November 2009

Sierra Health's Partnerships brings you bimonthly news, opportunities, tools and resources.

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Foundations support Fostering Connections Resource Center

As part of our Public Policy and Education Program, we are pleased to join eight other foundations in supporting the new Fostering Connections Resource Center to help states implement legislation to improve the well-being of foster youth. This coalition of child welfare, adoption, health care and education leaders announced the launch of the resource center on the first anniversary of the passage of the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008.

The new law aims to promote permanency and improved outcomes for children in foster care through policy changes in six key areas: 1) support for kinship care and family connections, 2) support for older youth, 3) coordinated health services, 4) improved educational stability and opportunities, 5) incentives and assistance for adoption, and 6) direct access to federal resources for Indian tribes.

Managed by Child Trends and The Finance Project, the resource center provides nonpartisan, timely and reliable information to support state and local decision makers as they move forward with implementation of the Fostering Connections Act. Through its networks, the center provides materials and expertise to state policy-makers and administrators, and is a one-stop shop for data, online tools and technical support.

Coalition members include the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Casey Family Programs, Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, Duke Endowment, Eckerd Family Foundation, Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative, Sierra Health Foundation, Stuart Foundation and Walter S. Johnson Foundation.

Learn more about the law and get resources on the Fostering Connections Resource Center Web site.
 

Community coalitions receive REACH youth grants

After receiving planning grants through our REACH program last year, youth and adults in Vacaville and the Yuba-Sutter area worked to find out what young people need and want to be safe, healthy and engaged in their communities. With results from their community assessments, they developed action plans and now will focus on making long-term positive changes for youth.

In continued support of this work, we recently awarded each coalition a REACH Community Action grant of $450,000, which will be distributed over the next three years. With this grant – and a great deal of public support – the coalitions will make community-wide changes for youth to ensure they are safe and healthy, have positive relationships with caring adults, have meaningful opportunities to participate in the community and develop the skills they need to be successful.

The Vacaville Youth Roundtable REACH Coalition and the Youth Development Community Action Coalition of Yuba-Sutter are two of nine coalitions in the capital region to receive Community Action grants. Seven other REACH coalitions, which received three-year funding in 2007, are working in the communities of El Dorado Hills, Galt, Meadowview, Rancho Cordova, South Sacramento, West Sacramento and Woodland.

“Sierra Health is pleased to provide resources to help these two coalitions in their work to ensure young people are healthy and successful,” said Sierra Health Foundation President and CEO Chet Hewitt. “Ultimately, it isn’t the financial capital but the human capital – youth and adults working together – that will create the change they seek.”

Learn more about the REACH youth program on the REACH Web site.
 

Sierra Health executives take on expanded roles

Sierra Health President and CEO Chet Hewitt recently promoted two members of his executive team.

The foundation's chief financial officer since May 2006, Gil Alvarado now serves as vice president of administration/CFO. In this role, he is responsible for strategic business planning and management of all foundation administrative activities, investments and finances, and provides leadership to ensure compliance with state and federal fiscal and regulatory policy. He serves on the board of the national Foundation Financial Officers Group, and is involved in the local nonprofit community, serving on the board of Women’s Empowerment and as a committee member of MedStart. Before joining Sierra Health, he held the position of chief financial and information officer for the Paso del Norte Health Foundation in El Paso, Texas.

Since joining Sierra Health in February 2008, Diane Littlefield has led the foundation’s Program team as program officer and later as senior program officer. In her new role as director of program investments, she is responsible for strategic program development and management of the foundation's grantmaking portfolio, which includes policy, public education, responsive grants and special initiatives. Before joining Sierra Health as a consultant and later as a staff member, she served as director of the Center for Collaborative Planning at the Public Health Institute, and was chief of chronic disease prevention for the Monterey County Health Department.

“With the promotion of Gil Alvarado to the position of vice president of administration and CFO, and Diane Littlefield to the position of director of program investments, the foundation has significantly strengthened its executive team,” Hewitt said. “We now have the breadth and depth of organizational leadership required to continue the foundation’s rich history of leadership, collaboration and service to the range of institutions and communities working to promote health and well-being within our funding region and beyond.”

Health policy interns join Sierra Health

We’re pleased to introduce three health policy interns who joined Sierra Health in October. Adam Hepworth, Joe Jackson and Tara Vang are working with our Program team to assist with health policy aspects of our programs. They are providing invaluable support with research of local, state and federal policies and programs, and analysis of their impacts on our region. All three interns bring an impressive amount of knowledge, experience and enthusiasm to our program work.

Adam Hepworth is a graduate of Stanford University, where he majored in human biology and philosophy, focusing on the crossover between health policy and ethics. In his senior year, he wrote an honors thesis titled The Ethical Foundations of a Right to Health Care in the Ethics and Society Program. His experience includes work in a clinical research lab at the UC Davis Medical Center and work as a policy intern at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C. Adam is a native Californian who grew up in the Sacramento region.

Currently a senior at UC Davis, Joe Jackson is completing a degree in women and gender studies, and plans to obtain a master’s in public policy with an emphasis on education policy. Before attending UC Davis, Joe lived in Oakland, where he worked with youth in various school programs. He also has worked in community service as a volunteer or an employee for the last 15 years, focusing on issues such as youth education, police accountability, juvenile justice, immigrant rights, labor rights, marriage equality and transgender rights.

Tara Vang recently graduated from UC Davis with a degree in community and regional development, focusing on policy and planning. A second-generation Hmong-American, she began her work in the nonprofit sector with the Asian-American and Pacific Islander community. She has interned for the Hmong Women’s Heritage Association and the American Heart Association in Sacramento. During her senior year, she was a policy and research intern for the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center and the Organization of Chinese Americans.

Pictured left to right are Joe Jackson, Adam Hepworth and Tara Vang.

Community organizations vital to 2010 Census outreach

by Tara Vang, Sierra Health Foundation Health Policy Intern

On April 1, America once again will be defined as a nation. Participation in the 2010 Census is critical for many communities across the country, with the distribution of billions of federal funds, political representation and community development needs at stake. More than ever, trusted community organizations are vital to ensure an accurate count. To prepare and better facilitate this outreach, the U.S. Census Bureau created 2010 Partnerships, a collaborative of government, nonprofit, corporate and community organizations that have formally pledged their commitment to share the 2010 Census message and mobilize their constituents in support of the Census Bureau's goal of achieving a complete count.

Because undercounting is a serious concern in California, Sierra Health Foundation is pleased to join a collaborative effort in Northern California to help ensure the most accurate census possible. See our Resources section below for links to Web sites that offer census information and resources.