Community Health Councils received a four-year grant to act as the lead agency implementing the initiative in California. As a result, a collaborative of health advocates, healthcare providers, professional health associations, representatives from the education community and other key agencies, and three regional outreach projects joined efforts and formed the Covering Kids and Families Coalition in January 1998.

Covering Kids and Families Coalition
The Coalition was structured to maximize lessons learned locally and to capitalize on the expertise of members from state agencies, advocates and professional associations. The Coalition provides a vehicle to examine all opportunities to expand coverage and reduce barriers to enrollment in health coverage programs.

Statewide Coalition Meetings
Covering Kids and Families Statewide Coalition meetings are used to review policy and build greater coordination between the public and private sectors. Policy recommendations result from a collaboration of regional representatives and statewide coalition members. In conjunction with the statewide coalition, the regional outreach projects form local coalitions that test program and policy implementation at the local level. Integral to the success of the project, the local coalitions provide feedback to the state and cultivate relationships in their county.

Robert Wood Johnson Covering Kids and Families Initiative
The structure of the coalition was established to maximize the lessons learned at the local level with regional representation throughout the state and to capitalize on the expertise of members from state agencies, advocates and professional associations.

In response to the need to continue support for public and private coalitions working to enroll uninsured children in SCHIP or Medicaid and to help the coalitions assist uninsured adults, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation launched the Covering Kids and Families Initiative in 2002. Community Health Councils was refunded for this new four-year grant to act as the lead agency in California as well as four new local coalitions.

Covering Kids and Families, a project of Community Health Councils, Inc., is made possible by funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The California Endowment.

For more information about the Covering Kids and Families project, please contact Caroline Rivas or Catherine Sepulveda at 323.295.9372 or via e-mail Catherine Sepulveda.