CHC Recieves GE Foundation Grant

From the Community Health Center

Community Health Center, Inc. has been selected by the GE Foundation–the philanthropic organization of GE–and the GE Corporate Diversity Council to receive $500,000 in grants, along with three years of GE volunteer support, under the GE Developing Health™ program, with the goal of increasing access to primary care for uninsured and underserved populations in Norwalk and Danbury.

The Day Street Community Health Center in Norwalk and Community Health Center of Danbury will each receive $250,000. The grants expand the reach of GE Developing Health™, a three-year, $50 million commitment that provides grant funding and GE employee engagement to selected healthcare centers across the United States. Fairfield County is the tenth location in the U.S. to receive grants through the Developing Health initiative.

“It’s particularly meaningful for us to expand Developing Health to Fairfield County – not only home to our corporate headquarters and GE Capital, but also thousands of GE employees," said Beth Comstock, chief marketing officer of GE. "Increasing access to primary care is vital to our community, and Developing Health will help do this right here in our back yard. There’s a perception that Fairfield County doesn’t have as many underinsured or uninsured residents, and that’s simply not the case.”

“This funding and volunteer support from GE will be a huge asset as we continue to enhance and expand our comprehensive primary care services throughout Norwalk and Danbury,” said Mark Masselli, president and CEO of Community Health Center, Inc. “The partnership will help us reach more area residents in need of quality care, as well as support our efforts to improve health outcomes and create healthier communities.”

With the funding, CHC will develop systems that allow for early identification of behavioral health issues in childhood and that meet the behavioral health needs of children and their families in the Norwalk and Danbury communities. The funding will also support recruitment and hiring of multilingual providers, community outreach and support care for uninsured children and families – all of which can be sustained and expanded in the future.

In addition to the grants, Developing Health includes a three-year volunteer commitment from area GE employees drawing specifically on their business management skills. Through Developing Health, GE employees will work with both health centers, applying their skills and expertise in a primary care setting to drive improvements that benefit patients, workflows and health outcomes.

To accomplish this, the health centers will be linked with one of GE’s Affinity Networks or employee groups, which include: the Asian Pacific American Forum, Women’s Network, Hispanic Forum, African American Forum, Veteran’s Network and Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Alliance.

Developing Health is a partnership between GE’s Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Diversity Council teams and is modeled after Developing Health Globally™ (DHG). Launched in Africa in 2004, DHG now includes 14 countries across Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia and uses GE core competencies like technology, expertise and employee engagement to provide sustainable “enterprise solutions” that address some of the critical gaps that exist in developing-world healthcare facilities.