CARESTAR Foundation awards 4 grants worth $900,000 to Calif. organizations

About $450,000 will go to nonprofits that focus on EMT training for young people of color, and $300,000 will go to Interface Children and Family Services

By Leila Merrill

BERKELEY, Calif. — The CARESTAR Foundation announced recently that it has awarded four grants worth a total of $900,000, distributed over two years, to organizations in California.

The nonprofit’s mission is to fund and advocate for improvements to emergency and prehospital care in the state.

About $450,000 will go to nonprofits, including EMS Corps and City EMT, which both focus on EMT training for young people of color. A $300,000 grant will go to Interface Children and Family Services to address the challenges of the state's overworked 911 system with a new 211 option that aims to reduce the number of non-life-threatening calls. And $150,000 in general operating support will go to the Prevention Institute to further their work in building prevention and health equity into policies and actions at the state and local levels.

"We maintain our steadfast commitment to systems change in the name of bringing greater health equity to emergency and prehospital care in California," said Tanir Ami, CEO of the CARESTAR Foundation. "With these latest grants, we are supporting grantees whose work moves us towards this goal by addressing critical components that supplement and enhance the work of the state's local infrastructure."