Centinela Valley Medical & Community Funds - Integration, Collaboration, Advocacy

Overview

The California Community Foundation is seeking letters of interest for grants supporting work in improving immigrant health access, behavioral health and health policy and advocacy affecting South L.A.’s Centinela Valley.

Specific information on strategies and eligibility can be found below. All potential applicants are strongly encouraged to speak with a Program Officer before beginning the application process to learn about current emphases.

Please also review our overall Centinela Valley Medical & Community Funds strategy and general eligibility requirements before deciding to submit.

Rosemary Veniegas
Senior Program Officer, Health
213-452-6250
rveniegas [@] calfund [.] org

Brittney Daniel
Program Officer, Health
213-452-6284
bdaniel [@] calfund [.] org

Strategies & Outcomes

To promote and improve the health and quality of life of children and adults living in the Centinela Valley, the foundation focuses on grants to organizations that address the following topics:

Increasing integration of medical, dental, vision, mental health and substance use prevention, care and treatment services
Facilitating cross-sector and regional systems collaboration among L.A. County public sector partners, nonprofit hospital/health systems, other nonprofits, and community partners to address the root causes of racial/ethnic health disparities including but not limited to immigration status.
Supporting health policy/advocacy efforts that promote universal access to and utilization of health coverage, services and other public benefits
At least 90 percent of individuals who would be served by the proposed program must reside in these zip codes: 90001, 90002, 90003, 90008, 90011, 90016, 90018, 90037, 90043, 90044, 90045, 90047, 90059, 90061, 90062, 90220, 90245, 90249, 90250, 90260, 90301, 90302, 90303, 90304 and 90305.

Application Information

To learn more about applying to the Centinela Medical and Community Funds, please review these resources:

Apply Now

To apply, please login in via Nonprofit Connect and select the Centinela Valley Medical and Community Funds Application.

Apply Now

For questions, please contact Rose Veniegas, senior program officer, health, at rveniegas [@] calfund [.] org

For more information on the application process and requirements, visit our How to Apply page.

FAQs

General

Q. Has the Centinela proposal changed?
A: Yes. In the past the Centinela funds were available through a Request for Proposals released each year in the fall. Beginning July 1, 2018, the Centinela funding application will be open on an ongoing basis through the main CCF portal. Eligibility for the funds will continue to be guided by the focus on services for residents in select zip codes, e.g., 90001, 90002, 90003, 90008, 90011, 90016, 90018, 90037, 90043, 90044, 90045, 90047, 90059, 90061, 90062, 90220, 90245, 90249, 90250, 90260, 90301, 90302, 90303, 90304 and 90305.

Q. What organizations can apply for funds?
A: Nonprofit hospitals and nonprofits with health as a focus of their mission can apply for the funds. Each year approximately $2 million is available for grants to hospitals and less than $1 million is available for grants to other eligible nonprofits.

Q. Do I have to talk with a Program Officer before applying?
A: Yes. For hospital-related applications please contact Rose Veniegas, Ph.D. at (213) 452-6250 or rveniegas [@] calfund [.] org. For nonprofit-related applications please contact Denise Tom at (213) 452-6231 or dtom [@] calfund [.] org.

Q. Can you e-mail me the application/RFP?
A: All materials are posted through CCF’s open grants portal.

Q: What is an MOU?
A: An MOU is an acronym for Memorandum of Understanding. It is an informal document that describes an agreement between parties. In this case, it would describe how two or more nonprofit organizations will work together or collaborate on a program or project.

Q: In your past RFPs hospitals were encouraged to partner with clinics. Is a hospital required to partner with a clinic or community-based organization?
A: No, there is no requirement, but we strongly encourage a partnership so that there is an opportunity for more funds to be disbursed to a clinic or community- based organization through the hospital partnership. The hospital would be the applicant organization for the grants from the $2 million pool of funds.

Q: Is a community clinic required to partner with a hospital?
A: No. (see above)

Q: Do we have to partner with a clinic or hospital if we are not a clinic or a hospital?
A: No.

Q: Which organizations have been funded in the past?
A: A list of our Centinela grantees since 1999 is available on our website.

Q: Can we request core/program/project/pilot/research funding?
A: Yes. The funds can be used for core support, programs and services, projects, pilots and medical research.

Q: Can we submit more than one application?
A: No.

Q: How much funding can we request?
A: Hospitals may request a minimum of $500,000 total over two years, e.g., $250,000 per year. All other eligible nonprofits may request a minimum of $100,000 over two years, e.g., $50,000 per year. Organizations with which CCF has had a deep and durable relationship will be considered for longer-term, and larger award amounts.

Q: What else should I know about the Centinela priorities?
A: Please review the reports provided in the application information section of this page.

Eligibility

Q: Are we eligible if we are not a clinic?
A: Yes.

Q: If we want to serve our specific communities, it’s hard to fit them into the Centinela zip codes because they are spread widely. How can I serve this population under these funding restrictions?
A: CCF is required to follow the funding priorities outlined in the trust agreement with the California State Attorney General. If awarded funds for the Centinela Valley Medical and Community Funds, grantee partners will be asked to provide regular progress reports including information on where clients reside and where services are delivered.

Q: What is the 90 percent requirement/criterion?
A. At least 90 percent of individuals who would be served by the proposed program must reside in any of these zip codes: 90001, 90002, 90003, 90008, 90011, 90016, 90018, 90037, 90043, 90044, 90045, 90047, 90059, 90061, 90062, 90220, 90245, 90249, 90250, 90260, 90301, 90302, 90303, 90304 and 90305.

If the program/services will provide medical care or insurance to clients, 90 percent of clients served must reside in the designated zip codes. If it is a community–based program, at least 90 percent of grant dollars must benefit residents within the designated zip codes.

Q: What if our program is not based in Centinela, but our clients are from those areas? Can we still apply?
A: Yes, you can apply. Our focus is to ensure that residents in those areas are served. The administrative or program offices may be in zip codes outside of the designated zip codes. An application in which 60 percent of clients served are in the Centinela zip codes will be more competitive than another application in which
40 percent of clients are from those zip codes.

Q. What if our program predominantly serves homeless clients who do not have a fixed address?
A: CCF will request program-level but not client-level documentation that shows that clients use the program as their primary location to access necessary services.

Q: What if we want to fund a mobile clinic to serve the Centinela area, but we are not located in Centinela? Can we do that?
A: Yes, because our focus is to ensure that clients in those areas are served, and not that the providers be located in those areas.

Q: What if our current Centinela award ends on Dec. 31, 2018, can I apply?
A: Yes, you can apply for a grant whose start date will begin after the end of the current award.

Q: If our programs branch is funded by Centinela, but the hospital branch is not, can we apply as a lead agency in a collaborative?
A: If the organization is a Centinela grantee partner at the time of a possible new award, the organization is not eligible to apply. The branch/division is still considered part of the same larger entity.

Q: If we have a current grant from the general health portfolio, can we apply to Centinela?
A: No. Because there are so many organizations doing important work in Los Angeles County, we prefer not to give concurrent grants to an organization.

Q: My organization has been turned down multiple times. Will we ever be a fit?
A: A call with the Program Officer is highly recommended. Past declines were associated with previous funding priorities. In advance, please review our focused strategies for Health and Centinela funding through 2025.

For the 2018-19 and 2019-20 fiscal years, we will focus on supporting Drug Medi-Cal organizations (organizations that provide substance use disorder services).

Q: We were funded in the past and yet we are no longer a fit. How is that possible?
A: There could be multiple reasons, such as the funding priorities, collaborations that are not deep and durable, less than robust letters of support, conflicts of interest identified in the organizational structure, current priorities of the foundation, or a target population that may be too limited for the Centinela Valley. We have also updated the funding strategies as listed above.

Budget

Q: Do we need to submit a program/project budget?
A: Not at the time of application. If the application is awarded, a projected spending budget and a budget narrative will be requested.

Q: Do we have a better chance of being funded if we ask for a lower amount?
A: No. The amount of funding requested is considered in conjunction with the fit of the request to the funding priorities and the resources needed to conduct the work.

Narrative

Q: If we would like to request core operating support for a number of programs/projects can we include the objectives for these programs/projects into one proposal for core operating costs?
A: The objectives would need to reflect appropriate programs/services as prioritized by the applicant and as negotiated with CCF.

Q: If we are proposing a partnership do we have to include a subgrant/subcontract to the partners listed?
A: Equitable distribution of resources is highly encouraged and will be reviewed in the projected budgets. It is the decision of the applicant to establish the terms and operations of the partnership. A memorandum of understanding between the partners is highly encouraged.

Q: What is negotiated core operating support?
A: Core operating support is general support for an organization’s ongoing services and administration. Negotiated core operating support includes grant objectives that are negotiated with CCF that are directly related to the purposes for which the funds will be used.

Q. Can an organization apply for a multi-year grant?
A: Grants are available in variable time frames.

Attachments

Q: Should we include letters of support or memoranda of understanding/agreement?
A: Letters of support or memoranda of understanding/agreement (MOU/MOA) are required. Collaborations with a longer history, greater depth or more extensive interaction will be more competitive than collaborations of relatively shorter duration, limited interaction and limited depth of experience. Completed MOU/MOA can be used in place of new MOU/MOA.

Q: How many letters of support should we submit?
A: There is no minimum number of letters of support or memoranda of understanding/agreement. Past letters demonstrating deep and durable partnerships can be submitted with the Centinela application.

Q: There was an error message when I included an attachment. Do I need to redo the application?
A: If you receive an error message during your application submission please contact grantsmanager [@] calfund [.] org and send a description and screenshot of the error.

Q: There was a missing budget/zip code/narrative template. Can you e-mail me the template?
A: If you have difficulty downloading the templates, please contact grantsmanager [@] calfund [.] org.

Centinela Valley Medical & Community Funds – Integration, Collaboration, Advocacy

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