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Foundation Mid-year Update: A leadership change, upcoming parties and new initiatives

Foundation News & Updates

Dear Friends of the Foundation:

I am writing to you as the new interim president of the Foundation. Our most recent leader – and a good friend of mine – Kevin Causey, left earlier this month to lead a new community health foundation in Monterey, CA. The Saint Francis Foundation has grown tremendously in the past five years. I should know as this is my second time as the interim leader, and I am pleased to be back!

I will be working closely with our Board of Directors to prepare to hire a new executive to lead this great foundation in 2018. I would like to share with you some of the exciting projects on the horizon.

  • We are in conversation with Saint Francis Memorial Hospital about how we could support two possible new Centers of Excellence: a Women’s Health Institute and a Transgender Health Program. Both would focus on access to innovative forms of care.
  • Our Tenderloin Health Improvement Partnership (TLHIP)  continues to find success in making the Tenderloin healthier and safer. TLHIP was recently invited to participate in several important programs, including:
    • A pilot with local law enforcement and the SF Department of Public Health to divert low level offenders into social services to reduce crime.
    • Supervisor Breed’s Safe Injection Facility Task force, which will look at how these potential facilities could mitigate negative consequences of opioid and drug use across the city.
    • A project of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement to spread design thinking and quality improvement methods to community partners in the Tenderloin.
  • Please mark your fall calendars for the 9th annual White Caps & Night Caps fundraiser, Saturday, November 18, 2017. This is our biggest party of the year and benefits our work in the Tenderloin. We are grateful to the Foundation Associates for their commitment to this amazing event.
  • Also, looking ahead to the 2018 Awards Season, please save the date for our annual Academy Awards viewing party, An Intimate Evening With Oscar, Sunday, March 4, 2018. This event is graciously hosted by the Foundation Ambassadors.

I hope that you will join me in continuing to strengthen this important organization, which not only supports Saint Francis Memorial Hospital, but also the health and well being of residents in the community that the Hospital serves.

I look forward to working together during the next several months. Please free feel to reach out at any point: 415-353-6654 or alazarus@saintfrancisfoundation.org.