ALL IN Alameda County's January 2021 Newsletter

Racial Disparities Task Force Report 

New Food as Medicine Clinic at Lifelong Medical Center 

Nourish the Bay 

Racial Disparities Task Force Report 

In April 2020, Alameda County Supervisor Wilma Chan, Assemblymember Rob Bonta, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, Dr. Anthony Iton (Senior V.P., the California Endowment) convened the COVID-19 Racial Disparities Task Force to immediately address the racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19 and address the social determinants (i.e. community conditions) that perpetuate racial health disparities. 

Earlier this month, the COVID-19 Racial Disparities Task Force published a report summarizing their initial findings, highlighting critical lessons learned, and putting forth an Action Plan to guide this work moving forward. Oakland Thrives Leadership Council will build on the lessons learned in the last 8 months as they continue to oversee this work and implement the Action Plan. 

New Food as Medicine Clinic at Lifelong Medical Center 

ALL IN is proud to announce the launch of a new Food as Medicine clinic at Lifelong Medical Center in Berkeley, CA. Building on our successes with La Clinica de la Raza, Native American Health Center, Hayward Wellness Center, West Oakland Health Center, and Roots Community Clinic, we are excited to continue expanding the Food as Medicine work throughout Alameda County. 

ALL IN’s Food as Medicine initiative builds two important pieces of innovative infrastructure at primary care clinics:   

1. Food Farmacy: Patients are prescribed produce by their healthcare team to treat, prevent, and reverse chronic disease, and reduce ER visits and hospitalizations. The prescriptions are filled by Dig Deep Farms, which grows fresh produce using regenerative agriculture practices (pesticide-free, seasonal, highly nutrient dense, and local produce).   

1. Behavioral Pharmacy: Group Medical Visits bring together multiple patients with various types of medical conditions to experience movement, nutrition education, social connection, and mindfulness practices under the guidance of health coaches from Open Source Wellness and a medical provider from the clinic. 

To learn more about the Food as Medicine initiative, please visit our Focus Areas webpage. 

Nourish the Bay 

The University of California, Berkeley has launched Nourish the Bay, a new food distribution resources guide serving Bay Area residents. This resource guide can help connect residents to organizations whether they are looking to donate, volunteer, or receive food.