Health insurer donates $250K to help close equity gaps in Washington

One of Washington’s largest not-for-profit health insurers announced Tuesday morning a $250,000 grant that will go to organizations aiming to fight growing health gaps in the region, primarily among communities of color, Native and Indigenous populations and immigrants and refugees.

Community Health Plan of Washington, which offers Apple Health and Medicare on the Washington Health Benefit Exchange, plans to divide the grant among 25 community organizations across the state, with each getting an unrestricted $10,000, company CEO Leanne Berge said in an interview.

“This is about advancing health equity,” Berge said. “These are organizations that are typically governed, staffed, controlled by people of color or people that are serving BIPOC communities.”

The grant, known as the Advancing Equity Fund, was founded in 2020, as Community Health Plan leaders saw more signs of growing health gaps among the region’s communities of color, like disproportionately high rates of COVID-19 hospitalization and death among Black and Hispanic/Latino residents, Berge said.

Since then, Community Health Plan has distributed about $730,000 in grants among about 43 organizations.

This year, receiving organizations include Communities Rooted in Brilliance, Mother Nation and United Indians of All Tribes in Seattle, Cocoon House in Everett, Mother Africa and Multi Service Center in Kent, and La Casa Hogar, Nuestra Casa and NATIVE Project in Central and Eastern Washington, among several others.

There’s no formal application process for the grant yet since the program is still fairly new and because long applications can sometimes deter organizations from applying, Berge said. Generally, organizations that meet “basic criteria,” like being “embedded in communities they’re serving,” will be considered for and likely awarded the grant at some point, she added.

In the past, grant recipients have put the extra cash toward housing, career, food or education opportunities, or programs that aren’t directly tied to health, Berge said.

“It really ranges from anything,” she said, noting there’s no requirements for how the grant is spent. “There are so many different issues communities face that otherwise it would really limit them in their ability to both access health services, but also just their general future. And we’re really looking long-term in these relationships.”

The hope, she said, is to then build ongoing partnerships with these organizations.

Risho Sapano, founder and executive director of Kent-based Mother Africa, said this week it means a lot to be recognized as a value to a community from which she’s gained trust. Her organization, which she founded in 2004, primarily focuses on offering health and wellness services to South King County refugees and immigrants from Africa and the Middle East.

“All fundings are essential and significant to Mother Africa,” Sapano said. “Funding like this one could help us build our capacity to reach out to communities that are underserved and underrepresented. … This is why we exist.”

Mother Africa, which has been awarded the grant in the past, has generally put funds toward supporting their 11 programs and roughly 1,000 community participants, but has also started a series of community health webinars in partnership with Community Health Plan, Sapano said.

In the past, sessions have spanned mental and behavioral health, COVID boosters and vaccines, food insecurity and other health topics. One session last fall answered questions and addressed concerns from Afghan refugees who arrived in the Northwest after the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, Sapano said.

“This funding, born of a need to support already under-resourced organizations on the front lines of the COVID-19 response, allows us to continue supporting work focused on riding gaps in health on a local level,” Berge said in a statement.