Additional Elevating the Safety Net Programs

Community Health Worker Training Program

  • Funds a 9-week training program run by the Loma Linda University Promotores Academy, which prepares trainees to help L.A. Care members navigate the various medical and social services that will ultimately help improve health outcomes, offering valuable support to primary care physicians and members alike
  • Trainees have a close understanding of the community they serve, often sharing language, ethnicity and culture
  • Trainees work for either L.A. Care or community-based care management entities (CB-CMEs), which serve L.A. Care members and others in Los Angeles County
 

National Medical Fellowships

  • Funds a 6-week service-learning experience that matches medical students from across the country with community health centers in L.A. County to focus on areas of critical clinical/public health need
  • Medical students receive a $5,000 scholarship stipend that is expected to cover travel, living, and lodging expenses 
  • Medical students will experience the challenges and rewards of primary care in community health centers through leadership training, service-learning projects, and healthcare delivery 
 

Health Career Connection Internship Program

  • Offers summer internships of up to 10 weeks designed to encourage college students' pursuit of careers in health care
  • Each student receives a stipend of up to $4,200 which can be applied to personal expenses and/or future educational endeavors 
  • Interns are placed in a variety of settings including community clinics, community-based organizations and at L.A. Care to support various clinical and programmatic activities
  • Some interns will work on a community health equity project through a partnership with the Health Career Connection (HCC), which has provided internships to students from under-represented backgrounds for more than 30 years
 

Keck Graduate Institute (KGI) School of Medicine Support Program

  • A one-time, $5 million grant to support the launch of an integrated five-year program of study that includes an online two-year Master of Science in Community Medicine ("MSCM") degree, followed by a three-year Doctor of Medicine ("MD") program
  • The grant will cover full tuition scholarships for 45 students in the first two cohorts – 20 in the fall of 2021 and 25 in the fall of 2022 – admitted in the MSCM degree program.
  • At maturity, the MSCM program will admit approximately 200 to 250 students per year and approximately 80 students per year in the MSCM-MD program
  • The school will tailor its admissions process to recruit students primarily from communities that have traditionally been underserved, vulnerable, and / or low income and that suffer from health care workforce shortages and health disparities
  • The new medical school will serve as a pipeline for physicians and leaders seeking to practice in underserved and underrepresented communities across the L.A. County Safety Net
  • The school will tailor its admissions process to recruit students from non-traditional pre-med programs
  • The curriculum will prepare students and future physicians to understand how culture, language barriers, access to care and other social determinants affect health outcomes