Blue Shield of California Foundation Announces $9 Million in First Quarter Grants
Blue Shield of California Foundation Announces $9 million in First Quarter Grants
Marianne Jackson, Vivian Clecak Join Foundation Board of Directors
San Francisco, March 22, 2011 — Blue Shield of California Foundation (BSCF) today announced more than $9 million in first quarter grants to support the safety net, improve access to health care, and end domestic violence.
“We have an ambitious agenda in California,” said Peter Long, Ph.D., president and CEO of BSCF. “We’re helping the state and community clinics prepare for the successful implementation of health reform while also accelerating our work to end domestic violence. The partners we are supporting through these grants will provide tangible benefits for the most vulnerable Californians today and in the future.”
The largest first quarter grants will go toward helping community clinics meet the needs of today while paving the way for health reform. The Foundation also announced new funds to help develop infrastructure and best practices to implement health reform.
The following is a breakdown of all first quarter grants:
Health Care and Coverage
• Core Support to Community Clinics - Up to $5 million to provide core support funding to licensed community, free, and tribal clinics to meet the immediate health care needs of uninsured Californians.
• Tides Center - $1.8 million to help California’s top-performing community clinics position themselves as innovators in the field and as high-performing in a post-health reform marketplace.
• Regents of the University of California - $233,000 to enable leading experts to conduct research aimed at improving California's safety net providers and identifying the impact of health reform on low-income populations in California.
• Social Interest Solutions (SIS) - $200,000 to help counties modernize and automate eligibility and enrollment systems for enrollment of low-income individuals into county Low Income Health Programs (LIHP), and to support the state in transitioning LIHP enrollees to Medi-Cal.
• Project HOPE - $175,000 to support a series of papers in Health Affairs that will promote understanding of critical health reform implementation issues affecting California, particularly healthcare safety net providers.
• Shasta Community Health Center - $138,000 to assess the impact on cost, access, quality, and patient and provider satisfaction of using electronic medical record (EMR) scribes to support EMR adoption in community health centers.
• Tides Center (The Children’s Partnership) - $125,000 to develop a roadmap for redesigning eligibility and enrollment systems for public healthcare programs in California to make it easier for consumers to secure coverage and to remain enrolled.
Blue Shield Against Violence
• TechSoup Global - $300,000 to build the information technology capacity of California’s domestic violence field with training, hardware and software donations.
• National Family Justice Center Initiative - $1,125,000 to support the California Family Justice Initiative, the first and only statewide network of co-located, multi-agency domestic violence service centers in the United States.
• Blue Star Families - $50,000 to support a national celebrity Public Service Announcement campaign to promote wellness and prevent violence in military and veteran families.
BSCF ANNOUNCES NEW BOARD MEMBERS
The Foundation also announced the addition of two distinguished leaders to its Board of Trustees.
Marianne Jackson, Senior Vice President for Human Resources, Blue Shield of California
Marianne Jackson brings a passion for health and wellness and deep expertise in such key areas as organizational effectiveness, workforce optimization, and strategic planning to this leadership role. She has served as senior vice president for human resources, community relations, and internal communications for Blue Shield of California since 2003. Marianne frequently speaks at national events and has also authored several articles on corporate wellness. She is also an experienced board member, serving on the boards of the Health Trust of Silicon Valley and the HR Forum of Silicon Valley.
“Marianne brings tremendous experience and passion for health care to this role,” said Long. “She is a bold leader who will further strengthen a dynamic Board.”
Vivian Clecak, CEO, Human Options
In 1981, Vivian Clecak and three co-founders started Human Options: Alternatives for Abused Women and their Families in Orange County. Since Human Options’ humble beginnings operating out of the trunk of Ms. Clecak’s car, its domestic violence services have grown to serve over 23,300 individuals in direct services, responded to more than 50,500 hotline crisis calls and reached over 220,000 individuals through the community education program. Human Options is now celebrating its 30th anniversary, and independent research has shown that 92 percent of their shelter graduates remain violence free. Vivian is a nationally recognized expert on domestic violence who has appeared on national television, presented at a range of conferences, and received numerous awards for her work in the field.
Said Long, “We couldn’t ask for a better ally in the effort to end domestic violence. As a recognized leader in the field and in her community, Vivian’s insights and on-the-ground experience will be invaluable to the Foundation’s work. ”
About Blue Shield of California Foundation
Blue Shield of California Foundation is one of the state’s largest healthcare grantmaking organizations. Visit: www.blueshieldcafoundation.org.
The Foundation was formed by Blue Shield of California, a not-for-profit corporation with more than 3.4 million members, 4,800 employees, and 20 offices throughout California. Visit: www.blueshieldca.com.