Downey Medical Center
Community Health is central to our mission because healthy communities are where people thrive. Like our approach to medicine, our work in the community takes a prevention-focused, evidence-based approach. In pursuit of our mission we go beyond traditional corporate philanthropy and grant-making to leverage our internal resources with our physician expertise, clinical practices, health education expertise, and technical assistance. Our commitment to community includes a robust engagement process that lifts the voice of community members and highlights priority health needs in our 2022 Community Health Needs Assessments (CHNA). Through this process, Southern California Kaiser Foundation Hospitals identified urgent social and economic factors that negatively impact community health.
Based on the CHNA findings, the 2022 Implementation Strategy (IS) Plans of Southern California Kaiser Foundation Hospitals apply a health equity lens to outline our commitment to invest, partner, and drive change to improve the health of individuals in communities we serve. While each Kaiser Foundation Hospital IS plan is unique to its service area, the high-level focus areas and strategic priorities we aim to address across Southern California in partnership with community organizations are listed below:
Access to Care: We are committed to a) increase coverage, access, and utilization of health care services for populations that are underserved, uninsured, and/or underinsured, b) improve and build the current and emerging workforce to meet the primary care needs of the community, and c) improve the capacity of healthcare systems to provide quality healthcare, including interventions to address the social determinants of health.
Economic Opportunity: We are committed to a) reduce food insecurity and improving access to healthy foods, b) preserve and improve the availability of affordable housing and improve care coordination to serve individuals experiencing homelessness and to prevent displacement, and c) improve educational attainment and employment opportunities for underserved populations.
Mental and Behavioral Health: We are committed to a) improve access and connection to mental health care in clinical and community settings, b) improve and build the current and emerging mental health workforce to meet community needs, and c) reduce mental health stigma and improve knowledge, capacity, and resilience in individuals, communities, and organizations.
Across these areas, we work to inspire and support people to be healthier in all aspects of their lives, and build stronger, healthier communities. In addition to dedicating resources through Community Benefit, we also leverage substantial additional assets that improve community health, including our healthcare workforce volunteerism.
At Kaiser Permanente, we believe in using the full range of our organization’s assets to improve the health of the communities we serve. We regularly gather data and seek input from our community partners and members to inform our investments and to guide the development of strategies that can make long-term, sustainable change and improve health. We are pleased to share our 2021 Community Benefit Year-End report for the Kaiser Foundation Hospital in Downey that summarizes our efforts and highlight specific strategies and resources we deployed to respond to the prioritized health needs in the community.
Note: While Kaiser Permanente is committed to addressing these needs, local medical centers will strategically and carefully invite community partners to apply for funding in order to address needs that align with the local Implementation Strategy Plans, which may have some variations of the strategic priorities listed above. Please scroll down to view the areas that are currently being funded in this medical center.
Recent Related News
- May 22, 2018 – Kaiser Permanente Announces $200 Million Impact Investment, Partners with U.S. Mayors and CEOs
- May 14, 2018 – Leadership Winner Recognizes Health Depends on Economic Opportunities
- May 14, 2018 – Kaiser Permanente Joins de Beaumont Foundation as National Partner in CityHealth Initiative
Related Inspirational Stories
Downey Medical Center Grants Program
The Kaiser Permanente Downey Medical Center 2021 Community Benefit Grants are awarded through a “By Invitation Only” grant process.
Kaiser Permanente Downey Medical Center provides grants to local nonprofit health and human service organizations cities, and schools that address the priority health needs for its community service area. The current funding priorities, funding timeline, and guidelines on how to apply are provided below.
If you would like to apply for Grant or Sponsorship Funding for a broader service area in Southern California or Nationally, visit this site for more information and to apply.
If you would like to apply for a local event sponsorship, such as: special fund raising events (luncheons, recognition dinners); conferences; symposia; public policy briefings; visit this site for more information and to apply.
Current Grant Funding Priorities
Kaiser Permanente Downey Medical Center is currently focused on supporting the following health needs and related strategic priorities. Reviewing this area will help to ensure that your proposed grant project is aligned with these priorities.
Increase coverage, access, and utilization of health care services for populations that are underserved, uninsured, and/or underinsured.
- Provide access and comprehensive health care to low-income individuals and families who do not have access to public or private health coverage.
- Support access to care for patients through collaboration among community clinics, clinic networks and other safety net providers.
Improve the capacity of health care systems to provide quality health care, including interventions to address the social determinants of health.
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Design, pilot and implement systems for screening community members with social (non-medical) needs and refer to community-based programs.
Reduce food insecurity in the community and improve access to healthy foods.
- Design, pilot and implement programs and systems for promoting, screening and/or enrolling community members in food benefit programs.
- Support programs that procure, recover and/or redistribute food to food insecure communities.
Preserve and improve the availability of affordable housing and improve care coordination to serve individuals experiencing homelessness and to prevent displacement.
- Enhance the infrastructure and capacity of service providers to serve individuals at risk or experiencing homelessness.
- Support and participate in collaboratives that support coordination and funding of resources (such as health services and housing) for individuals at risk or experiencing homelessness.
Improve educational attainment and employment opportunities.
- Support the long-term economic vitality of communities through procurement, hiring and workforce development, and/or small business development impact investing.
- Support educational attainment and pathway programs for youth focused on increasing high school graduation rates, college readiness, preparation for careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), or health care workforce training.
Improve access and connection to mental health care in clinical and community settings.
- Support the infrastructure and capacity building of community organizations and clinics to improve access to quality mental health care.
Reduce mental health stigma and improve knowledge, capacity and resilience in individuals, communities, and organizations.
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Support efforts to improve the community and social support system’s knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and perceptions about mental health, trauma and resilience.
Applicant Eligibility
To be eligible for a Kaiser Permanente Downey Medical Center Community Health grant, an applicant organization (or fiscal agent), must have operations in California and be one of the following types of nonprofit organizations:
- 501 (c)(3) tax-exempt organization with a 509 (a) designation indicating that the organization is not a private foundation
- A local, state or federal government agency, including any of its subdivisions that perform substantial government functions.
In addition, organizations must:
- Provide direct services and/or programs for disadvantaged and/or underserved populations that address the funding priorities identified above.
- Provide services and/or programs within the geographic boundaries of Kaiser Permanente Downey Service Area, which includes the communities of: Artesia, Bell, Bellflower, Bell Gardens, Cerritos, Commerce, Compton, Cudahy, Downey, Hawaiian Gardens, Huntington Park, Lakewood, North Long Beach, Lynwood, Maywood, Norwalk, Paramount, Pico Rivera, Santa Fe Springs, portions of South East Los Angeles including Watts, Willowbrook and Florence Firestone, South Gate, Vernon, Whittier
Kaiser Permanente Downey Medical Center Community Health does not consider funding requests from international, social, recreational clubs, or for the following:
- Sports teams and tournaments (e.g., golf tournaments, tennis events, walks, and runs)
- Individuals
- Religious purposes
- Partisan political activities
- Endowments or memorials
- Re-granting purposes to other organizations
Kaiser Permanente Downey Medical Center will not consider requests from organizations that discriminate based on gender, age, economic status, educational background, race, color, ancestry, national origin, sexual orientation, gender expression, gender identity, or marital status in your programs, services, policies and administration. In addition, Community Health grants will not be awarded for activities, events, or programs organized or solely sponsored by alcohol, tobacco, pharmaceutical companies, or companies that produce firearms.
We generally do not provide grants for academic research, capital campaigns, event sponsorships (including community health fairs), or political campaigns.
Grant Award Parameters and Considerations
One-year average grants awards are between $10,000 and $25,000. Core operating requests will be by invitation only at the sole discretion of Kaiser Permanente. All requests should align strongly with funding priority areas and should only include support for specific community health projects that will produce a measurable impact.
To view your submitted applications click here.
Grantmaking Contact
By the Numbers
Looking for CHNA Reports?
You can find all the CHNA Reports organized by Year and Medical Center in the Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) Section of the Service Areas Page.