Desert Healthcare District Board Awards $3.5 Million in Grants to Improve Primary and Behavioral Care re Coachella Valley
PALM SPRINGS — Clinicas de Salud del Pueblo, doing business as Innercare, received $2.9 million to develop over three years a Coachella Valley teaching health center program to address the community’s physician shortage.
Innercare is a Federally Qualified Health Center with multiple health and dental clinics serving both Riverside and Imperial counties. Innercare will use the funds over three years starting on July 1 to create and implement a teaching health center to locally train physician residents. By the third year of the grant period, Innercare plans to have 16 residents working across its health sites and DAP Health.
Five grants were awarded, allocating $3,550,528 in total to support improving access to primary and behavioral healthcare. The grantees have committed to use the funds in a variety of ways, including programs and services that address the Coachella Valley’s healthcare workforce shortage, shoring up mental and behavioral healthcare, supporting the wellness needs of underserved and migrant families, and more.
The grant awards are:
Galilee Center: $185,337 to continue the Bridge to Health program, connecting underserved and migrant families to medical and behavioral health services through case management and strong partnerships with healthcare providers, schools, transportation services, and other community organizations.
Hanson House: $103,155 to support the full salary of a new case manager and the partial salary of its executive director. The addition of a case manager in daily operations would provide one-on-one family-centered support from intake to post-hospital transition. This includes conducting needs assessments, coordinating care for patients, and connecting families to community resources.
Jewish Family Service of the Desert: $143,750 to support the partial salaries of five positions — a clinical director, a licensed marriage and family therapist clinician, two marriage and family therapist counselors, and an associate clinical social worker counselor. This grant will contribute to expanding mental healthcare access, strengthening the regional workforce, and ensuring residents receive timely, affirming and bilingual services.
LGBTQ+ Community Center of the Desert: $142,661 to support two Spanish-speaking therapists to expand access in underserved areas and train eight clinicians under three supervisors in LGBTQ+-affirming, evidence-based care. Grant funds will support the partial salaries of director of behavioral health services, chief clinical officer, clinical senior manager, and two therapists.
“Today’s approval of $3.5 million in grants is a strong reflection of our commitment to the community and to the priorities we’ve set as a District,” Desert Healthcare District & Foundation Board President Kimberly Barraza said in a statement Tuesday. “These investments will expand access to care, strengthen our healthcare workforce, and bring critical resources directly to the residents who need them most. The impact of these dollars will be felt in real, tangible ways — more services, better access, and healthier outcomes across the Coachella Valley. This is exactly the kind of meaningful, community-driven progress we should be proud to advance together.”
In other business, the District & Foundation Board also approved a consulting services agreement with NPO Centric. The two-year agreement, not to exceed $420,000, continues a prior partnership between the two organizations to provide capacity-building services to Coachella Valley nonprofit organizations and to raise awareness about the work and its outcomes.