Core Values in Action

Con Alma Health Foundation Initiatives

Health Equity Report and Focus Groups

In 2010, CAHF began updating the 2006 Health Disparities report “Closing The Health Disparity Gap In New Mexico:  A Roadmap for Grantmaking.”  This report was used extensively to inform the Foundation of the current and future needs of the people, our grantmaking priorities and other initiatives.  The updated report, to be released in 2011, focuses on health equity and includes information from community focus groups.  CAHF conducted 15 focus groups around the state in urban and rural communities which also included three focus groups with Native Americans, African Americans and Hispanics/Latinos.  The Foundation’s statewide Community Advisory Committee (CAC) was instrumental in coordinating and conducting the focus groups in their respective communities.

The report recognizes perceptions of community problems and priorities.  However, the report and the focus group conversations focused primarily on solutions, as opposed to problems, and asked the question, “What do we want the future of health in New Mexico to look like?”

Oral Health Initiative

Often overlooked as a health access and disparity issue, oral health care is essential to overall health. Thousands of New Mexicans – many of them children – cannot get access to or must, in many cases, wait six months for needed dental care. Twenty-nine of our 33 counties do not have enough dentists to serve their communities, and six counties do not have any dentists at all.

In partnership with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Con Alma Health Foundation acted as a convener to explore the feasibility and public will to increase the dental workforce and possibly develop a mid-level oral health practitioner model in New Mexico.

Con Alma Health Foundation partnered with four statewide and community-based New Mexico nonprofit organizations:

1. Health Action New Mexico

2. New Mexico Health Resources

3. New Mexico Primary Care Association

4. New Mexico Voices for Children

Read the full report, “Searching for Solutions, Key Findings Report on New Mexico’s Oral Health Gap, 2009-2010” at conalma.org, click on Health Resources.

In the latter part of 2010, Health Action New Mexico began spearheading advocacy for a dental therapist in New Mexico.  Although a bill to expand oral-health care access did not pass the Legislature this past session, many lawmakers were glad to see the issue raised.   For more information, contact Pamela K. Blackwell, JD, the project director of Oral Health Access, Health Action New Mexico, (505) 508-2768 or pamelakblackwell@gmail.com
Or check out the Word of Mouth NM blog here.

Northern NM Health Grant Group (NNMHGG) Technical Assistance

In 2010, the NNMHGG provided a free training opportunity for NNMHGG grantees (current/former/prospective) on “The Resilient Nonprofit.” The two workshops covered strategies to help nonprofits survive and thrive.  Participants received two toolkits – a Strategic Planning Toolkit and a Communications Skills Toolkit.  In addition to the workshops, custom coaching was provided to four selected nonprofits, Los Alamos Family Council, Los Alamos First Born, NM Suicide Intervention Project and Self Help, Inc.

Workforce Development

As a result of CAHF’s 2006 report, “Closing the Health Disparity Gap in New Mexico: A Roadmap for Grantmaking,” Con Alma Health Foundation has committed significant resources to addressing health workforce issues in New Mexico.  The study revealed that New Mexico has the most significant shortage of health professionals in the nation in its rural, geographically remote Hispanic/ Latino and Native American communities.

In 2010 CAHF released a study, “Building a 21st Century Health Care Workforce in a Diverse Rural State: A Funder’s Perspective & Evaluation Framework for Innovation & Impact of Health Career Pipeline Programs.” was finalized. To read the report, click here.

Health Care Reform

In late spring 2011, Con Alma received a six-month $300,000 strategic planning grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to help guide New Mexico’s federal health care reform implementation for vulnerable children and families lacking health care access, coverage and quality of care. The community-based planning phase is intended to create a non-biased, non-partisan and inclusive framework for implementing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) in New Mexico.  Emphasis will be placed on improving health outcomes in four counties: Bernalillo, Doña Ana, McKinley, and San Juan. For more information, visit Blueprint 4 Health NM’s website at blueprintnm.org or please contact Project Co-Directors, Roxane Spruce Bly at roxane.bly@gmail.com, (505) 239-0240 or Charlotte Roybal, charlotte@policyconnections.org, (505) 930-0563.

Hispanics in Philanthropy

Hispanics in Philanthropy, New Mexico (HIP NM) Funders’ Collaborative for Strong Latino Organizations, completed year three of a three-year grant cycle (phase 2) in 2010. Seven local funders contributed $250,000, matched by HIP national for a total of $500,000 for the three-year project period. A total of $160,000 was awarded to 14 Hispanic led or Hispanic serving nonprofits in New Mexico in 2010. Phase 3 of HIP NM will be implemented in 2011 for another three-year grant cycle. Con Alma Health Foundation serves as the anchor foundation for the funders’ collaborative.