CDU Awarded $1.1 Million After Community Vote
Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science has been awarded approximately $1.1 million to support the operation of the CDU Kedren Mobile Street Medicine Program.
The news comes from an official press release announcing the Los Angeles City Council’s approval of funding to selected local nonprofits to implement community ideas in three areas known as REPAIR Zones: Boyle Heights, Southeast LA and Mission Hills-Panorama City-North Hills.
The funding was determined following a community-wide voting period where area residents were invited to review and vote on the various proposals under consideration.
“Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science is equal parts excited and humbled by the citizens of Southeast L.A. who voted for the CDU Kedren Mobile Street Medicine Program,” said Alexander Rodgers, M.D. “Our Street Medicine program will provide culturally responsive primary health care services, preventative care, behavioral health, mental health, HIV/STI prevention, and case management services free of charge to all residents in the Southeast L.A. REPAIR Zone, but especially to underserved and under-resourced individuals and families. The University is thrilled to be included in the City’s inaugural cohort of grantees for LA REPAIR.”
L.A. REPAIR, which stands for Los Angeles Reforms for Equity and Public Acknowledgement of Institutional Racism, is the city’s first participatory budget pilot program and will distribute roughly $8.5 million directly to nine L.A. City REPAIR Zone neighborhoods.
The entirety of L.A. REPAIR is community-led, from the Advisory Committees running the process in each zone to the idea collection and the vote, in which anyone over 15 years old can help decide how to spend the funds.
The CDU Kedren Mobile Street Medicine Program, which has been in existence for over 30 years, plans to use the funding to serve 10,000 community residents over a 12-month time period.