HealthierHere Partnership
Afghan Health Initiative is proud to join 49 organizations joining the Connect2 Community Network with support from @HealthierHere! Learn how this innovative new partnership will support our work: https://www.healthierhere.org/catalyst-fund-awardees-march2021
Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Afghan Health Initiative Selected for Catalytic Funding to Join
New Health and Social Services Network
Kent, WA March 9th, 2021 – HealthierHere has announced that Afghan Health Initiative has been named a recipient of its Connect2 Community Network Catalyst Fund. The award will support Afghan Health Initiative’s participation in the new Connect2 Community Network, which is being collaboratively developed by a coalition of health and social service organizations in King County, WA. The network aims to improve access to, and coordination between, social service agencies, community-based organizations, behavioral health providers, clinics and health care systems, so that individuals and families can be quickly connected with the supports and services they need to be healthy and thrive.
Insert quote, e.g., “We work hard to connect our clients with the right services to meet their needs, but it is difficult because there are so many different systems and variables to navigate,” remarked Name, Executive Director of Organization. “The opportunity to join this region-wide effort will help us help the people that we serve.”
Afghan Health Initiative is one of 49 social service and health organizations selected to receive funding from the Connect2 Community Network Catalyst Fund. To qualify, organizations must provide services in communities that are hard-to-reach or experience health disparities, and they must serve a significant portion of Medicaid, low income and/or under- or un-insured community members in King County. The awards will provide support to enable recipient organizations to join and engage with the Connect2 Community Network through its first technology partner, Unite Us, a web-based platform that enables closed-loop, bi-directional referrals. The funding, provided by HealthierHere with additional contributions from Kaiser Permanente, will be released based on the achievement of milestones for network engagement, use and optimization over a 12-month period.
“HealthierHere is proud to partner with our Catalyst Fund Awardees so that they can access and contribute to the Connect2 Community Network,” said Susan McLaughlin, Executive Director of HealthierHere. “Working together, we will be able to improve access to meaningful, culturally and linguistically responsive supports that community members need.”
Learn about the Connect2 Community Network at connect2.org.
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About Afghan Health Initiative
Afghan Health Initiative (AHI), is a grass-roots non-profit organization in the State of Washington founded by current and former immigrants and refugees who were trying to navigate the complexities of their new lives.
AHI provides culturally proficient and linguistically appropriate social support services and health promotion advocacy to low-income new refugees from Afghanistan as well as our Iraqi, Arabic-Speaking, and Somali communities in King County. AHI’s mission is to serve the immigrant and refugee population in Washington State by promoting community-based public health interventions which target social determinants of health thereby increasing equal access to health, education, and economic independence. Afghan Health Initiative holds a strong commitment to ensure the voices of Afghan and other refugee populations are not only heard and counted in data, but their needs are known and met through equitable culturally and linguistically appropriate preventative health and social services.
AHI was founded to help immigrant and refugee communities maximize their potential toward a better future while acculturating into their new lives in the United States. To help facilitate this vision, AHI provides a host of social service tools and programs to promote well-being, healthy life trajectories, and self-sufficiency.
About HealthierHere
HealthierHere is a nonprofit collective impact organization dedicated to eliminating health disparities and improving the health and wellbeing of all people in King County, WA, through innovative, community-driven, cross-sector collaborations. Governed by a 27-seat cross-sector board and guided by community, HealthierHere partners with health providers, social service agencies, community organizations, and consumers to catalyze, facilitate and measure new and better ways to address health and social needs – so that all people can get the care they need, how and when they need it. Learn more at HealthierHere.org.
About Connect2 Community Network
Connect2 Community Network is a unified community information exchange (CIE) being collaboratively developed by health and social service organizations in King County, WA. Community-owned and governed by a multi-sector Advisory Group, it is dedicated to reducing health disparities and improving outcomes. The network is building relationships and co-designing tools and policies to enable health, behavioral health, tribal, community and social service organizations to responsibly share information and coordinate services – so that no matter what door someone enters, they will receive the whole-person care and support they need to be healthy and thrive. Learn more at Connect2.org.
Contact: Ariana Anjaz, Sr. Program Director, Afghan Health Initiative
Phone: (253) 237-6214
Email: ariana@afghanhealth.org
