Public Health Institute

The public health institute serves as the fiscal sponsor and partner for the center for wellness and nutrition (phi cwn), which is headquartered in sacramento, california. phi cwn is a national leader in developing campaigns, programs, and partnerships to promote wellness and equitable health practices in the most vulnerable communities worldwide. phi cwn has established relationships with local, state, national, and international organizations, and through education, training, technical assistance, advocacy, and evaluation, works to make health accessible for all. phi cwn has been instrumental for more than a decade in advancing snap-ed across california (known as calfresh healthy living), colorado and usda fns southeastern region. additionally, cwn has expanded its work to global locations such as puerto rico, palau, cherokee nation, africa, latin america, and asia. phi cwn's work is spread across 40 states, and it partners with 398 community-based organizations worldwide to increase food and nutrition security and reduce diet-related illnesses and chronic diseases. phi cwn prioritizes culturally rooted practices as stated in it health equity and racial justice platform. for example, it convenes the calfresh healthy living (cfhl) tribal ambassador committee that includes members representing diverse tribal partners from communities throughout california who provide feedback, guidance, and suggestions on nutrition education materials, healthy traditional recipes, and partnerships development to better serve california american indian alaskan native communities. this committee has developed a range of new culturally appropriate cfhl resources that promote healthy living and traditional foods. in 2024, in partnership with california department of public health's office of health equity phi cwn granted $25 million in grants to 28 community based organizations statewide for the children and youth behavioral health initiative local-level campaigns (cybhi llc), a program charged with reducing stigma related to mental and behavioral health, increasing behavioral health literacy and access to culturally appropriate resources through youth-led, locally developed campaigns. this program prioritizes reaching black, latino, asian-american and pacific islander, native american and lgbtq children and youth. phi cwn also partnered with la county public health to run the los angeles grocery voucher program that addresses rising food insecurity due to covid-19. funded by the american rescue plan act, the phi cwn team, distributed over $11.8 million in food benefits through a network of local cbos and vendors reaching over 15,200 households and 58,000 individuals. this program received the los angeles county's prestigious productivity and quality award. in the same year, phi cwn hosted 23 training events and over 20 collaboratives and workgroups directly reaching 17,668 individuals through services offered. cwn also expanded the global nutrition and partnerships program with grants from the robert wood johnson foundation to address indigenous border health and the us state department to address lead health in india. through this program, phi cwn collaborates across sectors in research, education, and program implementation to address global health issues. roots of change (roc), also a program of phi, partnered with phi cwn in 2022 to jointly work on ensuring a healthy and accessible food supply chain. they are part of a coalition that will receive $35 million over five years to develop a system for transparent confirmation of regenerative practices by beef and bison producers worldwide. roc also advocated successfully with its food and farm resilience coalition partners for over $700 million in the 2022-23 california budget, including $15 million each for the california nutrition incentive program, the healthy refrigeration grant program, and weatherization of farmworker homes.

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