One Degree Partners with Los Angeles County To Help Low-Income Residents Thrive

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., July 27, 2017 — One Degree today announced the culmination of its work with the Los Angeles County Health Agency to provide its customized online and mobile app platform that connects at-risk families with services and resources like affordable housing, food assistance, job training, health services and after-school programs.
One Degree digitized and aggregated thousands of social services and community resources throughout the 88 cities in Los Angeles County to make those resources accessible at no cost to any care provider and resident in the County. The user-friendly platform allows users to filter services by zip code and is accessible from any internet-enabled device in both English and Spanish.
The One Degree solution will be launched in four hospitals and clinics run by the Department of Health Services, part of the Health Agency, starting this month and will be available to all providers and L.A. County residents starting July 26, 2017.
The platform is a virtual toolbox that empowers L.A. County residents, as well as health providers and community health workers, to quickly and easily find resources they qualify for and information to access them. By providing L.A. County families with the tools to navigate thousands of community resources in one easily accessible place, they have a better chance to use the information to access the services they need.
“There are over 10,000 healthcare, nonprofit, and social service offerings in Los Angeles County to assist the community with the resources they need,” said Rey Faustino, One Degree’s Founder and CEO. “Yet, the process to access these services is convoluted, and vulnerable families still depend on outdated tools. Now, One Degree makes it clear and simple for families in Los Angeles to find and access all the services online at no-cost to them. One Degree’s platform is on track to reach one million low-income people in Los Angeles over the next 5 years.”
“Medical care is one piece of the healthcare puzzle for vulnerable persons and families,” said Clemens Hong, MD, DHS director of Whole Person Care. “Low-income patients often battle a spectrum of issues that impact their health, such as access to healthy food, adequate heating, and safe and affordable housing. By quickly linking individuals we serve with essential services using One Degree’s platform, we can improve health outcomes and have a lasting impact on their lives.”
Program managers assisting clients with service referrals will also have access to management features to track service utilization, evaluate and measure the impact of social services, and better understand service gaps in communities.
In addition to LA Department of Health Services, One Degree has been working with Dignity Health, a California-based not-for-profit public-benefit corporation that operates hospitals and ancillary care facilities in three states, and LIFT-LA, a national nonprofit that works with parents with young children (0–8) to break the cycle of poverty, as two additional anchor partners in Los Angeles.
Estela Lopez, a 15 year Los Angeles resident originally from Chiapas, Mexico, mom of three children and LIFT-LA client, has been using One Degree. She said, “I’m tired of looking up services and then getting turned down because we don’t meet a certain requirement. It takes a lot of effort and commuting just to be told “no”. So I think One Degree is really good, because you have all of the information beforehand. It’s a better way to find resources.” This summer, Estela’s 11-year-old son will be attending a free co-ed summer program at the Girls Club of Los Angeles thanks to the opportunities she found on One Degree.
One Degree’s platform, proven in the San Francisco Bay Area with over 1.3 million people in need, is accessible from any internet-enabled device and available in English and Spanish. Since January 2014, over 225,000 people have used One Degree throughout all 9 counties of the San Francisco Bay Area. Currently, 18% of One Degree’s regular users are nonprofit and healthcare professionals, while 82% are people looking for services for themselves and for their families.
About One Degree:
One Degree, founded in 2012 in San Francisco, is a nonprofit technology-driven organization that is restructuring the way striving residents, and the people who help them, access community resources. The organization’s mission is to empower people to create a path out of poverty for themselves and their community. To learn more about One Degree and the platform, visit www.1degree.org/la.
About the L.A. County Health Agency:
The Los Angeles County Health Agency includes the Departments of Health Services, Mental Health, and Public Health. Together, these departments are working on health initiatives that include development of housing and supportive services for the homeless, substance use disorder treatment, diversion of corrections populations, and reduction of hospital emergency department overcrowding, among other priority areas.
CONTACT: Rey Faustino, CEO & Founder, One Degree, 888–799–7273
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