Daughters of Charity Secures Another $1 million Grant from United HealthCare
Representatives from United Healthcare and Daughters of Charity Health Centers gathered to announce the results of the $1.5 million United Healthcare provided to Daughters of Charity Health Centers (DCHC) in 2018 for a community health workers program and announce a new $1 million grant to continue support of the Care Fellowship through 2019. These grants are part of United Healthcare’s Empowering Health commitment, which strives to make an impact on the health of communities by providing significant funding to address social determinants of health in high-risk and high-need areas. According to United Health Foundation’s America’s Health Rankings, in 2018 Louisiana ranked 50th among U.S. states in overall health due to factors like a high prevalence of smoking, obesity and children in poverty.
To date, United Healthcare grant has enabled a full-time team of 15 community health workers to connect more than 11,000 underserved and uninsured people across New Orleans with vital community health and social services. These include health screenings, scheduling appointments with doctors for preventive care services, and working with community partners to ensure people have access to the critical resources they need, including assistance in finding affordable housing, applying for SNAP food stamp benefits, accessing substance abuse treatment, primary care, financial education and counseling, and job training.
Delgado Launches New Health Coach Certificate Program
Delgado Community College recently announced the debut of its Health Coach Certificate Program, a new healthcare program in the Division of Workforce and Professional Development at Delgado.
With a $550,000 award from the Louisiana Community and Technical College System (LCTCS), Delgado is working towards development of the program with a proposed start in the fall of 2019. The Health Coach Certificate Program is being designed to meet credentialing agency standards, a requirement for student eligibility to be tested for board certification through the National Board of Medical Examiners. The program is part of a comprehensive plan to serve as a bridge for a proposed, but not yet approved, associate degree in Health Navigation. LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans has partnered with Delgado to provide technical assistance in the curriculum design, development and implementation of the comprehensive plan.
Graduates of this program will play a vital role in improving patient health outcomes in the greater New Orleans area. Health coaches are behavior change specialists trained in techniques to partner with patients for identifying health goals that put them on a path to management of chronic conditions. Health navigators, as members of the care team, work with patients to focus on overcoming barriers to accessing care while also identifying any physical, emotional and cultural needs.
The Port of New Orleans Receives Equity Ally Award
The Port of New Orleans received the Equity Ally Award recognizing its efforts to provide access to new opportunities for women and minority entrepreneurs. Tiffany Carter, Director of Procurement, accepted the award on behalf of Port NOLA at the Good Work Network’s annual meeting in May.
“The Port of New Orleans strives to be inclusive working with and promoting local and small businesses while growing the global economy through our gateway,” said Brandy D. Christian, President and CEO of Port NOLA and CEO of New Orleans Public Belt Railroad (NOPB). “This award validates the success of our procurement department’s initiatives such as the Small Business Contracting Program, and it allows us to continue to move forward in the right direction.”
The Port’s Small Business Contracting Program is designed to develop mutually valuable professional relationships with local and small businesses to increase the number of small businesses, including minority-owned, women-owned, disadvantaged firms and service-disabled veteran-owned businesses applying and competing for Port contracts.
During fiscal years 2016 through 2018, more than $6 million was spent with minority- and women-owned businesses. During the current fiscal year, Port NOLA has already spent more than $5.6 million in small business contracts.
As a part of the Port’s procurement objectives, the team continues to increase the proportion of funds spent with qualified local and small business firms in construction, professional services, and goods and services.
“The inclusion, growth and promotion of minority- and women-owned businesses is one of my personal commitments and priorities that is shared by the entire Board of Commissioners,” said Arnold Baker, Chairman of the Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans. “The generation of small business wealth creates a greater number of personal options; which makes individuals more apt to make better personal decisions; which in turn leads to larger and more frequent personal successes diminishing socioeconomic initiated challenges reflected by acts of crime, abuse and hopelessness. Local and small businesses are a critical part of creating economic vitality in the region and of our success to keep Port NOLA competitive and strong.”
“We know that strong economies are inclusive economies,” said Good Work Executive Director Hermione Malone in a letter to Port NOLA. “Organizations like the Port have made an evidenced commitment of that belief through proactive engagement with women- and minority-owned firms. The fruits of that work can be seen in contract opportunities awarded and growth in business revenues.”
