St. John’s Wellchild and Family Center

Since 1996, St. John’s Wellchild and Family Center (SJWCFC), a FQHC network in California, has been working to reduce the negative impacts of substandard housing on health. When first launched, SJWCFC and Esperanza Community Housing Corporation worked together on lead poisoning prevention. From 1996 through 2003, Strategic Actions for a Just Society joined the collaborative to collect data about the health impact of substandard housing to influence state and local policy. In 2009, Healthy Homes Healthy Kids joined with a comprehensive approach around home visits, health program enrollment, medical homes, advocacy, and policy development. Highlights of collaborative outcomes include: 100 percent decrease in asthma hospitalizations; 100 percent decrease in missed work days by parents; 80 percent reduction in percent of clients with asthma ER visits; 69 percent reduction in the percentage of children missing one or more days of school due to asthma; and 69 percent reduction in clinic/doctor visits due to acute asthma attacks. SJWCFC is funded by British Petroleum Settlement/Air Quality Management District Funds, First 5 Los Angeles, EveryChild Foundation, Housing and Urban Development Agency, and Kresge Foundation. To read more about this innovative program, see this brief summary [link].