Cedars-Sinai Magazine
Cedars-Sinai Grants for Health Equity
A person’s race, sexual orientation and income can significantly influence their health.
Often, intrinsic identity or systemic circumstances can create unfair obstacles to accessing healthcare or resources that keep people well, such as housing and food. Cedars-Sinai is working to address these disparities by investing in programs centered around health equity: the principle that everyone deserves the opportunity to achieve optimal health, regardless of race, gender identity, ethnicity, sexual orientation, income, employment, disability or geography.
In 2021, Cedars-Sinai launched its Health Equity Grant Program to support community partners with incorporating health equity principles into their workforce development, strategic planning, data collection and everyday operations.
Grants support the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science’s launch of a Black Maternal Health Center of Excellence, OUR HOUSE Grief Support Center’s evaluation of the needs of minority communities, and the Community Clinic Association of Los Angeles County’s work to prepare for healthcare reform initiatives, among others. Grants to UniHealth Foundation, Hollywood Food Coalition, Nonprofit Finance Fund and Food Forward projects address homelessness and food access.
In Discoveries: Nourishing Faith and Racial Equity
BY THE NUMBERS
$15 million+
total value of health equity grants given since 2021
140+
health equity grants given to community partners
208,000+
individuals reached by funded programs
66,436
people in Los Angeles County experiencing homelessness, according to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority's 2020 count
30%
target amount for reducing Black birthing disparities by 2023, as identified by the Black Maternal Health Center of Excellence, Los Angeles County African American Infant and Maternal Mortality Initiative, and other health organizations
