San Diego, CA. November 22, 2019. U.S.-Mexico border health and safety are critical factors for everyone’s health and wellness regardless of which side of the border you live in. For example, long-ago stamped out diseases like Tuberculosis are making a comeback as we work to increase vaccination rates, and even the common flu can be devastating to individuals whose immune systems have weakened due to the trauma and stress of migration. And, while Alliance Healthcare Foundation has been working behind the scenes with many organizations to promote health and humanitarian treatment of asylum-seekers, there is still much more to be done.

To date, Alliance and so many others have given resources to agencies providing humane care and protecting the public’s health, as well as participated in local, state, and federal convenings. While there is so much more to be done at a systems level, here are some of the small ways regional philanthropy has provided support in the past several months:

Convening Key Stakeholders
From an initial small group of San Diego response organizations in the early days of the surge in migration, to a larger convening of 30+ entities, Alliance has hosted a number of collaborative meetings to inspire greater coordination for a holistic and enduring level of effort in the humanitarian treatment and support of asylum-seekers. Key stakeholders include local, county and state government; philanthropy partners, and many service providers who are dedicated to this critical cause.

Flu Vaccines
Alliance recently funded the purchase of flu vaccines to be administered by UC San Diego at the migrant shelter. This is beneficial to the shelter population as well as to protecting the public health of the broader population.

Case Management Program
Alliance along with many others have contributed to a collaborative philanthropic program, organized by International Rescue Committee and Safe Harbors Network, to develop and deliver a comprehensive case management program for asylum seekers who remain in San Diego, residing in volunteer home-based shelters.

Health & Wellness Outreach
In partnership with the U.S.-Mexico Border Philanthropy Partnership and the Mexican Consulate, Alliance has participated in cross-border discussions to identify ways to improve health and wellness service coordination.

Mobile Dental Care for Migrant Children
In support of oral care and oral health education to disadvantaged students and children of migrant families, Alliance has provided funding to the Migrant Education Program (San Diego County Office of Education) to support continuing service of a mobile dental unit.

Innovative Software System
We contributed funding to deploy a rapid pilot to meet the digital common medical record health needs of the San Diego shelter and to develop a plan to deploy a stable product at scale across the various organizations caring for asylum-seekers on both sides of the border.

Congressional Briefing
In October, Sarah Lyman, Executive Director, traveled to DC to participate at a Congressional briefing on philanthropy’s role in the humanitarian crisis on the U.S.-Mexico border. Sponsored by the. U.S.-Mexico Border Philanthropy Partnership, Alliance and other funders educated Congress on the current situation and how they can help support our vibrant, bi-national border regions.

Binational Migration Funders
Participating in this special interest group of San Diego Grantmakers, we are exploring a number of collaborative funding initiatives. The group seeks to ensure the legal and wellness needs of all immigrants and refugees who pass from Mexico through San Diego and Imperial counties are met, and advocates for sustainable permanent immigration infrastructure to meet those needs in the future. We thank San Diego Grantmakers for supporting and convening this important collective.

New Border Vision
This past summer, Alliance San Diego (no relation to Alliance Healthcare Foundation) on behalf of the Southern Border Communities Coalition (SBCC), which represents 60 organizations, from California (including Border Migration Funders/San Diego Grantmakers), Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, produced a proposal, New Border Vision. The proposal, which seeks to expand public safety, protect human rights and welcome newcomers and border residents, is a series of border governance recommendations developed ahead of the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

We continue to work on these and other initiatives in collaboration with stakeholders and philanthropy partners. Your ongoing partnership, collaboration and individual efforts are appreciated.

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About Alliance Healthcare Foundation.

We work to advance health and wellness for the most vulnerable in San Diego and Imperial counties through collaborative funding, convening and advocacy.

We envision a San Diego and Imperial County region where equitable health resources lead to universal health and well-being. We believe wellness is a state of complete physical, mental, spiritual, economic and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.

We currently operate a portfolio of five programs:

1. i2 Innovation Initiative — also referred to as “venture philanthropy”—based on the thesis that innovation capital (often high risk, high reward) is needed to transform the current paradigm (high cost and poor outcomes) and improve quality, increase capacity and reduce costs;
2. Mission Support—based on the belief that trusting those closest to our constituents and providing core operating support for great organizations will best advance our mission;
3. Responsive Funding—based on the belief that it is important to be responsive to time-sensitive community needs and opportunities;
4. InvestUp—based on the belief that it is important to actively and strategically be looking for ways to meaningfully advance our mission and it is worth spending some or all of our corpus—beyond the earnings off of our endowment—if we can substantively, sustainably and positively change the dynamics; and
5. Impact Investments–based on the thesis that we can activate our investment portfolio to achieve more positive impact.

Our History. In 1982, the San Diego Community Healthcare Alliance (Alliance) created the first Preferred Provider Organization/Network (PPO) in the United States. From 1989 through 1994, the Alliance funded Alliance Healthcare Foundation (AHF) through profits from its Community Care Network (CCN) operations. In 1994, Alliance sold CCN to a national healthcare company and channeled the proceeds from CCN’s sale into an endowment of $83 million for AHF. That endowment has enabled funding of approximately $64 million (USD) in direct funding and approximately $41 million (USD) from national and local funding partners in San Diego and Imperial counties. Our endowment holds approximately $80 million in assets today, with funding for programs and operations derived from endowment investment earnings.

AHF Media contact:
Karen Winston, Communications Director, Alliance Healthcare Foundation
P 858-348-6472 E karen.winston@alliancehf.org