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Since 1993, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has recognized leaders who work in their neighborhoods and communities to address some of the nation's most intractable health care problems. With courage, creativity, and commitment, they overcome incredible odds to pursue strategies that improve the health and quality of life for men, women, and children in communities across the United States.
RWJF Community Health Leaders |
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Announces Winners of the 2011 Community Health Leaders Award November 2011
Click a Leader photo above to learn more. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is proud to announce today the recipients of its 2011 Community Health Leaders Award, honoring 10 individuals who have overcome daunting odds to improve the health and quality of life for disadvantaged or underserved communities across the country. Click here to read more Peace4Kids: Gathering Community to Nurture and Empower Foster Youth October 2011
News From The Leaders October 2011 Kathy Spoor of South Bend, Wash., a 2006 CHL recipient, has been appointed the Pacific County Administrative Officer and is now responsible for directing the county’s administrative services department. Kathy, a Pacific County native who formerly managed the county’s public health department, writes that she accepted the promotion with mixed emotions but felt it was her duty to help lead her community through “difficult times of ever shrinking resources, growing needs and disparities, and challenges like none we have faced before.” Sharon Rohrbach of St. Louis, a 2000 CHL recipient, has been elected to the Missouri Foundation for Health’s Community Advisory Council. The foundation manages more than $1 billion in assets and distributes some $50 million annually in grants and contracts to health-care nonprofits working with the state's underserved people. Sharon started the Nurses for Newborns Foundation and grew it to a national organization, then founded Dynamic Change, LLC, a national company to help nonprofit executives learn how to raise money and expand their organizations. Sharon worked as a pediatric critical care nurse before establishing the Nurses for Newborns nonprofit. Shira Shavit of San Francisco, a 2010 CHL recipient, the director of Transitions Clinic of San Francisco, reports the clinic has been recognized for providing a national model for delivering innovative health care to former prisoners and their families. The honor came after a controlled trial by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, a unit of the Health and Human Services Department. Shira, a family-care physician, has led community-based efforts to create a medical home tailored to the needs of former prisoners, many of whom, the federal agency said, have been released with chronic illnesses and receive little, if any, assistance in assessing community services and health care. Jennie C. Trotter of Atlanta, a 1998 CHL Recipient, has received the Georgia Prevention Pioneer Award at the 5th Annual Georgia School of Addiction Studies in Savannah. Jennie, the founder and executive director of the Wholistic Stress Control Institute, was honored for her 27 years of prevention services. She founded the nonprofit in the aftermath of the Atlanta child serial murders to offer inner-city children and their parents needed tools to cope with fear and stress. The Diaper Bank: Making the Connection Between Children’s Diapers and Family Health June 2011 Joanne Goldblum is the founder of the Diaper Bank, which distributes 200,000 free diapers a month to low-income families in Connecticut through food pantries, soup kitchens, social service agencies and churches. Launched seven years ago in Goldblum’s living room, the Diaper Bank was inspired by Golblum’s observation as a social worker that for people in poverty, “the small things affect the big things.” Without the simple resource of a clean diaper, she realized, a low-income child was vulnerable to pain, behavior problems, illness, and even abuse. Since receiving her Community Health Leaders award in 2007, Goldblum has focused on professionalizing the Diaper Bank -- and changing policy on providing such hygiene products to low income families nationally. CHL: Please tell us how you came to create the Diaper Bank. Click here to read more. News From Our Leaders June 2011 Susan Rodriguez of New York, a 2010 CHL recipient and the founding director of SMART, was selected as one of 31 long-term survivors reflecting on the 30 years of AIDS for the June 2011 issue of POZ magazine. To read the article, go to the website http://www.issuu.com/smartandstrong. SMART, the Sisterhood Mobilized for HIV/AIDS Research & Treatment, runs SMART University, which was founded in 1998 in East Harlem to provide treatment, health and prevention education for women living with and affected by HIV/AIDS in a safe and supportive environment. Stephen Black of Birmingham, a 2008 CHL recipient and president & founder of Impact Alabama, a student service initiative, reported on June 1 that the SaveFirst program helped low-income working families receive more than $8 million in tax refunds. SaveFirst had organized 550 students from 11 campuses who prepared 4,300 IRS returns and saved the taxpayers $1.3 million in commercial preparation fees. The District of Columbia Primary Care Association, led by executive director Sharon Baskerville of Washington, a 2006 CHL recipient, announced its 14th Annual Meeting will be held Oct. 27 at Gallaudet University in Washington. For more information, including sponsorship opportunities, contact Karen L. Pierce at 202.638.4557. The ABC network affiliate in Phoenix broadcast in May a profile of Bev Tittle-Baker of Mesa, Ariz., a 2006 CHL recipient. Tittle-Baker, the CEO of the Community Asset Resource Enterprise (CARE) Partnership of Mesa, told the TV station that her nonprofit provided “health services, dental care, after-school programs, emergency Santa shop, food bank” to 20,000 people last year. To view the video profile, and read an accompanying article about her, visit the website of station KNXV-TV. The United Teen Equity Center of Lowell, Mass., received the 2011 Innovation Award from the Small Business Association of New England. The nonprofit, whose executive director, Gregg Croteau of Lowell, is a 2006 CHL recipient, was one of nine awardees selected from 185 nominees across New England. The United Teen Equity Center is a youth-led safe-haven for youth development and grassroots organizing. The Housing and Urban Development Department in May awarded multi-year funding to the asthma program run by 2008 CHL recipient Ray E. Lopez of New York, the director of environmental health at the Little Sisters of the Assumption Family Health Services in New York’s East Harlem. The award was in collaboration with the New York Academy of Medicine. James Withers, MD – (CHL 2002) Lessons from the Street Medicine Movement: 20 Years Later February 2011 In 1992, a compassionate Pittsburgh internist, Jim Withers, M.D., went out into the streets of his city to care for people living in alleys, parks or on sidewalks—the unsheltered homeless. With a formerly homeless friend as his partner, Withers earned the trust of his new patients, day by day, eventually founding Operation Safety Net, one of the nation’s first street medicine programs. A Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Community Health Leader in 2002, Withers’ work has become a model for the many street medicine programs that have developed around the world. Click here to read more. Lynne Holden, MD – (CHL 2009) profiled on CNN’s Human Factor February 2011 Dr. Lynne Holden’s personal journey culminating in the development of Mentoring in Medicine (MIM) is related in video narrated by Dr. Sanjay Gupta and broadcast on the “CNN Human Factor: In sickness doctor finds calling.” She has touched the lives and exposed thousands of young New Yorkers to a variety of careers in the health care. Her story of overcoming challenges and commitment to young people is inspiring and heartwarming. Click here to read more. Sharon Rohrbach Featured in the American Nurse February 2011 Sharon Rohrbach (CHL 2000) is one of three nurses profiled in a recent report from the Institute of Medicine, The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health. She started the Nurses for Newborns Foundation (NFNF) to be a safety net for at-risk families to prevent infant mortality, child abuse, and neglect through nurse home visits that promote appropriate health care and positive parenting skills. Click here to read more. RWJF Community Health Leader Named a CNN "Hero" February 2011 Only months after being named a 2010 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Community Health Leader, Roseanna Means, M.D., is getting even more national recognition for her work to help some of the most vulnerable people in her community. Means has been named a Cable News Network- CNN “Hero” for providing free health care services to homeless women in Boston. Inspired by her time working at a refugee camp in Cambodia, Means started the nonprofit Women of Means nearly ten years ago to serve the “refugees” of Boston—displaced, homeless women. “They worry about where to sleep, they worry about their safety… and they worry about getting food,” she said in an interview. “The last thing I think they should be worrying about is how to negotiate a very complex and confusing health care system.” Click here to read more about Dr. Roseanna Means and other CNN heroes. RWJF Community Health Leader Honored for Creating Free Dental Clinic for the Homeless September 2010 Click here to read more. Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Announces Winners
Click a Leader photo above to learn more. Click here to read more CHL Hosts Second Webinar! On Thursday, September 16, the CHL Research and Evaluation work group hosted the second Webinar for Leaders. Building from the success of the inaugural webinar hosted in June, this webinar was designed to bridge the gap across CHL geography, area of expertise, and class year. Over 19 Leaders attended this second webinar. "How to Conduct a Focus Group Interview” was presented by Melanie Spector, Ed.D, MS, LPC/LADC, CHL 2002. Melanie noted, “Conducting a focus group interview requires careful thought as well as a touch of art and science, and is an addition to the research and evaluation tool kit of skills. Focus groups help program developers figure things out and make the process fun and rewarding." To listen and see a recording of the live event, please click here to download the playback. A brief description of the webinar “How to Conduct a Focus Group Interview” follows: Have you always wanted to conduct a focus group, but never knew quite how to start? Are you interested in learning how to solicit feedback from your clients or target audience in order to improve your work and be more effective? Click here to learn about this remarkable tool in the world of information gathering:
Special thanks goes to Research and Evaluation work group members Martha Cook Carter, Gina Upchurch, and Melanie Spector! RWJF Community Health Leader Launches Campaign to Enroll Kids in Medicaid August 2010 Click here to read more. CHL Hosts Inaugural Webinar! On Thursday, June 24, the Community Health Leaders (CHL) Research and Evaluation work group hosted the first Webinar for Leaders. Designed to bridge the gap across CHL geography, area of expertise, and class year, the first Webinar 20 Leaders participated in the Webinar. “Low Cost Evaluations for Innovative Health Programs” was presented by Jonathan Delman, J.D., M.P.H., CHL 2008. Jonathan notes, “This was a workshop about building evaluation capacity, not just planning for a single evaluation. Let’s be in a position to demonstrate our effectiveness.” To listen and see a recording of the live event, please click here to download the playback. A brief description of the webinar “Low Cost Evaluations” follows: Many innovative health programs are not evaluated because program developers see good evaluation as a Herculean endeavor and because of lack of resources (both human and financial). This beginner/ intermediate training will:
Special thanks goes to Research and Evaluation work group members Martha Cook Carter (CHL 1999), Gina Upchurch (CHL 2001), and Melanie Spector (CHL 2002)! RWJF Community Health Leader Convenes "Diaper Rights" Colloquium June, 2010 Joanne Goldblum wants to broaden the definition of "basic needs" to include diapers and other hygienic products to improve the health and well-being of low-income families. The term “Monday Morning Rash” may mean nothing to the general public, but it is well known to day-care providers for children from low-income families. The term is used to describe a common—but rarely discussed—problem for children from impoverished families: the diaper rash that appears on the bottoms of babies and toddlers from low-income families who arrive at child-care facilities on Monday mornings after having spent entire weekend days—or longer—in a single diaper. "Kids who go home from day care without a rash on Friday because they are changed regularly come back with a bad rash on Monday morning,” says Joanne Goldblum, B.A., M.S.W., president of a non-profit organization in Connecticut and a 2007 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Community Health Leader. “It’s not a widely used term, but day-care providers know what it means.” Click here to read more. RWJF Community Health Leaders National Program Office Relocates to Houston, TX The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Community Health Leaders (CHL) National Program Office (NPO) is pleased to announce the new location of its offices at the Harris Foundation in Houston, TX. The Community Health Leaders Award continues as an RWJF funded program as it enters a new decade with a renewed dedication to identifying and supporting courageous, creative, and committed leaders working to improve health and health care in their communities. In the press release announcing the relocation and the new alliance with the Houston – based Harris Foundation, Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, MD, MBA, president and chief executive officer of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation said, "With the Community Health Leaders’ national program office now based in Houston, RWJF will expand its reach to grow our family of dedicated and innovative leaders. We look forward to celebrating this next phase of growth for the 17 year old Community Health Leaders Award." Click here to read more. Ten Outstanding Leaders Honored for Improving Health and Health Care in Hard-to-Reach Communities
Click a Leader photo above to learn more. OPINION Prevention Key to Health Care Reform Alvin D. Jackson, M.D. (CHL 2001) is director of the Ohio Department of Health. As Congress and President Barack Obama wrangle over health care reform, I hope they remember one very important point: Any plan that doesn’t include prevention as a key element will not succeed. Click here to read more.
Dennis Berens, CHL -- 1997 When Dennis Berens received a call from Ezekiel Emanuel, a senior counselor at the White House Office of Management and Budget on health policy and the brother of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, asking him if he wanted to attend the March 5, 2009 White House Forum on Health Reform, Berens, president-elect of the National Rural Health Association, eagerly agreed to attend the forum. The forum convened approximately 130 members of Congress, health care organization executives and community members to determine how to lower health care costs for everyone, improve quality and expand coverage for all Americans. Click here to read more. Community Health Leaders Address Health and Health Care for Immigrants and Their Families San Diego Peer Exchange In May 2008, Community Health Leaders (CHL) from the southwest border states of Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas met in San Diego to deliberate a crosscutting issue of great concern and controversy. It is an issue having a major impact in their communities: health and health care for immigrants and their families in the southwest United States. As peers they exchanged knowledge and experiences, and developed a consensus on recommendations to improve practices and policies Click here to view full report.
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