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Women’s Community Clinic Merging with HealthRIGHT 360
Vesper Society is committed to finding long-term solutions that improve the health and well-being of overlooked communities. In the Bay Area, low-income women and girls was one such overlooked community. One of the organizations serving this community is Women’s Community Clinic (the Clinic). As one of the only local safety net clinics in the Bay Area focused on women’s health, the Clinic believes that women have the right to make their own decisions about their health and has been providing high-quality health services since 1999. For women—both female-born or female-identified—who can’t get care anywhere else, the Clinic is a sanctuary of high-quality, affordable care. The Clinic’s services include primary care, sexual and reproductive health, and—with support from Vesper Society—in-house mental health counseling, an urgent need among its clients. The Clinic sees over 4,000 clients each year; over 90% of whom make less than $25,000 annually. In addition to these clinical services, the Clinic provides an outreach program that provides resources and support to women facing homelessness and an innovative workforce development program that provides on-the-job training and career preparation for aspiring health professionals. These adaptive solutions offer a stepping stone into the Bay Area’s quickly-growing career sectors and helps foster a new generation of providers who are committed to judgment-free, culturally sensitive health care. These services are more important than ever. With proposed changes to the Affordable Care Act and cutbacks in other federal health care programs, safety net clinics like these are now under threat. Thousands of women in the Bay Area risk losing their access to health care. Earlier this year, the Clinic faced a significant funding gap when it lost a federal grant that had been essential to its operations. Knowing that further cuts in government funding are likely at a time when women will need... Read More
Mobile Dental Services Improve the Health and Well-Being of Youth
Vesper Society believes in a simple idea: a just society begins when everyone is well and everyone is respected as a human being. We look for creative ways to serve overlooked communities. We don’t have prescribed formulas for solving complex social issues. We actively listen, we are flexible, and we adapt our approach to each situation so that every community we support receives what it really needs for maximum impact. One way we have done this is by supporting the work of the Mobile Dental Clinic serving Contra Costa County youth. It is well understood that poor oral health can have a life-long impact on one’s overall health. Yet many people lack access to quality dental care. This is especially true in communities of color, communities whose members often don’t speak English, and low-income communities. Poor oral health can also prevent a child’s success in school, and tooth decay is one of the most common chronic illnesses for school-age children. In 2004, the Dental Collaborative of Contra Costa set out to improve children’s oral health and encourage proper oral hygiene. The Dental Collaborative, a joint partnership between John Muir Health, La Clinica de La Raza, Lifelong Medical Care, and Contra Costa Public Health, provides free dental services to children and youth without insurance and those with limited access to dental services in Contra Costa County, California. For maximum flexibility and to better serve more community members, services are provided on a mobile dental clinic called the Ronald McDonald Care Mobile. The Ronald McDonald Care Mobile provides services in elementary and middle schools, Head Start Centers, First 5 Centers, juvenile facilities, and other community sites. Dental services range from cleanings, fluorides, and sealants, to major restorative procedures. Over the past 13 years, the Mobile Dental Clinic has completed 14,807 visits,... Read More
La Clínica Provides Essential Services to Oakland Students
Vesper Society is committed to improving the health and well-being of youth and families. One way we do this is by supporting La Clinica de La Raza in Oakland, CA. La Clinica de La Raza works to improve the quality of life of the diverse communities they serve by providing culturally appropriate, high-quality, and accessible health care for all. Their eight School Based Health Centers (SBHCs) enroll students in a variety of services to meet their varied health care needs. In addition, students receive comprehensive assessments and health education counseling and are taught about things like nutrition, healthy relations, and reproductive health. Beyond health care, youth are welcomed and trained in leadership and self-efficacy that supports their ongoing success. As a partner with the Alameda County Health Care Services Agency, La Clinica provides culturally and linguistically appropriate health services to over 5,700 children and youth annually. Students visit the SBHCs for a variety of reasons: perhaps their grades have dropped, they have disclosed self-harm, or a physician has determined the patient is experiencing traumatic symptoms. The SBHCs use a fully integrated clinical model that takes any path necessary to identify and address trauma and other behavioral health needs. Many youth in East Oakland experience multiple and continuous traumas and stressors, including family trauma, stress of immigration, unstable housing, and the continuous trauma of community violence. As a result of these ongoing stressors, young people in this community are more susceptible to anxiety, depression and self-harm. To address this challenge, La Clinica opened the SBHC at Havenscourt in East Oakland 2011. Vesper Society’s support has allowed La Clinica to expand their services by hiring a full-time behavioral health clinician. The program is a huge success. Since 2014, almost one in six students has received behavioral health services at the SBHC,... Read More
Welcome Street Level Health
Vesper Society believes in a simple idea: a just society begins when everyone is well, and respected as a human being. Every day, we link arms with leaders of overlooked communities that want to create a healthy future, and help them devise ways to do it. Street Level Health is one of those leaders in Oakland, improving the health and wellbeing of underserved urban immigrant communities in the Bay Area. Over the past 15 years, their Health Access Program has supported thousands of low to no-income adults in the Fruitvale District of Oakland where 48 percent of households live below the Federal Poverty Level and 16,000 adults live at risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Known to many as the “safety net of the safety net,” Street Level Health’s center in the Fruitvale District serves a marginalized population excluded from the Affordable Care Act. According to the California Department of Health Services, through a Whole Person Care Model they triage clients who are 93 percent foreign-born with 43 percent having resided in the U.S. for less than three years. This population of Limited Language Proficient adults face a multitude of barriers that include language and literacy skills, legal status, unemployment, and lost work opportunities due to long wait times at Federally Qualified Health Centers. Increasingly, they also serve a growing number of the working poor who are unable to afford Covered California and have incomes that exceed the eligibility requirements for public benefits (138% – 200% Federal Poverty Level, which for a single person is $16,395). In September 2016, Vesper Society partnered with Street Level Health to respond to the lack of access to culturally and language responsive behavioral health services. These services focused on immigrants who face psychological and physical threats associated with extreme poverty, emotional trauma, and the... Read More
Welcome Los Angeles United Methodist Urban Foundation
Vesper Society is committed to improving the well-being of youth. So, we link arms with leaders and organizations creating long-term solutions in their communities. Today, we’re showcasing one of our incredible partner organizations, the Los Angeles United Methodist Urban Foundation (Urban Foundation), which encourages the efforts of other faith communities to find, embrace, and support overlooked youth and young adults who dream of attending college. The Urban Foundation’s Kid City Hope Place program recognizes the problem of educational inequity and severe economic hardship among the communities it serves in downtown and south central Los Angeles. With programs in leadership development, music and arts, college access, and college completion, Kid City provides mentoring, college knowledge, high-level math tutoring, and guidance through admissions and financial aid applications. As a result, students are better able to access opportunities, explore their intellectual curiosity, and discover their ability to advocate for themselves and their communities. Teens and adults find their voice and become self-empowered leaders. The program has helped over 200 college students apply and enroll in college, and up to 50 high school juniors and 50 high school seniors are welcomed into the program every year. Once in college, the commitment to community continues. Kid City’s approach to college success is about more than just getting a diploma. It includes helping students through inevitable struggles, honoring a commitment to lifting up the community, getting the most out of educational opportunities, and becoming leaders, change agents, and contributing members of the world. By empowering each person to “take responsibility for the things they care about” (Kid City’s definition of leadership), the benefits can be felt in communities long after a student has left the program. Vesper Society supports The Urban Foundation’s Kid City Hope Place program because we believe that by serving youth, we... Read More
Our Futures Are Intertwined; A Holiday Message
Vesper Society believes in a simple idea: a just society begins when everyone is well and everyone is respected as a human being. Putting those words into practice in Imperial County meant working with Clinicas de Salud to strengthen their asthma and telemedicine services to improve access to quality health care for all residents. (Pictured above, Vesper President Miyoko Oshima and Clinicas de Salud CEO Yvonne Bell at Imperial Valley National Philanthropy Day 11/16/16.) Vesper Society was honored to receive the Distinguished Philanthropist Award for this work at the fourth annual Imperial Valley National Philanthropy Day in El Centro. Our commitment to community grows stronger each day by linking arms with leaders in these overlooked communities that want to create a healthy future. Our vision of a compassionate world that protects human dignity and enhances human potential calls us to build healthy communities that thrive and prosper. We support people and communities that care for each other and for the most vulnerable because it is in our common humanity that we discover what is most important in life. During this holiday season, we are guided by gratitude and love, both essential for a world that draws out the best in people. This is the new narrative of light we want to create with you as we enter a time of uncertainty and shadows. The candle of progress is flickering, and we intend to build beacons of hope. We wish you and your family warmth and joy. We wish you and your community bounty and health. Our futures are intertwined, whether we are in frontier towns, rural areas, or urban neighborhoods. We are grateful to have you in our lives and we send a simple holiday message. The Blessings of Peace The Beauty of Hope The Spirit of Love The... Read More