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New Foundation Grant Continues Support for Family Participation in Policymaking

PALO ALTO – Building on the success of Project Leadership, an advocacy training program for families of children with special health care needs, the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health on September 21 awarded Family Voices of California a new grant to enhance opportunities for families to participate in advisory roles for policymaking and programs.

Project Leadership, a community-based training program, seeks both to increase family representation and to educate elected officials and other health care decision-makers on the difficulties families face in accessing quality health care services for their children with special needs. Since 2013, the project has provided training for more than 125 family advocates in San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Napa, Los Angeles, and Alameda counties.

"The most effective way to influence policymakers is to have families tell their own stories and advocate for what their children need," said Edward Schor, MD, senior vice president at the foundation. “Our original grants to Family Voice of California helped support development of a curriculum and the launch of training programs. Families are beginning to put that training into action, and our new grant will support expansion of those opportunities."

The new funds will help the project maintain and update a database that Project Leadership graduates can use to identify organizations and agencies that provide opportunities for them to serve as family representatives. The project also will maintain a database of family leaders and expand the data available on each leader to include such information as location, advocacy experience, and advocacy interests. The grant will support continuing education and networking of family leaders, as well as opportunities for local agencies to receive training and offer Family Leadership instruction.

See details about the grant: Project Leadership Training Families to Advocate for Systems Change: Phase IV

For more information, contact Family Voices of California.

Also see previous Project Leadership grants:

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About the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health: The Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health is a public charity, founded in 1997. Its mission is to elevate the priority of children's health, and to increase the quality and accessibility of children's health care through leadership and direct investment. The Foundation works in alignment with Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford and the child health programs of Stanford University. Through its Program for Children with Special Health Care Needs, the foundation supports development of a high-quality health care system that results in better health outcomes for children and enhanced quality of life for families.