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TCWF 2007 Champions of Health Professions Diversity Award Announced

TCWF will present its fifth annual Champions of Health Professions Diversity Award to three physicians: Dr. Michael V. Drake of Irvine, Dr. Hector Flores of Los Angeles and Dr. Ernest C. Levister, Jr. of San Bernardino. In recognition of the honoree’s efforts to reduce entry barriers to the medical professions and to ensure the success of underrepresented minorities, they will each receive a cash award of $25,000 on June 11 at an awards ceremony in Los Angeles.
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Youth Activists Applaud Partial Closure of Chemical Recycling Plant

Since 1991, Youth United for Community Action (YUCA), a TCWF grantee, has waged a community campaign to shut down Romic Environmental Technologies Corp., a bulk chemical recycling plant, on the grounds that the company releases hazardous waste into the environment, resulting in high local asthma and cancer rates. A Palo Alto Online article about community response to a recent state order mandating that Romic cease nearly all bulk chemical recycling operations in East Palo Alto and Redwood City included a quote from a YUCA spokesperson.
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New Report Finds that 89 percent of California Parents Favor Comprehensive Sex Education in School

A new study from the Public Health Institute found overwhelming support among California parents—regardless of parents’ political leanings, religious affiliation or location—for school-based comprehensive sex education. Parents were asked about preferences for comprehensive versus abstinence-only sex education, opinions on specific sex education topics and reasons for preferences and opinions. The study, funded by a grant from TCWF, found the support to be highly consistent across the five social-geographic regions sampled.
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Juvenile Justice Reform Is Focus of Northern California Grantmakers Forum

“A Window of Opportunity: New Paths to Reform California’s Juvenile Justice System” is the topic of a Northern California Grantmakers forum on June 20. The event will be held at the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco. Presenters include TCWF grantees: Sue Burrell, staff attorney, Youth Law Center; Dan Macallair, executive director, Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice; and David Steinhart, juvenile justice program director, Commonweal. The roles currently played by nonprofits and the opportunities for funders to help promote an effective system of care for juvenile offenders will be explored at the free event, only open to funders.
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Report Tracks California’s Capacity to Produce Health Professionals

The Health Workforce Tracking Collaborative, a project of the Center for the Health Professions at UC San Francisco, has published a study of the “educational supply chain” for selected health professions in California. Medicine, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy and allied professions are tracked by number of graduates produced, degree types and distribution among educational institutions statewide. The report, funded in part by TCWF, includes information on projected demand for health professionals.
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Academy Health Seeks Nominations for HSR Impact Award

Academy Health, a professional society for health services researchers, policy analysts and practitioners, is seeking nominations for its HSR Impact Award, which recognizes published or unpublished health services research that has positively affected health policy, health practice, or both. The lead researcher of the winning entry—to be announced at the 2008 National Health Policy Conference in Washington, D.C.—will receive a $2,000 cash prize. Academy Health will disseminate the research as part of its ongoing efforts to communicate the value of health science research for health care decision-making. Deadline for submissions is July 31.
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Youth Radio Expansion Plans Described in San Francisco Chronicle

Youth Radio’s new headquarters in Oakland, and plans to expand both its teenaged staff and audience, are the focus of a recent San Francisco Chronicle article. Founded in 1990, the TCWF grantee provides free after-school training in audio, video, Web and print journalism production and technology to approximately 1,300 youth each year. Candid, youth-produced stories on subjects ranging from teen sex and gang violence to music and movies can be heard on NPR, Public Radio International and KQED-FM. Youth Radio has bureaus in Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C., and produces about 300 broadcasts per year.
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TCWF Peace Prize Honoree to Speak at Conference in Sweden

Zelenne Cárdenas, a 2004 TCWF Peace Prize honoree, will speak on drug prevention at the Conference on Dependencies of the International Council on Alcohol and Addictions (ICAA), in Stockholm, Sweden, June 10-15. As director of prevention services for Social Model Recovery System, Cárdenas leads the United Coalition East Prevention Project (UCEPP) in the Central City East neighborhood of downtown Los Angeles, also known as skid row. UCEPP mobilizes community residents—including low-income and homeless individuals—to prevent alcohol- and drug-related problems, develop after-school programs and promote accessible health care.
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Careers in Dentistry, Nutrition, and Orthotics Highlighted in L.A. Youth Series

Interviews with an orthodontist’s assistant, a dietician and a certified orthotist are featured in recent editions of L.A. Youth, a newspaper written by and about teens. “Working for Smiles,” in the January/February issue, was written by Beverly Hills High student Sylvana Insua-Rieger; “Good Nutrition is on the Menu,” by Chris Lee of Walnut High School, is in the March/April issue; and “Making a Difference,” by Mindy Gee of Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies is in the May/June issue. These articles are part of a series of health career stories made possible by a partnership with TCWF’s public education campaign to increase diversity in the health professions.
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Court Mandates Expanded Care for San Diego County’s Working Poor

Low-income residents of San Diego County whose incomes exceed a $1,078-per-month limit may not be denied life-saving medical treatment, according to a May 23 state appellate court ruling. This major legal victory, won by the Western Center on Law and Poverty, a TCWF grantee, rejects the income threshold because it denies care to the working poor. The ruling favors a class-action lawsuit filed in 2005 against the county and its County Medical Services program, which provides emergency treatment, trauma care and treatment of chronic conditions to indigent adults with no other health coverage.
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Policy Brief Reveals Major Challenges to Healthy Aging in California

According to a new policy brief from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, more than 20 percent of California seniors are likely to fall, need special equipment or assistance for personal care, or struggle to afford nutritious food—health issues that disproportionately affect poor and minority seniors. The report finds that nearly 12 percent of Californians 65 and older have fallen more than once in the previous year, and 20 percent of low-income seniors consistently lack money for food. Funded by a grant from TCWF, the brief is based on data from the 2003 California Health Interview Survey.
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Health Care Workforce Shortages and Diversity Are Topics of California State Assembly Hearing

“Developing the California Health Care Workforce of Tomorrow: Addressing Shortages and Diversity” was the topic of an informational hearing of the California State Assembly Committee on Health on May 15. Eight TCWF grantees and TCWF Program Director Saba S. Brelvi were among those who provided testimony and recommendations. TCWF grantee participants were: Campaign for College Opportunity, Public Health Institute, California Health Professions Consortium at UC San Francisco, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, Western University of Health Sciences, Network of Ethnic Physicians of the California Medical Association Foundation, Latino Coalition for Healthy California, and California Rural Indian Health Board.
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