Funded by the #CaliforniansForAll Innovation Grant and in partnership with

Carbon Health, leading crisis relief organization’s new mobile site program will provide community resources for city

LOS ANGELES – August 11, 2021 – CORE (Community Organized Relief Effort), the crisis response organization co-founded by Sean Penn and Ann Lee that has been a leader on the frontlines of COVID-19, has been awarded $200,000 through the #CaliforniansForAll Innovation Grant, which aims to engage volunteers in projects which address key challenges in the community. CORE is launching a new fixed mobile site program in Los Angeles which will provide testing, vaccinations, resource coordination and health screening to the local community of Angelenos, and the funding from this grant will help meet the needs of the community through volunteer efforts.

In partnership with California-based national healthcare provider Carbon Health, CORE’s pilot program is an expansion of CORE’s COVID relief efforts across Los Angeles, independent of its concurrent operations with the city. In addition to expanding the organization’s operations and team of local staff and volunteers through coordination with L.A. Works, the grant enables CORE to provide proactive disaster services and programs addressing key challenges such as climate change, education, health care, and food insecurity.

“As the pandemic continues to impact the Los Angeles community with new variants and rising cases, CORE is fully committed to protecting Angelenos by expanding testing capabilities, ensuring equitable access to vaccines and providing holistic resource coordination services,” said CORE Co-Founder and CEO Ann Lee. “We are incredibly grateful to be a recipient of this grant and for the support and funding from our partners at California Volunteers, allowing us to continue to serve our neighbors in need.”

“We recognize the impact volunteerism has on our communities and are committed to ensure service opportunities are accessible to all Californians,” said California Chief Service Officer Josh Fryday. “Governor Newsom’s investment in service will allow us to implement this new strategy to engage thousands of volunteers to tackle our greatest challenges.”

Located at San Fernando Recreation Park and opening to the public starting this week, the site will provide resource coordination for underserved populations, helping the local community to identify relevant assistance programs, confirm eligibility, and guide them through the application process for federal and state programs, to ensure the best opportunity for a successful enrollment. Additionally, CORE will connect residents with local programs and community based organizations to support their immediate needs. The community will receive assistance with programs such as CalFresh/SNAP, WIC, Medi-Cal, LIHEAP (Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program), rent & utility aid and other general relief. The site will also offer COVID testing and vaccinations to the community in partnership with Carbon Health.

“We are proud to amplify the work that we have been doing in partnership with CORE to make healthcare — via testing and vaccinations — accessible to the Los Angeles community throughout the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Dr. Sujal Mandavia, Chief Medical Officer at Carbon Health, which has played a frontline role in the pandemic, including administering more than 1.5 million COVID-19 vaccines and 1.4 million COVID-19 tests. “Launching this important program that also offers information and education as well as access to life-saving resources brings us closer to the goal of mitigating the devastating effects of COVID-19.”

CORE has been serving the LA community since March 2020, administering over 4.5 million free COVID-19 tests and 1.4 million vaccinations to date throughout the city. Throughout the pandemic, CORE has remained committed to ensuring direct access to resources are available to the city’s most vulnerable and hard-to-reach communities. CORE continues to lead on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic across the United States in Los Angeles, Georgia, Chicago, New Orleans, Washington, D.C., and the Navajo Nation, in addition to Haiti, Brazil and India.

ABOUT CORE

CORE (Community Organized Relief Effort) is a crisis relief nonprofit organization co-founded by Sean Penn and Ann Lee that is dedicated to saving lives and strengthening communities affected by or vulnerable to crisis. Within hours of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Penn mobilized a powerful network to take immediate action. More than 11 years later, CORE continues to lead sustainable programs focused on four pillars: emergency relief, disaster preparedness, environmental resilience, and community building. The organization has expanded beyond Haiti to support communities in the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, the United States, and Latin America. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, CORE has been operating free testing sites across the U.S. alongside local partners, providing essential resources and contact tracing services as well as part of its integrated approach to combat the pandemic. In 2021, CORE is working with its partners in the U.S. and internationally to ensure equitable distribution of vaccines, and has published a manual to encourage equity-focused community-based vaccination operations.

More information: www.coreresponse.org/covid-19 and follow CORE on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

ABOUT CARBON HEALTH

Carbon Health is a leading national healthcare provider with a mission to bring high-quality healthcare to everyone. Leveraging its unique technology platform, Carbon Health provides its patients with omnichannel care, designed to meet patients where they are by delivering care via a variety of access points, including in-person clinics, home-based care, hardware, on-site employer-based care, and virtually via the Carbon Health app. Carbon Health also provides value-based care to enterprise partners across a broad range of industries, including academia, sports, entertainment, biotechnology, and travel. Carbon Health is headquartered in San Francisco and provides both in-person and virtual care access to nearly two-thirds of the U.S. Founded in 2015, Carbon Health is backed by Blackstone, Dragoneer Investment Group, Brookfield Technology Partners (BTP), Fifth Wall, Lux Capital, Silver Lake Waterman, DCVC, and Builders VC.

To access Carbon Health, download the app (iTunes or Google Play) or visit carbonhealth.com.