The Palo Alto Community Fund (PACF) has awarded $50,000 to the Ravenswood Family Health Network (RFHN), in East Palo Alto, to help fund barrier free access to COVID-19 vaccinations.

As of April 5th, 28% of East Palo Alto residents, 16 and older, had received a COVID-19 vaccine compared to 82% of residents in nearby Atherton. To address this imbalance, RFHN is running barrier free COVID-19 vaccine clinics for the residents of the Belle Haven, East Palo Alto and North Fair Oaks communities. While the vaccines themselves are provided at no cost to RFHN, the organization receives minimal funding to cover the significant cost of administering the shots.

Note from Lisa Van Dusen, executive director, PACF

“The Ravenswood Family Health Network is helping distribute vaccines to our more vulnerable communities,” said Lisa Van Dusen, executive director of PACF. “We can think of no need greater now than making sure our neighbors have easy and safe access. This remarkable, critical organization has remained steadfast in its commitment to providing top quality health and dental care throughout the pandemic, despite extraordinary challenges, and we are honored to support them.”

Thank you to our donors

The Palo Alto Community Fund would like to thank our donors, without whom this grant would not be possible. The funds for the grant are part of our annual Impact Grants, named in memory of longtime PACF and community leader, Dave Mitchell. We will be announcing additional Impact Grants soon.

Visit our website for more information on our recent 2021 Annual Grants, awarded to 70 local nonprofit organizations.