Deloitte Backs UnidosUS Healthcare Program for Latino Children
The Deloitte Health Equity Institute (DHEI) is helping to fund the expansion of UnidosUS’s Healthy and Ready for the Future (HRF) program across the country, to support current rural subgrantees and help expand to new urban areas.
UnidosUS is a nonprofit, nonpartisan Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization. The national HRF program envisions a physically, emotionally, and mentally healthy Latino child population and is awarding subgrants to five local community-based organizations with early childhood education centers. The grantees include Casa Central and Gads Hill Center in Chicago, Mexican American Unity Council in San Antonio, and Para Los Niños and PUENTE Learning Center in Los Angeles.
Since 2016, UnidosUS has supported eight HRF Affiliate partners in 15 states and 138 rural communities across the country, strengthening their capacity to serve more than 80,000 children with essential oral and behavioral healthcare services. The program also empowers parents and caregivers with culturally relevant skills and practices, to be their child’s first teachers and lay the foundation for a stronger home ecosystem where children can thrive. The expanded reach under this program will help UnidosUS’s scale its impact and advance health equity.
“We are thrilled to support the expansion of Healthy and Ready for the Future to new urban areas to help increase access to oral and behavioral healthcare and education for families,” said Jay Bhatt, D.O., M.P.H., M.P.A., executive director of the Deloitte Health Equity Institute and Center for Health Solutions, in a statement. “Pairing direct access to care with culturally tailored education to parents and caregivers supports the importance of investing in families social and economic wellbeing – and strengthens the trajectory of children’s lives. As someone who cares for Latino families in a community health center, I see the direct impact of closing behavioral healthcare gaps and supporting families. I believe this proven approach can make a difference in impacting lives in our Latino communities and beyond.”
The funding is part of Deloitte’s $1.5 billion commitment over the next 10 years to support organizations like UnidosUS that are advancing health equity across the country.
“UnidosUS is excited to collaborate with Deloitte Health Equity Institute as we collectively scale, for the first time, the Healthy and Ready for the Future program into urban communities,” said Rita Carreón, vice president for health at UnidosUS, in a statement. “Deeper investments towards this program help us realize our vision by fostering accessible, comprehensive, equitable health care for Latino children, and educating and empowering their families to meet their socio-emotional, mental health needs and reach their full potential.”
