Equity in OC

Community Member Personal Service Contracts (AKA Honorariums)

Have you experienced health inequities as an Orange County resident? Apply to join the Equity in OC Taskforce and you could receive compensation to share your experiences and help us identify solutions to achieve health equity. Grant funding will support up to 78 eligible community members with a Personal Service Contract (aka an honorarium) of up to $1,400 per year to participate in the Equity in OC Initiative.

Opportunities to apply will be reviewed quarterly on a rolling basis.

• The 2023 application window has now closed. If you have questions, please email EquityInOC@UnitedWayOC.org

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Community Organizational Participation Grants

Does your organization want to be a voice for Orange County residents who are underserved and severely impacted by the pandemic? Apply to join the Equity in OC Taskforce and your organization could receive funding to share your insights and help us identify solutions to achieve health equity. Grants of $7,500 for nine (9) months to organizations will be available to participate in the Equity in OC Initiative.

• To view 2023’s list of grant recipients, click here.

The purpose of this fund is to provide smaller, grassroots organizations addressing the Social Determinants of Health for those most impacted by health inequities (e.g. BIPOC, women, LGBTQ and minority-led organizations) whose annual operating budgets are under $500,000 with the opportunity to build their infrastructure and/or capacity (otherwise referred to here as power), supporting them in becoming more sustainable partners in the Equity in OC (EiOC) Initiative.  These organizations have been identified as critical partners in health equity work and often lack the resources and/or power to be able to meaningfully engage in the various processes and collaborations where the work is taking place. It is our belief that providing them with a combination of: 1) engagement in an in-depth power-building opportunity alongside other health equity organizations, as well as 2) a grant to support their own organization’s capacity and/or infrastructure, these smaller organizations will be more likely to sustainably engage in new and/or on-going health equity collaborative opportunities such as the EiOC Initiative.

2022 Grant recipients for the Power Building Fund include:

• AHRI Center
• Cancer Kinship
• Chispa
• Hope Community Service, Inc.
• Kid Healthy
• National Action Network Orange County (NANOC)
• Oak Health Foundation
• People For Housing
• Santa Ana Early Learning Initiative (SAELI)
• Viet Rainbow of OC

2023 Grant recipients for the Power Building Fund include:

• Arab American Civic Council
• Center for Asian Americans in Action
• El Centro Cultural de Mexico
• Children and Families Coalition of Orange County
• Grace Social and Medical Services
• Her Story, Inc.
• La Habra Collaborative
• Marshallese Youth of Orange County
• Orange County Environmental Justice Education Fund
• Peace and Justice Law Center
• Qazizada Multicultural Therapy Clinic
• Saahas for Cause
• SoulRapha
• The Enlightened Mentor Project
• The OC Rapid Response Network
• Transforming Justice Orange County
• Urban Social Services and Advocacy
• VIET-CARE Vietnamese Community Actions for Resources and Empowerment
• Zocalo

The purpose of this grant is to provide funding support to collaborative systems change efforts that create positive change in the three (3) identified SDOH Action Areas: 1) Housing is Health (formerly Housing); 2) Food as Medicine (formerly Nutrition & Basic Medical Care); and 3) Health & Healing (Formerly Health & Wellness, currently including Basic Medical Care). By focusing on these SDOH Action Areas, communities will build resilience to not only recover from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and will become better positioned to adapt to future public health crises.

The Equity in OC Initiative will provide funding to support up to 15 Implementation Partnerships to improve health equity in Orange County communities by developing and implementing a project that seeks to reduce health equity gaps and address SDOH affecting their communities. Grants awarded will focus on at least one of the following areas:

• Improve SDOH by impacting a neighborhood, population or community; clinical care delivery for a priority population or chronic health condition;
• Address the impact of systemic and/or structural racism on health;
• Increase community capacity to maintain and improve health; or
• Improve community-centered interventions and/or social conditions that influence health.

Click here to learn more about the SDoH grant recipients and their funded projects.

Funding of $180,000 per year to three (3) organizations to provide COVID-19 related services including but not limited to, mitigation and recovery supports to underserved and underrepresented communities which will strengthen their internal capacity to improve the health equity of their respective communities in Orange County. This funding is specifically looking for organizations that serve the American Indian and Alaskan Native community; Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander community; and the Transgender and Gender Nonconforming community. All applicable organizations are encouraged to apply.

• Grant recipients for the Underserved & Underrepresented Communities Grants include:
  • United American Indian Involvement, Inc. serving the American Indian and Alaska Native community
  • Pacific Islander Health Partnership serving the Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander community
  • Alianza Translatinx serving the Transgender and Gender Nonconforming community

Funding of $2.4 million ($1.2 million per year) to build or expand the capacity of Population Collectives.

Does your collective, coalition or collaborative need to build its infrastructure and/or build its capacity? Does the collective aim to serve Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders; or Black or African Americans; or Latinx, Hispanic, Chicanos or Latin Americans; or Older adults (65+); or the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer communities; or individuals with disabilities?

• Grant recipients for the Population Health Equity Collective include:
  • Individuals with Disabilities Collective: Illumination Institute
  • Older Adults Collective: Orange County Aging Services Collaborative / Alzheimer’s Orange County
  • African American/Black Collective: Second Baptist Church of Santa Ana
  • LGBTQ+ Collective: Shanti Orange County
  • Asian & Pacific Islander Collective: The Cambodian Family
  • Latinx Collective: The Coalition of Orange County Community Health Centers