Valley Health Foundation advocates to achieve equitable health and access to the highest-quality health services by addressing health disparities and inequalities, supporting services for vulnerable populations, and strengthening the overall financial stability of our public healthcare system. Our donors’ support helps bring visibility to our most pressing health and healthcare challenges so that everyone has access to achieve their best health.
Health Equity - We proactively advocate and seek funding for programs that serve patients that have historically been ignored or underserved by the American healthcare system with a focus on the social determinants of health.
- Equitable and Optimal Health for Everyone
- Racial, Gender, and Ethnic Health Disparities
- Most Vulnerable Populations
Outreach and Education - We educate community leaders, health advocates, and the public about the positive impact, high value, and quality of care offered through public healthcare facilities and services.
Public Policy - We engage in public campaigns and ballot measures that bring resources to services that benefit the health of the community.
Health Equity - We proactively advocate and seek funding for programs that serve patients that have historically been ignored or underserved by the American healthcare system with a focus on the social determinants of health.
- Equitable and Optimal Health for Everyone - Valley Health Foundation partners with community leaders, businesses, and community-based organizations to advance our shared mission of achieving equitable and optimal health for everyone in Santa Clara County. The following are examples of past and ongoing work led and supported by the Foundation:
- Mental and Social Health Services - The Foundation has long been an advocate for the expansion of mental and social health services in Santa Clara County. Two examples of our advocacy work in this area include:
- Child, Adolescent, and Adult Behavioral Health Service Center- Philanthropic and programmatic support for the construction of the Child, Adolescent, and Adult Behavioral Health Service Center on the SCVMC campus. The Center will provide comprehensive care and services including inpatient and outpatient medical and psychiatric care, emergency psychiatric services, intake and assessments, crisis care, and urgent care.
- Q Corner Program - Philanthropic and promotional support for the Q Corner Program, a social service of Behavioral Health Services/ County of Santa Clara Health System. “Q Corner” is a peer-driven program dedicated to supporting the LGBTQ+ community and their friends, families, and allies. This safe, welcoming, and affirming team is committed to making community services and resources available to everyone.
- Medical Legal Partnership - SCVH’s Silicon Valley Medical-Legal Partnership (MLP) Clinics are designed to combat the social determinants of health. In 2009, the Valley Health Foundation provided leadership and funding in support of the initial demonstration of this innovative model of placing lawyers on site at SCVMC pediatric health clinics and a clinic for individuals experiencing homelessness. Legal services are provided by Legal Advocates for Children and Youth (LACY), a program of the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley. Lawyers help patients and staff with legal questions about guardianship, housing rights, public benefits for children and youth, special education, and other legal issues. All services are free and completely confidential to patients. To date, the MLP clinics have served more than 1,500 patients.
- Mental and Social Health Services - The Foundation has long been an advocate for the expansion of mental and social health services in Santa Clara County. Two examples of our advocacy work in this area include:
- Racial, Gender, and Ethnic Health Disparities - Consistent with our strongly held values of “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Respect” and “Health is a Right”, we dedicate resources to advocate for the mitigation and end to racial and ethnic health disparities that exist in our communities. Examples of this advocacy work include:
- Pedi POWER - Pedi POWER (Pediatricians Organizing and Working to End Racism) is committed to an anti-racism approach to medicine. A group of passionate pediatricians at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center advocate for anti-racism, diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice in patient care, in trainee education, and in recruiting and retaining pediatricians at Santa Clara Valley Healthcare. The Foundation provides programmatic support.
- Racial Healing Initiatives - Valley Health Foundation provides philanthropic and programmatic support for the Racial Healing Initiatives at Santa Clara Valley Healthcare. This annual award program recognizes innovative approaches and initiatives that promote and celebrate racial healing within Santa Clara Valley Healthcare.
- Race & Health Disparities - Valley Health Foundation serves on the Steering Committee of the Santa Clara County Race & Health Disparities Community Board. Appointed by the Board of Supervisors, the Community Board is tasked with developing recommendations to understand and mitigate race-based health disparities present in the County of Santa Clara Health System. The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare the devastating interplay between racial discrimination and health outcomes. As a member of the Steering Committee, the Foundation provides strategic support to the Board and serves as its fiscal sponsor.
- Women’s Leadership and Policy Summit - In partnership with Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez, this annual event attracts hundreds of local health, community, and elected leaders to inform, engage, and empower participants to move policies forward that will benefit women and families of our county, with a focus on physical and mental health.
- Most Vulnerable Populations : The Foundation supports and proactively advocates for resources and visibility for the needs of the most vulnerable populations in Santa Clara County.
- Children’s Community Advocacy Center (CAC) - Valley Health Foundation provides philanthropic and programmatic support to the Children’s Community Advocacy Center (CAC) of Santa Clara County. This highly specialized Center helps young survivors of abuse, assault, and neglect heal from their painful experiences. Staff is trained to understand the impact of trauma on survivors of all ages, cultures, and religious faiths.
- PACE - The Partners in AIDS Care and Education (PACE) Clinic at SCVH offers expert care for individuals in all stages of HIV infection. The multidisciplinary team offers a comprehensive range of on-site services, from clinical treatment to nutrition and psychotherapy.
- Gender Health Center - The Gender Health Center (GHC) at SCVH specializes in caring for people of all ages who identify as transgender, gender-non-binary and gender expansive in Santa Clara County. The care team offers medical care, mental/emotional health care, social work support for practical needs, and opportunities for community connection.
- VHHP - SCVH’s Valley Homeless Healthcare Program (VHHP) provides comprehensive healthcare services for more than 7,000 people experiencing homelessness in Santa Clara County every year. Care is provided at 4 facilities and on three Mobile Health Units (MMUs) that travel to numerous locations throughout Santa Clara County each week. VHHP also serves communities with unique healthcare needs through its Medical Respite Program, Gender Clinic, Saludos Migrant Farmworker Clinic, Backpack Homeless Healthcare Program, and Teen Van.
- SPARK - The Supporting, Protecting, and Respecting Kids (SPARK) Clinic is a medical, dental and psychiatric clinic for children and youth in foster care in Santa Clara County. Serving patients from birth until age 21, the care team provides well-child exams, sports physicals, immunizations, contraception, same day sick visits and referrals to specialists.
- TB and Refugee Clinic - The Tuberculosis (TB) and Refugee Clinic at SCVH provides treatment of tuberculosis infection for the residents of Santa Clara County and offers comprehensive health assessment and medical treatment for newly arriving refugees and asylees.
- SAFE - SCVH’s Sexual Assault Forensic Exam (SAFE) Team is a group of nurse examiners who provide compassionate medical and forensic response, collects evidence for forensic purposes, and will testify in court as necessary. They provide this specialized care for victims of sexual assault, 12 years and older, who come into the Emergency Departments at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, St. Louise Regional Hospital, O’Connor Hospital and Stanford Medical Center, 24 hours a day.
Outreach and Education - We educate community leaders, health advocates, and the public about the positive impact, high value, and quality of care offered through public healthcare facilities and services.
- Advocate for Health and Healthcare - While working collaboratively with private, public, and other community-based partners since 1988, VHF has been a vocal advocate for health and healthcare offered by the County of Santa Clara in countless engagements in the County and greater Bay Area. The following are examples of past and ongoing work led and supported by the Foundation:
- Leadership - The Foundation actively promotes the health and healthcare services offered by the County of Santa Clara by facilitating highly engaging tours of health facilities, leading meetings with public and private organizations who want to learn more about the award-winning and high-quality services offered by SCVH, and facilitates discussions with the public with key healthcare professionals who share “first hand” the tremendously positive impact these services have on the health of Santa Clara County.
- Communications and Sharing - The Foundation utilizes every opportunity with private citizens, community-based organizations, elected officials, business and industry leaders, and other community partners to share information about the care and value of the County’s public health and healthcare services. It leverages its website, social media, other digital platforms, and numerous in-person events in the broader County to amplify these messages.
Public Policy - We engage in public campaigns and ballot measures that bring resources to services that benefit the health of the community.
- Housing and Access to Basic Health - Valley Health Foundation has a long history of tirelessly advocating for the health of every resident in Santa Clara County. To this end, the Foundation works with County leaders to identify and support services designed for populations in our community for whom housing and access to basic health needs are insufficient. The following are examples of this essential advocacy work supported, and in some cases led, by the Foundation:
- Residential Substance Abuse - In 2003, Valley Health Foundation advocated for and secured funding from many private donors, including Joe Parisi, to build The Parisi House on the Hill. This unique facility provides a safe and nurturing place for moms and their kids who are often caught in a cycle of addiction, trauma, poverty, and social injustice. Their dedicated team helps to keep children out of foster care by offering moms who risk losing custody of their kids the opportunity to break free from addiction while strengthening the bond with their children. They work with women who can’t afford expensive recovery centers and offer services at no cost. Women learn valuable life skills at the Parisi House that many were never taught growing up, empowering them to take control of their lives and become better parents for their kids. Children get the opportunity to bond with their mothers and get the loving care they need to grow up strong and healthy.
- Measure A - Bond Measure for the Seismic Upgrade - In 2008, leadership from the Foundation advocated for the "Yes on Measure A" Campaign (an $840 million voter-approved bond measure for the seismic upgrade of SCVMC), the construction of the John A. and Susan Sobrato Pavilion, and the Resource Service Center (RSC) at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, and Valley Health Center Downtown in San Jose.
- Essential County Services - In 2012, Valley Health Foundation was deeply involved in the campaign to secure voter approval for an increase in sales tax of .0125% (for 10 years) to ensure essential County services and programs would survive the recession.
- Measure A - Affordable Housing Bond - In 2016, Valley Health Foundation was an essential member of the Measure A Campaign yielding a $950 million Affordable Housing Bond in Santa Clara County. The bond provides the County with an unprecedented opportunity to partner with cities, residents, and the affordable and supportive housing community to significantly address the housing needs of the community’s poorest and most vulnerable residents. It will provide affordable housing for vulnerable populations including veterans, seniors, the disabled, low and moderate-income individuals, or families, foster youth, victims of abuse, the homeless, and individuals suffering from mental health or substance abuse illnesses. The bond proceeds would contribute to the creation and/or preservation of approximately 4,800 affordable housing units.
- East San José PEACE Partnership - The East San José PEACE (Prevention Efforts Advance Community Equity) Partnership is a comprehensive violence and trauma prevention effort between residents and organizations to advance health, unity, peace, and empowerment in the East San José community. The collaboration focuses on three zip codes – 95127, 95116 and 95122 – with the highest rates of violence and trauma in the region, placing them at an increased risk for adverse health outcomes.
