Advancing Health Equity Awards
The California Endowment announced the recipients of the 2019 Advancing Health Equity Awards for their local innovations in improving public health. Eight public health departments and health human service agencies from across California were honored for their work that goes beyond the traditional scope of public health to positively impact the health of poor and marginalized communities.
This year’s Advancing Health Equity Awards recipients are:
- Arnold Perkins Award for Outstanding Health Equity Practice was awarded to the Riverside County Department of Public Health for its partnership with Starting Over, Inc. to reduce housing discrimination for the formerly incarcerated.
- Excellence in Health Equity Practice Award was awarded to the City of Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services which established the first municipal Office of Equity in Southern California.
- Excellence in Health Equity Practice Award was awarded to the San Francisco Department of Public Health for its Black African American Health Initiative, which is a series of workgroups with specific goals on improving outcomes for specific health conditions for San Francisco, California’s underserved, black communities, most notably hypertension and chlamydia.
- Excellence in Health Equity Practice Award was awarded to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health for its transformational journey to build health equity and embrace racial justice that resulted in launching the Center for Health Equity.
- Emerging Health Equity Practice Award was awarded to the Stanislaus County Health Services Agency Public Health Division for its significant efforts and commitment to increase equity for underserved communities through the building of their internal infrastructure in order to bring equity to the forefront of its public health efforts.
- Catalyst Health Equity Practice Award was awarded to the Calaveras County Health and Human Services Agency’s Public Health Division for the creation and ongoing implementation of The Calaveras Oral Health Program.
- Honorary Health Equity Practice Award was awarded to the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department for its collaboration with the community organizing group Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE) to ensure farm workers have access to safe and clean toilets, and potable water while working in the fields.
- Honorary Health Equity Practice Award was awarded to the County of Santa Clara Public Health Department for the PEACE Partnership. The partnership brings together 37 partners including, community residents, public health, health care organizations, schools, city and county agencies, and others to build a healthy, peaceful, and empowered community by preventing and addressing violence and trauma in East San José.
The California Endowment (Oakland, CA)
Contact: Jeff Okey
Phone: 213.928.8622
2019 Fries Prize
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) received the 2019 Fries Prize for Improving Health for its lifesaving impact on the health of people across the world. The award was presented at the American Public Health Association’s (APHA) annual meeting.
MSF delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural or man-made disasters, or exclusion from health care in more than 70 countries. Through longer-term programs, MSF treats patients with infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, sleeping sickness, and HIV/AIDS, and provides medical and psychological care to marginalized groups including migrants and refugees. Its advocacy work has raised awareness on equal access to medications. MSF has proven expertise in the field of epidemiology and is often called on to monitor, diagnose, and control outbreaks of diseases, such as cholera, Ebola, measles, and meningitis.
The Fries Prize for Improving Health award is $60,000. The CDC Foundation is honored to partner with the James F. and Sarah T. Fries Foundation, which established and funds the award. As of 2016, the CDC Foundation manages and administers the Fries Foundation’s public health award programs, which include the Fries Prize for Improving Health and the Elizabeth Fries Health Education Award.
CDC Foundation (Atlanta, GA)
Contact: Amy Tolchinsky
Phone: 404.523.3486
2019 RWJF Culture of Health Prize
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation announced five communities chosen to receive the 2019 RWJF Culture of Health Prize. The prize honors and elevates communities at the forefront of advancing health, opportunity, and equity for all. The 2019 prize winners are: Broward County, Florida.; Gonzales, California; Greenville County, South Carolina; Lake County, Colorado; and Sitka, Alaska.
Each winner will receive a $25,000 prize, join a growing network of prize-winning communities, and have their accomplishments shared broadly to inspire other communities across the nation who are building a Culture of Health. Prize communities share a commitment to investing in a broad range of solutions and coordinated steps to usher in lasting change.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (Princeton, NJ)
Contact: Melissa Blair
Phone: 609.627.5937
Email: media@rwjf.org