The Los Angeles Harbor Commission has approved nine “Healthy
Harbor Grants” totaling $550,000 to help promote health care, health education,
community outreach and access to respiratory care in the San Pedro and
Wilmington harbor communities.
The grants, which were announced March 6, are funded from a
community mitigation trust fund and administered through the port’s partnership
with San Pedro-based Harbor Community Benefit Foundation (HCBF), an independent
non-profit organization created to mitigate the environmental impacts of port
operations.
The HCBF was created in 2011 as a result of a legal
settlement in which the port agreed to establish a community mitigation trust
fund to support efforts to grow and green the port, and to alleviate the
effects of environmental and public health impacts of its business operations
on the community. The trust fund’s administered by the HCBF.
In 2012 and 2013, $800,000 was awarded in the first two
rounds of Healthy Harbor grants. The third round of Healthy Harbor Grants awarded
$550,000 to nine community organizations serving San Pedro and Wilmington. They
include:
$125,000 to St. Mary Medical Center to bring a high-tech
mobile care clinic and specialized staff into Wilmington for a minimum of six
hours of clinic operation, one day per week.
$90,000 to The Children’s Clinic to support for a program
which provides diagnosis and treatment for children, the elderly, and pregnant
women suffering from respiratory illness due to port-related pollution.
$80,000 to Breathe California of Los Angeles County, which promotes
clean air and healthy lungs through research, education and technology.
$70,000 to the Long Beach Alliance for Children with Asthma.
$67,000 to Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at
Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.
$46,000 to the Robert F. Kennedy Training Institute. Grant
funding will provide a health worker to disseminate education, enrollment
services and resources to area residents suffering from respiratory illnesses.
$38,000 to Harbor Community Clinic, which provides no cost
to low cost medical care to San Pedro patients who often have no other medical
care access.
$22,000 to the Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, which serves
communities in need by providing preventative education and medical and
humanistic aid.
$12,000 to Rainbow Services, which seeks to end the cycle of
family violence. Grant funding will provide respiratory health education and
access to respiratory related services for San Pedro residents.
