Transformations & Innovations Initiative

The CARESTAR Foundation is pleased to announce a new grants program called the Transformations & Innovations Initiative.

Through this initiative, CARESTAR will invest $3 million over three years to support the development (or ongoing work) of multi-agency collaboratives across California intended to spark innovation in the field and transform how individuals and communities, particularly residents who identify as Black, Indigenous, and/or people of color engage, receive, experience, and/or recover from emergency and prehospital care.

WE ARE NO LONGER ACCPETING PROJECT IDEAS FOR THIS INITIATIVE.
PLEASE VISIT WWW.CARESTARFOUNDATION.ORG FOR FUTURE OPPORTUNITIES.

Over 40 million California residents and visitors rely on effective emergency and prehospital care to provide help and save lives whenever a traumatic event or injury occurs, regardless of the precipitating cause (e.g., motor vehicle accident, gun violence, accidental fall, substance use, mental health crisis, wildfire, disease outbreak, etc.).

The system responsible for providing this care is made up of a complex web of public and private agencies, independent communications systems, and a range of first responders and health care providers, all governed and influenced by local, state, and federal policies, regulations, and payors. This complexity coupled with California’s uniquely diverse population of cultures, languages and geographies provide both challenges and opportunities to ensuring that all Californians receive the most equitable, unified, and compassionate emergency and prehospital care possible.

Given the critical role of this system to protect public health and safety, and to provide healthcare in our homes and communities, the CARESTAR Foundation (CARESTAR) seeks to catalyze new and better ways for ALL Californians to receive the most appropriate emergency and prehospital care when and where they need it, delivered by first responders and other healthcare providers who reflect the rich diversity of their communities.

About the CARESTAR Foundation

The CARESTAR Foundation’s mission is to improve health outcomes for all Californians using a racial equity lens to fund and advocate for improvements to our emergency response system. Our vision is that all Californians experience an emergency response system that is equitable, unified, and compassionate.

Using a racial equity lens means paying disciplined attention to race and ethnicity while analyzing problems, looking for solutions, and defining success. By applying a racial equity lens to revolutionizing how, where, why, and by whom emergency and prehospital care is provided, we believe racial disparities in access, treatment, and outcomes can be eliminated. In this way, we can ensure that the lives of ALL people touched by trauma or injury will be improved because they will have received the same appropriate care, services, and support required to heal and prevent re-injury.