People looking to support the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research’s (CHPR) effort to help address health inequities through an innovative competition for graduate students have a new way to contribute this year: the new Bruin Giving Day.
This 48-hour fundraising initiative, which will take place on Tuesday, April 29, through Wednesday, April 30, unites the campus community in support of all the UCLA’s schools and colleges, student programs, resources, and initiatives.
The UCLA Health Equity Challenge provides graduate students from across the entire campus with the opportunity and support to develop community-partnered, innovative projects to address health inequities in Los Angeles, Riverside, or San Bernardino counties.
“We’re so excited to participate in the inaugural Bruin Giving Day, which provides a creative way to generate support our critical health equity work,” said Kathryn Kietzman, director of the Health Equity Program at the UCLA CHPR. “The Health Equity Challenge fulfills our promise to the public to turn our teaching and research into action that makes a difference in the communities we call home. Vital work like this needs public support from people committed to ensuring that we can continue our work training the next generation of public health and public policy leaders.”
In alignment with the campus strategic plan, the UCLA Health Equity Challenge, now in its fourth year, has supported 54 students and awarded nearly $500,000 in funding in its first three years. On June 3, an additional $200,000 will be awarded to four community organizations.
Some of the previous winning projects included:
- Point-of-care ultrasound screenings for heart failure among people experiencing homelessness in Hollywood.
- A mental health de-escalation toolkit and education program to assist medical providers with training to safely handle a crisis.
- Mobile health screenings for vision-threatening conditions and eye safety training to prevent occupational eye injuries for jornaleros (day laborers) who often encounter hazardous working conditions.
- Trauma-informed yoga services, mental health services, and educational workshops to promote healing and wellness for South Asian survivors of interpersonal violence.
- A continuing education and deployment training program for community health workers to help address climate-related health risks among American Indian and Alaska Native communities in Southern California.
Early-bird giving opened on the website at 5:00 p.m. PST on Monday, April 28. Giving on this website will close at 12 a.m. PST on Thursday, May 1. Supporters are encouraged to give and post on social media to show their support for the Health Equity Challenge. For more information, please visit the UCLA Bruin Giving Day FAQ.
Donate to the UCLA Health Equity Challenge.
If you are having difficulty with the link, go to the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health Bruin Giving Day page. Once there, scroll to the bottom and select Give under the Health Equity Challenge box.
The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research (CHPR) is one of the nation’s leading health policy research centers and the premier source of health policy information for California. UCLA CHPR improves the public’s health through high quality, objective, and evidence-based research and data that informs effective policymaking. UCLA CHPR is the home of the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) and is part of the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and affiliated with the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.