$1.36M Kaiser Permanente grant for health in Silicon Valley

- Kaiser Permanente awarded $1,360,080 in grants to 42 non-profit organizations serving Silicon Valley as part of its commitment to improving the health of the community.

“We’re just so proud to make a difference in our community in a meaningful way,” said Chris Boyd, Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara senior vice president and area manager. “These dollars will go to people that desperately need assistance.”

The programs funded by the Kaiser Permanente grants address community health needs by providing mental health services, access to care, healthy eating programs and domestic violence prevention. Grants range from $10,000 to $50,000 per community organization.

The School Health Clinics of Santa Clara County will receive one of the grants. The clinics provide bilingual, easily accessible, quality health care to low-income infants, children and adolescents on 4 school campuses in the county.

“We thank Kaiser Permanente for the grant that will let us expand our Patient Navigator program,” says Stephanie Kleinheinz, family nurse practitioner and CEO of the School Health Clinics. “The Navigator speaks Spanish, gets our clients needed appointments outside of our clinic, makes sure they have transit, and generally breaks down the barriers to health care for them.”

In Santa Clara County, home of Silicon Valley, a recent Kaiser Permanente assessment of community needs found that 15% of children live in poverty and 54% of children and youth don’t consume adequate fruit and vegetables. With that in mind, a grant was also awarded to the Second Harvest Food Bank of San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties.

“We’re so grateful for Kaiser Permanente’s continuing support, totaling $700,000 since 2006,” says Cat Cvengros, vice president of development and marketing for Second Harvest. “Thanks to Kaiser Permanente, we’ve been able to provide 6,000 households with $15 million in food benefits through the CalFresh food stamp program.”

“This is part of our mission,” says Irene Chavez, senior vice president and area manager of the Kaiser Permanente San Jose Medical Center. “So much of people’s health depends on how healthy their communities are, how safe they are, how well fed they are, how adequate their housing is, and Kaiser Permanente wants to be part of that solution.”