Recorded presentation

Marion Standish, JD, The California Endowment, 101 2nd Street, San Francisco, CA 94105, 415-343-0222, MSTANDISH@Calendow.org

Funders can play an important role in promoting broad, long-term policy impact to reduce disparities in diseases and conditions like asthma. Asthma disproportionately impacts low-income children of color. For children with asthma, poor air quality in homes, schools, and outdoors affects the frequency of their asthma attacks. Poor children of color have less access to health care, are more likely to live in polluted neighborhoods, and often attend schools filled with undetected asthma triggers. Parents alone cannot make the significant changes required to address these issues. A focus on environmental asthma triggers and community capacity for change is critical to improve the lives of children with asthma.

Community Action to Fight Asthma (CAFA), created and funded by The California Endowment, is an example of how communities can improve local environments by working together to create policy change. There are many community groups that do important work to improve health, but these groups often work on a small-scale, in isolation. CAFA brings together these disparate efforts to achieve larger impact. CAFA also gives community members skills, confidence, and opportunities to educate policymakers about the asthma problem. Community members, working together, can improve community environments through policy, based on their knowledge of local challenges and creative solutions.

Learning Objectives:

• - Describe how funders can encourage local efforts to improve health, while also achieving wider impact.
• - Discuss the importance of policy in reducing health disparities.

Keywords: Asthma, Advocacy

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Recorded presentation