CBO Capacity Building for Health Equity in LA County

Health care access

County of Los Angeles (select only if your project has a countywide benefit)

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

The LA CHW/P/R Consortium’s community-based organizations (CBOs) typically rely on short-term grant funding and lack the resources and workforce to tackle the systemic issues faced by the communities they serve in LA County, including poverty, language barriers, healthcare access, limited employment opportunities, safety issues, housing issues/homelessness, disaster preparedness/recovery, and disconnected youth.
Current federal funding cuts are endangering CBOs’ grant-funded programming. Proposed federal Medicaid cuts and the State Medi-Cal enrollment freeze are leaving thousands of underserved LA County residents, including immigrants and communities of color, without access to vital healthcare, worsening health and economic disparities. Capacity building to help CBOs develop sustainable funding streams and build career pathways for CHW/P/Rs embedded in their communities will strengthen the Consortium’s work to close equity gaps in healthcare and other social determinants of health.

El Sol proposes a capacity-building initiative to strengthen the impact and sustainability of 8 LA CHW/P/R Consortium-member CBOs. Through a simple application process, El Sol will select 8 CBOs by scoring their applications on criteria such as experience serving the target communities, interest, alignment with program goals, and need.
El Sol will execute subrecipient agreements and provide participation stipends to each CBO. Each CBO will undertake an Organizational Self-Assessment Tool (OSAT) to identify strengths, gaps, and priorities. El Sol will provide one-on-one check-ins with each CBO as well as in-depth training and technical assistance tailored to the needs discovered through the OSAT, in areas such as strategic planning, sustainable funding, data management, and program delivery. 
El Sol will provide 50 CHW/P/Rs from these CBOs with a multilingual 60-hour CHW Basic Training, teaching core competencies such as communication, outreach, advocacy, health education, and care navigation. The trained CHW/P/Rs will co-design and lead community engagement projects addressing the LA2050 issue areas which most affect their communities, such as healthcare access, housing, homelessness, and disaster preparedness.
The proposed CBO Capacity Building for Health Equity in LA County Project will build capacity and help bridge recent losses in federal funding to help strengthen CBO-led efforts to close equity gaps in underserved communities in LA County.

The CBO Capacity Building for Health Equity in LA County Project will result in a stronger CBO ecosystem and a more equitable, community-led Los Angeles County. CBOs will be better equipped to address health disparities, housing instability, and other urgent issues through increased cross-collaboration and sustainable funding development.
50 CHW/P/Rs will be trained and empowered to serve as trusted messengers, connecting underserved communities to vital services and engaging thousands of residents in culturally responsive outreach. The project will elevate CHW/P/R leadership, expand equitable health access, and ensure that frontline organizations have the tools and capacity to drive long-term systems change in LA County.
The proposed scalable project to build capacity of CBOs in the LA CHW/P/R Consortium will improve CHW skill sets and competencies, break down silos, and strengthen Consortium members to address inequities faced by vulnerable populations in LA County.