Global Communities to Honor Humanitarian Leaders at 2024 Hands Across Borders Gala
SAN DIEGO – Global Communities, a leading health and humanitarian organization committed to saving lives, advancing equity, and securing strong futures worldwide, will host its annual Hands Across Borders gala on Friday, November 8, 2024, at the Hyatt Regency La Jolla. This signature event celebrates efforts to empower women, children and communities in San Diego…
Read MorePass the Mic: Reinvigorating Global Efforts to Reduce Maternal and Child Mortality
By Paula Rudnicka, Sr. Manager for Public Affairs at Global Communities In 2012, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) partnered with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Governments of India and Ethiopia to convene the Child Survival Call to Action, which galvanized unprecedented commitments from governments and civil society around the…
Read MoreGiving San Diego Infants a Healthy Start through Lactation Education and Access
By Lizzie Hickman The recent baby formula shortage in the United States (U.S.) has brought attention to infant nutrition needs and costs. The scarcity highlighted a larger conversation around the importance of breastfeeding/chestfeeding, inequity in healthcare and barriers parents face to accessing lactation services. In the U.S., Black birthing parents are nine times more likely to…
Read MoreReflecting on the COVID-19 Response Program’s Impact in San Diego
In May 2020, the world could not fathom what the future had in store, nor could Global Communities (then Project Concern International) envision the myriad of needs we would serve in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in San Diego. Fast forward more than two years and what began as a community-centered contact tracing program…
Read MoreQ&A with Arwa Alkhawaja, COVID Outreach Specialist in San Diego
By Natalia López-Thismón When the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, Global Communities (then operating as PCI) moved quickly to collaborate with the County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency to prevent the spread of COVID-19 to the community through contact tracing. Since then, our programming has shifted into education and vaccine outreach as…
Read MoreReducing Black Maternal Deaths by Raising the Standard of Care
Rooted in institutional racism and implicit biases, and impacted by the social determinants of health, Black women are three to four times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than their white peers. At least 60 percent of these deaths are preventable, which is why Global Communities’ Healthy Start program provides a continuum of high-quality maternal and infant care for diverse Black and immigrant communities in San Diego, CA.
Read MoreFacts about Human Trafficking and COVID-19’s Impact on the Illicit Industry
By Lizzie Hickman Although Human Trafficking Awareness Month is coming to a close, Global Communities continues our work to diminish human trafficking in San Diego by educating children, parents and teachers to identify the signs of exploitation and offer empowerment programs that reduce children’s vulnerability to traffickers. We also press on to mitigate the spread…
Read MorePCI Champions Movement to Advance Black Maternal Health, Rights, and Justice
Black women are three times more likely to experience a pregnancy-related death than white women. Many of these deaths are preventable, and research indicates their causes are rooted in systemic inequities and implicit bias. To build awareness around this issue and ultimately change the state of Black maternal health in the United States, PCI, a…
Read MoreShining a Spotlight on Sex Trafficking in San Diego
In recognition of Human Trafficking Awareness Month, PCI, a Global Communities Partner, has teamed up with Eleanor Roosevelt College at the University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego) to shine a spotlight on one of the city’s largest underground economies. Over the weekend, the partners kicked off the first of two Saturday workshops to…
Read MoreWaterloo Community Needs Assessment
Global Communities was asked by John Deere to design and conduct a participatory community needs assessment in Waterloo, Iowa in partnership with local community members and local partners. The assessment used an participatory-based approach to develop an in-depth understanding of the assets, opportunities, and gaps existing in the Waterloo community in order to inform and…
Read MoreMeet Stacey Williams, PCI Changemaker
Less than a month ago, Stacey Williams packed up her life on the East Coast and moved to San Diego with three teenagers in tow to begin work as the new Director of Human Trafficking Prevention Programs at PCI, a Global Communities Partner. Even though the COVID-19 pandemic has upended how she is able to…
Read MoreExpecting During the Unexpected: Pregnancy and Birth in the Time of COVID-19
For all that has come to a screeching halt in the time of COVID-19, life still goes on. In hospitals, homes and clinics across the country—regardless of social distancing measures and lockdown policies—over 10,000 babies will be born today. And that’s in the United States alone. Even under normal circumstances, giving birth can be an…
Read MoreGlobal Communities Board Chairman Dick Celeste to Co-Chair Ohio COVID-19 Testing Task Force
The article was first published here. By Seth A. Richardson, cleveland.com CLEVELAND, Ohio – Gov. Mike DeWine announced Tuesday that two former Ohio governors would lead a task force to help expand coronavirus testing in Ohio. Former Govs. Dick Celeste (on the photo), a Democrat, and Bob Taft, a Republican, will lead a task force set…
Read MoreTurning Up the Volume on Black Maternal Health in the US
Ahead of Black Maternal Health Week and in recognition of the critical support provided by nurses, midwives and community health workers year-round, PCI’s Healthy Start Director Lisa Bain and licensed midwife Nikki Helms spoke with Drew Schlosberg of The San Diego Union-Tribune. Listen on to learn more about how we are addressing disparities in perinatal…
Read MoreRooting Out Human Trafficking in San Diego, One Student at a Time
Bernadete Leal begins every Project ROOTS session in a darkened classroom with one question: “Where do you want to bring light?” While the exercise is a small component of the after-school program, Leal said its power lies in teaching students they can be a force for positive or negative change in the world. And it’s…
Read MoreStanding Up for Human Rights Today and Every Day
This holiday season, Project Concern International (PCI) asked the families we work with all over the world one question: What is your greatest wish for the children in your community? From clean water and education to better health and safety, their answers made one thing abundantly clear—the fundamental rights of one child should not be…
Read MoreDelivering Positive Birth Experiences to Black Women in San Diego
Darynée Blount had every intention of becoming a lawyer. But after traumatic birth experiences with her first two children, she decided to pursue justice in a different setting – America’s health care system. “The care I was getting and the treatment in the hospital, how that all played out, was abysmal for me,” says Blount, who describes…
Read MorePaying Success Forward, One Book at a Time
Kimmy Brooke understands firsthand how a network of empowered women can change a life. Before she became a successful entrepreneur, author and leadership coach, Brooke remembers the isolation she felt as a single mom, struggling to move forward with a stagnant bottom line. “I found myself at the age of 40 divorced and turned upside…
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