified counties to better understand the various issues impacting the lives of valley residents, and to identify structural and systematic changes needed for equitable COVID-19 recovery.
Little Manila Foundation
San Joaquin County
To build an informed and resilient South Stockton community by assessing the impact of long COVID-19 within marginalized communities. The goal of using learnings to improve local health service response with local jurisdiction leadership will enhance a model of community health workers that is responsive to community needs.
North Coast Health Improvement
Humboldt County
To further establish community information exchange services in Humboldt County to support equitable recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation
San Francisco County
To bring together transit riders, community organizations, advocates and labor to shape, advance and fund an equitable and growing transportation system in San Francisco, with the goal of providing accessible transportation options that reliably, affordably and conveniently get residents where they need to go and connect them to work, school and play throughout the region.
Working Partnerships USA
Santa Clara County
To support the capacity to create infrastructure for a Care Workers Council in Santa Clara County, develop leadership and build the power of low-income, long-term supportive service and early learning and childcare workers, and to collaborate with regional coalitions and partners to advance an equitable regional recovery agenda centering workers and grounded in racial equity.
Wraparound Enterprises
Sacramento and San Bernardino counties
To develop a roadmap that addresses the root causes of the disproportionate and devasting impact of COVID-19 on Sacramento and San Bernardino’s low- and moderate-income Black senior (50+) community due to lack of disease and infectious disease prevention, a primary driver of hospitalization and death rates. The goal of developing a replicable model for immediate and long-term community-defined best practice recovery and resiliency plan will improve Black seniors’ health outcomes and awareness for disease prevention.