National Health Foundation

Results:

Food Access

-3000 South Los Angeles residents now have access to fresh produce choices through local market makeovers from our Health Academy youth, as part of the Champions for Change–Healthy Communities project.

-7 corner markets receiving makeovers to promote produce in new and attractive ways has helped communty residents increase their consumption of fruits and vegetables by 35 percent.

-16 stores participated in a collaborative food purchasing program to obtain fresh fruits and vegetables.

-2,000+ community members participated in 120 nutrition education classes and food demonstrations.

-20% more students at one South LA high school are now participating in the school lunch program because of a redesigned lunchroom.

-700 high school students now have access to fresh water thanks to the installation of one hydration station.

-900+ high school students now have access to healthy snacks because of a student-developed share table, which has also significantly reduced food waste. The concept is being considered for county-wide adoption.

Built Environment

-South LA residents are now more likely to take a walking trip because of 11 Walk This Way signs posted in a 4-mile radius of the Central Avenue corridor.

-300 hours of free physical activity classes offered, enabling 86 people to be more physically active, 41% of whom are consistently returning to class.

Education

-100% of youth community health liaisons working on food access have graduated from high school and gone onto college.

-92% of participants in our teen prengancy prevention program have remained in school, graduated and/or obtained a GED six months after completing the program.

-96% of participants successfully avoided teen pregnancy or parenthood six months after program completion. Birth control utilization increased by 24% among participants.

-94% of participants agreed or strongly agreed they have the ability to seek out services in their community.

Housing

-5000+ individuals discharged from hospitals to NHF recuperative care (since inception). -NHF has helped place 67% of recuperative care clients into permanent or permanent supportive housing.

-100% of recuperative care clients entered into the Coordinated Entry System, giving them access to county housing services.

-100% of recuperative care clients received an individualized care plan and a connection to a medical home.

-Of the 262 Dignity Health clients referred to NHF in 2016, only 4% were readmitted to the hospital within 30 days.

-Since launching in 2010, $45 million has been saved through costs avoided to hospitals and healthcare systems.

Target demographics: underserved communities

Geographic areas served: Southern California

Programs:

National Health Foundation Recuperative Care offers hospitals a safe place to discharge individuals without a home who no longer require hospitalization but still need to heal from an illness or injury. Recuperative care facilities provide clients medical oversight, case management, and supportive social services while they are recovering.

A nutrition education and obesity prevention partnership with Jefferson High School Health Academy helps students research and identify challenges in their communities around food, beverage and exercise issues, and create solutions to address those concerns.

We embrace a guiding philosophy that health begins where we live, learn, work and play. Our health is determined in part by access to social and economic opportunities; the resources and supports available in our homes, neighborhoods, and communities; the quality of our schooling; the safety of our workplaces; the cleanliness of our water, food, and air; and the nature of our social interactions and relationships.

We work hand-in-hand with communities, tackling these conditions in which we live and righting the wrongs of health disparities. Within the community, our focus is on empowering individuals to make choices that allow them to live a long, healthy life, regardless of their income, education or ethnic background. We are developing young leaders, we are changing the physical and social landscape of vulnerable neighborhoods, and we are lifting up those around us. We make connections between existing resources and build sustainability into our programs so that we are not the sole champions of an effort. We want change to exist long after we have moved on.

Using these strategies, we create and deploy critical programs that are changing the way neighborhoods can access healthy foods; enabling individuals to safely exercise without using their financial resources; shifting the level of expectations teen mothers set for themselves, their academics and their futures; and improving individuals’ chances of staying healthy by connecting them to a home.