2003 - 2005 Awardees


Alianza Domincana, Inc. Best Beginnings
New York, NY

Alianza Dominicana is a community development organization that develops model neighborhood-based initiatives using comprehensive and integrated services that attend to children, youth and families’ multiple needs.  Since its founding in 1987, it has emerged as the most comprehensive Dominican human service and community development agency.  It is the leading authority on Dominican Americans, the fastest-growing Latino population in New York State.  The Johnson & Johnson Community Health Care grant will fund the Best Beginnings program, which will establish a childbirth preparation center in the community to address the unmet needs of underserved immigrant women for preparation for childbirth and breastfeeding.

The Gateway Maternal and Child Health Consortium is a non-profit organization of health care professionals and consumers concerned about the health and well-being of mothers, infants, children and adolescents.  They are one of seven consortia regulated by the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services who coordinate community- and hospital-based services.  In an effort to raise Newark and Irvington’s immunization rates for 2-year-old children, an area with the lowest nationwide rates today, Gateway will use the Johnson & Johnson Community Health Care Grant for a Toddler Rapid Immunization Program (TRIP) that eliminates traditional barriers to immunization by bringing medical care providers directly to the children at home, in clinics, shelters, food pantries, and other locations.  The project will be led in conjunction with the Newark Immunization Initiative (NII).  TRIP’s goals are to provide appropriate infant immunizations on an ongoing basis, and to provide education and trust that will empower families to develop relationships with area health providers.

La Communidad Hispana
Kennet Square, Pennsylvania

Located in Chester Country, Pennsylvania, La Communidad Hispana provides primary care to an exceptionally medically underserved population of Mexican migrant farmwork women working in the mushroom industry, 90% of who do not have insurance and are at risk for preterm labor and other prenatal health problems, plus underserved low income Latinas in Chester County.  Established in 1973, La Communidad Hispana gives clients access to counseling, health and education programs that are integrated in a holistic fashion.  The Community Health Care grant will fund Project Salud, a family-centered, primary care health center that focuses on health education, prevention and treatment, and improved maternal and child health outcomes in the exceptionally medically underserved population of Mexican women by overcoming barriers to access for care and encouraging healthy behaviors in this population.

For more than 20 years, the Resource Center for Women and Their Families has been the lead agency in Somerset County, New Jersey, working to end domestic violence by providing protection, education and resources to empower victims.  Each year, the Resource Center serves more than 600 women and children.  The program helps those that face barriers to accessing quality health care due to control exerted by their abusers.  The new initiative made possible by the Johnson & Johnson grant will enhance the offerings and impact of the Resource Center’s shelter program.  The Center will continue to collaborate with the Somerset Medical Center and the Somerset Family Practice to deliver the new services in support of the health and well-being of women and children in their shelter program. 

Samaritan Inns, Inc.
Washington, D.C.

Samaritan Inns provides substance abuse treatment, long-term rehabilitation and recovery services for homeless individuals suffering from drug and alcohol addictions.  Founded in 1985, Samaritan Inns has served 1,700 individuals and now has the capability to treat 400 new patients each year.  The program proceeds in three phases, beginning with a 28-day substance abuse treatment program.  In the second phase, Samaritan Inns provides follow-on rehabilitation services and housing to prepare the client for life in outside society.  The final phase immerses the client in a community-oriented environment free of drugs and alcohol that is conducive to sustained sobriety and recovery. The funding from the Johnson & Johnson Community Health Care grant will be directed to strengthen and expand the “Intensive Recovery Program,” which constitutes phase 3 of the overall program.  With the help of the Johns Hopkins scholar, the funding will also improve Samaritan Inns capacity to evaluate and track participants, building a foundation for successful replication of the program in the future.   

Tenderloin AIDS Resource Center (TARC)
San Francisco, California

The Tenderloin AIDS Resource Center (TARC) is a non-profit community-based organization that respects and meets the needs of the diverse residents of San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood.  TARC has been providing services for homeless Tenderloin residents since 1990 and has offered medical services since 1997.  TARC provides on-site and mobile nursing, primary medical care, psychiatric care, case management, peer-based support services, HIV treatment, education and nutritional supplements to nearly 500 people with HIV each year. TARC also conducts HIV prevention programs that reach 6,000 Tenderloin residents annually. With funding from the Johnson & Johnson Community Health Care Program, TARC will establish a Directly Observed Therapy (DOT) program to provide homeless and low-income clients living with AIDS the support they need to adhere to medicinal dosing regimens. This program will help to ensure access to anti-retroviral medications for residents of the Tenderloin area, a typically “hard-to-reach” population that continues to experience consistently rising rates of HIV infection.

The Winnebago tribe established Whirling Thunder in 1995, when it assumed control of the reservation's Indian Health Service diabetes program.  The program empowers community members of all ages to sustain a healthy lifestyle through a unique regimen that preserves the tribe’s native traditions.  The Whirling Thunder program provides conventional clinical services to assist patients that have already developed diabetes, while also integrating prevention activities, such as an after-school educational program, youth and adult sports leagues, cooking classes and traditional talking circles.  Whirling Thunder's leadership in diabetes prevention and treatment extends far beyond Winnebago Tribe borders, and serves as a model for diabetes programs in other American Indian tribes.  The program shares its legacy of success with tribes across the nation through its training program, working to help others administer and sustain this distinctive, culturally relevant combination of services within their own reservations.

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