FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 24, 2002

Contact:
Diana Ip, i.e. communications, LLC
 (415) 616-3930

David Littlefield, TCWF
(818) 702-1900

TCWF GRANTEES OFFER HEALTH AND WELLNESS
INFORMATION AT L.A. TIMES FESTIVAL OF HEALTH

Broad range of services highlighted at TCWF Pavilion

Los Angeles – Three nonprofit organizations funded by The California Wellness Foundation (TCWF) will participate in the fourth annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Health & Fitness, a free event open to the public to be held Saturday and Sunday, October 5-6, at the University of Southern California’s University Park campus.

The organizations are: Esperanza Community Housing Corporation, the Los Angeles Eye Institute and PROTOTYPES. As a major sponsor of the Festival, TCWF has arranged for the organizations to present their health information at the Foundation’s pavilion.

Attendance at the Festival has grown each year, since its inception in 1999. Last year, the Festival drew some 40,000 attendees. An even larger crowd is expected this year, as the Festival will feature a variety of panels, informational booths and speakers.

“The Festival underscores the importance of bringing people together around health topics, and we are proud to be a part of such an event,” said Gary L. Yates, TCWF president and CEO. “The grantees participating in this year’s festival are dedicated to improving the health of their communities. Their work greatly benefits diverse and often underserved communities of Los Angeles.” Yates will also be introducing Actress Marlee Matlin at the Center Stage discussion of her new book, “Deaf Child Crossing.”

Esperanza Community Housing Corporation
As the lead agency of the Los Angeles Healthy Homes Project, Esperanza Community Housing Corporation looks at ways in which housing and environment are the greatest risk to family health, especially in areas with slum conditions. The organization serves a four square mile neighborhood in South Central, where more than 60 percent of children and youth live below the poverty line and the per capita income is $5,836. Residents of that community experience chronic health problems such as asthma, heart disease, tuberculosis, domestic violence, substance abuse, and lead poisoning.

“Our well-trained staff knows the community,” said Nancy Halpern Ibrahim, health programs director of the organization. “Our program successes are due to the fact that the staff is well-regarded and trusted.”

The Los Angeles Healthy Homes Project’s health promoters educate residents on a wide scope of topics, ranging from health issues to workers and tenants rights. Its goal is to help residents understand that quality of life is a fundamental human right. With the vision that community residents are integral to the progress of their community, the project is also completely staffed by individuals living in South Central.

Since its inception in 1989, Esperanza has served more than 5,000 residents, including those who have benefited from the Los Angeles Healthy Homes Project. At the Festival, it will distribute information regarding health issues related to housing.

Los Angeles Eye Institute
Around Martin Luther King Hospital, 65 percent of residents live below the poverty line and 25 percent have no health insurance. Many of the children diagnosed as cognitively deficient in the surrounding schools just need glasses. The Los Angeles Eye Institute was founded as a community-based eye institute dedicated to preserving and restoring vision for underserved, minority, and socio-economically disadvantaged populations.

“Two-thirds of all blindness is preventable if detected early enough,” said Nick McClure, executive director. “Our goal is to reach people early on.”

It began offering services in April 2001 and has since screened 15,000 children through a partnership with Lenscrafters, which provided a mobile clinic. The organization plans to get its own mobile clinic in the near future and will also open a diabetes clinic in Lynwood this fall, equipped with vision screening capacity. They anticipate serving 35,000 residents in the clinic.

The four-year-old organization aims to fill in research and service gaps. For instance, it hopes to provide more updated and accurate data on vision health issues faced by Latinos (scant research has been done thus far), or offer tele-medical services, where a doctor can diagnose a patient living in a remote location through digitally transferred images.

At the Festival, the Los Angeles Eye Institute will provide information about its services.

PROTOTYPES
Serving more than 10,000 women, children and families annually, PROTOTYPES is one of the largest nonprofit social service organizations in the country focusing on high-risk women. Founded in 1986 by Dr. Vivian Brown, the organization has grown to include 24 community service centers located throughout Southern California. The centers serve women who are homeless, addicted to drugs and alcohol, living with or at-risk for contracting HIV/AIDS, diagnosed with mental illness, or victims of violence.

“While we serve a large number of women each year, we know there are many women, children and families who are still underserved.” said Ruth Slaughter, divisional director. “Our centers can provide treatment, education and referrals to other services in the community. This Festival will give us the opportunity to reach more families and let them know that they have a place to turn to.”

Serving a diverse population, PROTOTYPES centers have multicultural and multilingual staff that provides prevention, intervention/treatment and training services. Its services also include street outreach, which brings services to many of the housing developments in Los Angeles.

PROTOTYPES representatives will distribute information at the Festival about its 24 centers.

The California Wellness Foundation is an independent, private foundation created in 1992, with a mission to improve the health of the people of California by making grants for health promotion, wellness education and disease prevention. The Foundation provides funding in eight priority areas: Diversity in the Health Professions, Environmental Health, Healthy Aging, Mental Health, Teenage Pregnancy Prevention, Violence Prevention, Women’s Health, and Work and Health. It also provides funding for other health issues through its Special Projects Fund.

The Foundation has awarded 2,829 grants totaling more than $377 million since 1992.

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Note to reporters & editors: “The” in The California Wellness Foundation name is part of the Foundation’s legal name. Please do not drop or lowercase the “T.”