Initiative Will Support Community Health Care to the Underserved
CPA will play a critical role in linking best practices in
community health care with communities in need of
improved care through a $1.6 million, five-year contract from the W.K. Kellogg
Foundation, the Kellogg Foundation announced August 12. The
initiative, "Community Voices: Health Care
for the Underserved," links 13 community health learning laboratory sites
across the U.S. in what is the largest philanthropic effort aimed at upgrading
health care access and quality in this country.
CPA will connect the 13 Community Voices learning laboratory
sites with policy makers around the country and each other, and will provide technical assistance on policy issues.
"This Kellogg initiative has an enormous potential to amplify the
experiences of successful community health care models and replicate
them across the country," said CPA President and CEO Linda Tarr-Whelan.
"We’re very excited to be able to move ideas
to action through this program."
The 13 learning laboratory sites are consortia of front-line health
care providers and community organizations who work to improve health care
access for underserved populations such as the homeless, immigrants,
Native Americans and residents of poor urban and rural communities.
"Our job is to spotlight innovative and successful community health
care strategies," said CPA’s Community Voices project director Nancy Epstein.
The W.K. Kellogg Community Voices project, a $55 million
initiative, is the single largest initiative in
the foundation’s 68-year history.
"The size and scope of Community Voices reflects the compelling
need to include 70 million Americans who are currently underserved into the
best health care system the nation has to offer," Dr. Gloria Smith, Kellogg
Foundation Vice President for Health, noted. "The community level is the place
to start this transformation."
