Kaiser Permanente Awards $711,000 in Grants to Southern Alameda County Community Organizations

Kaiser Permanente has awarded $711,000 in grants to 29 organizations serving southern Alameda County as part of its annual Community Benefit grants program. The funded programs will address pressing community needs as well as support "safety net" health organizations that provide care to uninsured patients.

"At Kaiser Permanente we are deeply committed to the overall health of our members and of the communities we serve. Through these grants, we are building healthier and safer communities throughout southern Alameda County, reaching underserved communities and those most in need," said Tom Hanenburg, Senior Vice President and Area Manager, Kaiser Permanente in southern Alameda County.
Local organizations and programs that received grants this year include:

• Davis Street Family Resource Center: Hands-on meal preparation and nutrition education to patients, utilizing items from our emergency food program to improve health and reduce obesity in San Leandro.
• Tiburcio Vasquez Health Center: Improve access to healthy foods, particularly fresh produce, in the Ashland and Cherryland communities, and increase residents’ knowledge of good nutrition and food preparation and storage.
• Tri-City Health Center: Provide comprehensive, one-on-one nutrition education services to women who are overweight or obese and have (pre)hypertension in Hayward, Union City and Fremont.
• Bay Area Women Against Rape: Increase access to culturally-sensitive rape trauma counselling and mental health support services in the Spanish-speaking, uninsured, immigrant Latino communities of southern Alameda County.
• Afghan Coalition: Help Afghan families build positive skills to resolve conflicts and modify cultural practices that isolate women.

Using data from Alameda County cities and communities, an advisory group of physicians, other health providers and medical administrators, helped establish a list of some of the community’s most pressing needs. This year’s funding priorities are: 1) Improve access to mental health services; 2) increase access to affordable healthy food; 3) ensure safe environments where we live, work and play; and 4) increase access to health care.

Based on these priorities, the Kaiser Permanente Community Benefit Program awarded 29 grants ranging from $5,000 to $30,000.

Kaiser Permanente operates two major medical centers in southern Alameda County – in San Leandro and Fremont – as well as medical facilities in Hayward and Union City. In the last five years, the Kaiser Permanente Community Benefit Program has awarded $4,736,000 in grants and sponsorships to 197 community organizations in southern Alameda County.