Ensuring that frontline migrant and seasonal agricultural workers receive the vaccine from a trusted source who understands this community’s cultural, linguistic, and logistical challenges is a priority at Clinicas del Camino Real, Inc. Clinicas del Camino Real, Inc. serves 52,000 agricultural worker families at its 15 health centers in Ventura County, California. Learn more in our new blog.
Press Releases
Media Contacts:
Susan Lamontagne at susan@publicinterestmedia.com 917 569-0969 or Claudia Gibson at cgibson@nachc.org, 301 347-0400
RCHN Community Health Foundation Awards $5 Million To Establish the New Center for Community Health Innovation
Grant to the National Association of Community Health Centers Will Support Improving Community Health Care Delivery
New York and Washington DC – To help establish a new Center for Community Health Innovation (CCHI), the RCHN Community Health Foundation (RCHN CHF) has awarded $5 million to the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC), the leading advocacy organization for community health centers and health care access for marginalized and medically underserved people.
“The Biden administration’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan stimulus package details the need for care in marginalized, medically underserved communities, and the essential role of Community Health Centers in providing that care,” said NACHC President and CEO Tom Van Coverden. “At a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare alarming health inequities, the RCHN Community Health Foundation’s gift will help us to address those needs and develop innovative models for the future.”
The Center for Community Health Innovation (CCHI), which NACHC will launch with the RCHN CHF grant, will work to identify, support, and replicate ground-breaking approaches to practice innovation, workforce development and collaborative arrangements in the delivery of community-based health care. The CCHI will evaluate existing best and promising practices and determine opportunities for value and scalability to further the health center mission. The goal of the CCHI is to prepare Community Health Centers for sustainable operational and clinical success, building on their unique, 50-plus year history and commitment to equity and access.
“The RCHN Community Health Foundation has had a robust voice through our policy research, grant-making and investment in on-the-ground initiatives to improve health and health care,” said Feygele Jacobs, RCHN CHF’s President and CEO, whose organization will end operations this year. “We’ve had the remarkable privilege to do this work, and this grant to NACHC, along with our other final awards, will underscore our legacy and build on our investment at a crucial time for community health.”
Founded in 1971 to promote efficient, high quality, comprehensive health care for all, NACHC provides training, technical assistance, and leadership development to support and strengthen health centers and advance the health of the nation’s most vulnerable and at-risk people and communities. For more information: www.nachc.org
The $5 million grant to NACHC is one of three final major awards being made by RCHN CHF as the foundation sunsets its operations.
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The Conference for Agricultural Worker Health was like none other that came before it. Last year, the conference was canceled because of COVID, this year attendees experienced it virtually. This is the only conference dedicated solely to the health and well-being of America’s migratory and seasonal agricultural workers and their families, so it was important to carry on, even if folks couldn’t gather under the same roof. We hope to make this happen next year.
Front and center on the conference agenda was honoring colleagues who have advanced the health center mission and whose contributions have vastly improved the lives of America’s migrant and seasonal agricultural workers. We presented both the 2020 and 2021 awards to health centers and the men and women within their walls who inspire us with their service and compassion and lead this nation to more equitable health care. Read about the awardees.
The National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC), in collaboration with the Delta Center for a Thriving Safety Net (Delta Center) has received three additional years of support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to continue an initiative that builds on efforts to boost primary care and health centers. The initiative seeks to advance payment, policy, and practice change that will ultimately improve care for underserved people. To build on this work, project has awarded six grants totaling over $1.6 million to primary care and behavioral health state associations nationwide, as part of its second cohort of the State Learning & Action Collaborative. The second cohort expands the initiative’s reach to eight additional states, increasing the Delta Center’s impact. In addition, the Delta Center also awarded eight alumni grants to states that participated in the 2018–2020 cohort.
The project brings together state primary care associations (PCAs) and behavioral health state associations (BHSAs) to foster policy, payment, and practice changes that will benefit millions, including health center patients. NACHC’s other project partners include: JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc. (JSI), the National Council for Behavioral Health (National Council), MacColl Center for Health Care Innovation at Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (MacColl Center), and Families USA.
Selected organizations in the new cohort are:
- Alaska Primary Care Association
- Alaska Behavioral Health Association
- Association of Community Mental Health Centers of Kansas, Inc.
- Bi-State Primary Care Association (New Hampshire & Vermont)
- Community Care Network of Kansas
- Community Health Center Association of Mississippi
- Louisiana Public Health Institute
- Louisiana Primary Care Association
- Mississippi Association of Community Mental Health Centers
- New Hampshire Community Behavioral Health Association
- Oklahoma Primary Care Association
- Oklahoma Behavioral Health Association
- Pennsylvania Association of Community Health Centers
- Rehabilitation & Community Providers Association (Pennsylvania)
Several states are focusing on broadening telehealth capabilities since the pandemic brought technology to the forefront. Other states are looking at models for integrating behavioral health and primary care in alignment with Delta Center goals. Grantees are elevating consumer voice in the design and implementation of their projects.
“NACHC is excited to continue the progress we have made to advance primary and behavioral health care in partnership with the National Council for Behavioral Health. Delta Center Phase 2 grantees will be pursuing efforts that are critical to health centers, including telehealth adoption and reimbursement, integration and support for social determinants of health in primary and behavioral health, and promoting sustainable and equitable solutions to modern health care challenges,” said Jeremy Crandall, Director of State Affairs, at NACHC.
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In celebration of #NationalNursesMonth, we’re proud to share an awe-inspiring project our Clinical Care and Quality has been working on, compiling all of the amazing stories we gathered for the Year of the Nurse in 2020.
View the new publication: 52 Weeks In The Life Of A Community Health Center Nurse
A new stunning 86-minute documentary film explores the universality of trauma and resilience through the eyes of immigrant and refugee health care practitioners and patients and features a Community Health Center in Lowell, MA. The film intertwines the personal journeys of people who are transcending their own obstacles by healing others, spotlighting the work of Street Level Health Project and Metta Health Center (part of the Lowell Community Health Center). A new documentary looks at the relationship Watch the trailer and learn more, including how to set up a screening.