SAN FRANCISCO – Community clinics and health centers in the Central Valley are looking for experienced professionals to join them in a new program that puts their expertise to work for a good cause: helping the clinics more efficiently care for thousands of the valley’s needy.

The California HealthCare Foundation and the Civic Ventures Encore Fellowships Network are launching Encore Fellows in California Community Clinics this summer to help bolster the clinics’ and centers’ operations, which collectively care for more than 500,000 patients per year – three-quarters of whom live at or below the federal poverty level.

The program will pair up to 18 former corporate professionals with clinics in the Central Valley Health Network, a group of 124 community health centers spread across 21 counties. Member clinics will gain needed expertise in financial management, operations, information technology and planning. The fellows, experienced professionals at or near retirement, are able to use the experience they gained in their former roles to make a difference, earn a stipend and learn more about transitioning to work in the nonprofit sector.

The California HealthCare Foundation is supporting the program with a $500,000 grant.

“Clinics are in great need of help with strategic planning, and finding ways to improve the efficiency of clinical staff and integrate electronic health records,” says Melissa Schoen, senior program officer at the Foundation. “There is a tremendous opportunity for the Encore Fellows to make an immediate impact in the lives of thousands of people who use these clinics every day.”

Community clinics and health centers provide access to a range of vital health care services to residents in California’s Central Valley. In addition to facing a chronic shortage of physicians, particularly specialists, Central Valley residents suffer from a higher incidence of serious health problems, including diabetes and asthma.

Central Valley Encore Fellows are slated to begin working in area clinics in July 2011. They will likely work half time for 12 months. Those interested in becoming Encore Fellows in the Central Valley are encouraged to complete an online application at www.ef-ccc.org.

With initial funding from The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Encore Fellows program was launched in 2009 with a group of 10 retired corporate executives and professionals, most from Hewlett-Packard. Now just two years later, the program is expanding to the Central Valley and to several cities throughout the United States.

The program appeals to accomplished professionals ready for a change of focus, says Gina Cassinelli, a 2009 Encore Fellow, who served with Citizen Schools in Redwood City, Calif. “You get to a point in your life where you have to feel like what you’re doing matters,” Cassinelli says. “I wanted to delve into a nonprofit and use the skills I had acquired over 20 years.”

For media inquiries, contact:

Steven Birenbaum, Senior Communications Officer
California HealthCare Foundation
(510) 587-3157
sbirenbaum@chcf.org

For program information, contact:

Barbara Loeb, Program Manager
Encore Fellows in California Community Clinics
(510) 587-3147
barbara@ef-ccc.org

About the California HealthCare Foundation
The California HealthCare Foundation works as a catalyst to fulfill the promise of better health care for all Californians. We support ideas and innovations that improve quality, increase efficiency and lower the costs of care. For more information, go to www.chcf.org.

About Civic Ventures and The Encore Fellowships Network
Civic Ventures, a think tank on boomers, work and social purpose, is the innovative force behind the original 2009 Silicon Valley Encore Fellows program and has now created a new social venture called The Encore Fellowships Network (EFN). The EFN is a rapidly growing community of independent organizations and individuals with a common interest in the Encore Fellows mission of bringing significant new talent to the task of solving social issues. For more information, go to www.encore.org/fellowships.