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Nonprofit organizations need federal funding to help create a healthier community 

An affordable housing project completed by Neighborhood Partnership Housing Services, Inc. in the city of San Bernardino using manufactured housing. (Courtesy of Neighborhood Partnership Housing Services, Inc.)

This article was initially published in The San Bernardino Sun on February 21, 2025, as part of the Inspiring Vibrant Health Column. Nonprofit organizations are the helpers we look to in times of crises and everyday life. It’s vital that these organizations continue to be supported to help advance health and well-being in our communities.

Champion for Vibrant Health Spotlight: A Greater Hope  

A Greater Hope family

A Greater Hope, a nonprofit foster agency provides comprehensive behavioral health support, individual therapy for parents, and group services that are vital for families in rural areas lacking access to mental health care. In 2024 alone, the organization served 430 children in foster care, provided over 9,000 hours of behavioral health services, and helped 91 children reunite with their birth families.

One of those success stories features Alicia Westley, who regained custody of her son after the support and care from A Greater Hope and foster mom, also named Alicia.

Creating your own Healthy Environment 

It’s January, full of New Year’s resolutions and hopeful promises! This is when we transition from an overabundance of holiday treats to healthy snacks and new exercise habits. However, research indicates that 79% of resolutions involve improving health and wellness, yet only 9% of adults stick to their resolutions. Instead of making hard-to-keep resolutions, what if we focused on creating healthy environments for ourselves, our organizations, and our communities, ensuring that healthy habits become part of our daily routines? 

What we can do about the Surgeon General’s warnings on mental health

Originally published in the Daily Bulletin. The U.S. Surgeon General recently named loneliness one of our country’s greatest health crises. With heart disease, cancer and accidents topping the list of leading causes of death in our country, who would have thought that loneliness would become a major concern of our “nation’s doctor?”

Champion for Vibrant Health Spotlight: Magdalena’s Daughters  

Ashley Hill was working as an LMFT in the County of San Bernardino when she witnessed a disturbing trend: the number of adolescent children, most of whom were girls in foster youth, becoming victims of sexual trafficking. Like many nonprofit leaders, she didn’t set out to do this work; the work found her. In 2018, she founded Magdalena’s Daughters, which provides a unique residential therapeutic program to empower young victims of sex trafficking.

Magdalena’s Daughters was one of 60 nonprofits in the Inland Empire that participated in our Collaborative Capacity Building Grant program earlier this year. Learn more about how the local nonprofit cultivates healthy living among foster and vulnerable youth across the region.

How your ZIP code impacts your health

How Your Zip Code Affects your Health

Originally published in the Daily Bulletin. When we think about the factors that influence our health, we often consider things like diet, exercise and genetics. But one crucial, often overlooked factor is a person’s zip code. Several research studies have found a direct correlation between a person’s overall health and their zip code.