NATIONAL HEALTH FOUNDATION

Our vision is that all people regardless of who they are or where they live, can achieve their highest level of health.

National Health Foundation's strategies to support healthy equity initiatives focus on improving social and economic structures in order to decrease barriers and improve support systems that allow people to achieve their full potential.

This is achieved through:

1. Direct Service: Essential services to under- or low-resourced individuals and communities that address immediate social needs like providing job training, shelter, education, food stamps, etc.

2. Research: The process of systematic inquiry that includes the collection of data; documentation of critical information; and analysis and interpretation of that data/information to inform or improve work.

3. Community Engagement: The relationship-building process that develops trust and understanding between NHF, community residents, stakeholders and civic institutions in order to elevate local voices in solving issues impacting the community's well-being.

In the case of each and every NHF program, the focus is on removing the barriers created by social determinants of health for individuals and under-resourced communities.

Theory of Change

A unifying theory of change is the underlying logic of how an organization’s programs and services (individually and collectively) fulfill its mission and achieve its vision. The theory of change also becomes a framework for evaluating each new program or funding opportunity and determining if that direction will advance the mission and strategic direction or detract focus.


NHF accomplishes its mission by addressing the social determinants of health and creating innovative programs to address identified health needs and gaps in services. NHF leverages its core competencies to identify needs, bring stakeholders together, work in collaboration to develop and secure funding for innovative programs, expand programs as necessary to test in varied communities and establish the validity of the models. NHF has a dual focus to create innovative programs as solutions to the root causes of health inequities and to manage programs that continue to meet social and health needs and are financially sustainable.


Core Competencies

The following core competencies provide the skills and attributes necessary to implement NHF’s mission and its corresponding theory of change.

Working in Collaboration with Hospitals and Health Plans: NHF has historic ties to hospitals in Southern California and hospital associations throughout California. This provides a relatively unique capacity to bridge the needs of hospitals, health plans and the needs of communities and populations. NHF provides added value to hospitals and health plans through approaches that: foster relationships between them and the communities they serve; identify the health and health needs of communities (through community benefit assessments); and results in improved health outcomes that support the mission of hospitals and health plans.

Youth Organizing: NHF’s youth organizing programs facilitate young people of color in bringing about health equity for their neighborhoods by engaging in community activism to remove policy, systems and environmental barriers to healthy living. This strategy includes techniques that engage youth in 1) Systems Change Campaigns, 2 Leadership Development, 3) Personal Growth and Transformation, 4) Civic Engagement, 5) Base Building, and 6) Movement Building.

Direct Service Provision: NHF has become a recognized, quality service provider for individuals experiencing homelessness. It can be argued that NHF’s youth programs are also direct service, as they represent NHF working directly in the community, influencing behavior, systems and environmental change.

Community Engagement: NHF improves the health and builds the capacity of communities through empowerment and training of community members. NHF has combined several proven strategies and arrived at a comprehensive model to move communities toward better health.

A complete listing of our program statistics can be found in our annual impact report. Our 2021 report was released in late spring 2021 and provides an overview of the impact of our programs in calendar year 2020. Some of those statistics include:

7,600 individuals served across all NHF programs
84,870 safe shelter nights provided through our recuperative care program
21,300 lbs of food distributed to neighbors at risk for food insecurity