Trailblazing 2018 Annual Report

After two years of planning, design and construction, the Paso del Norte Health Foundation was thrilled to celebrate the grand opening of the Playa Drain Trail in November 2018. The 3.4-mile trail segment stretches from Ascarate Park to Riverside Park with a variety of amenities from landscaping, park benches and other shade structures to water fountains, bicycle repair stations, sun screen dispensers, dog bag dispensers and little libraries. The trail is further enhanced with 14 tile murals developed by students from the five Ysleta Independent School District schools along the route including Ysleta High School, Ysleta Middle School, Tejas Academy, Cedar Grove and Ascarate Elementary led by Creative Kids.

The $3 million Playa Drain Trail project is a partnership of the City of El Paso, El Paso Water and the Paso del Norte Health Foundation. El Paso Water donated the land for the project, the City of El Paso contributed $300,000 in amenities through the Quality of Life Bond, with the balance coming from the Health Foundation for design and construction. Additional in-kind contributions were provided by Whole Foods and the Rio Grande Cancer Foundation. The Health Foundation has begun planning the final phase of the Playa Drain Trail from Riverside High School to Ysleta High School with a generous grant from the Marathon Foundation. Once completed, the Playa Drain Trail will stretch 8.3-miles from Ascarate Park to Capistrano Park.

The Playa Drain Trail is part of a 60-mile county-wide Paso del Norte Trail that will span the length of El Paso County from its border with New Mexico to the agricultural areas of the Lower Valley connecting neighborhoods along the route to schools, parks, worksites and other destinations and provide greater opportunity for increased physical activity for residents and visitors. The goal is to develop a trail that will become a regional attraction that connects communities, celebrates El Paso’s history and culture, highlights the Rio Grande, promotes health and active living, and catalyzes economic development.

The Paso del Norte Health Foundation contracted with Sites Southwest and Alta Planning + Design to create the Master Plan for the Paso del Norte Trail. The project was further supported by a technical assistance grant from the National Parks Service’s Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance Program and leadership and input from the County of El Paso, City of El Paso, El Paso Water, El Paso Water Improvement District No. 1, El Paso Metropolitan Planning Organization, Camino Real Regional Mobility Authority, Texas Department of Transportation, International Boundary and Water Commission, Housing Authority for the City of El Paso, Medical Center of the Americas Foundation, Velo El Paso, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso Independent School District, neighborhood associations and countless other organizations and community residents.

After 18 months of public meetings, online surveys and planning sessions with community leaders, stakeholders and trail enthusiasts, the Paso del Norte Trail Master Plan was completed to guide the development.

To view the Paso del Norte Trail Master Plan or learn more about trail updates, visit www.pasodelnortetrail.org.

Families and caregivers are making connections and learning that support and treatment options do exist to help loved ones with mental health conditions.

Through Paso del Norte Health Foundation’s Think.Change Initiative, National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) El Paso and Family Services of El Paso have been working together to reduce stigma and negative bias associated with mental health conditions.

NAMI El Paso has been unique among organizations advocating for individuals with mental health conditions through its commitment to peer education programs. These programs have been successfully directed by NAMI El Paso members and staff in a wide number of community settings.

From 2017-2018, NAMI El Paso reached 1,675 unduplicated participants through its NAMI Signature Programs. These programs provide education to professionals, family members, caretakers and parents. Eighty NAMI Signature classes and presentations were held in English and Spanish throughout the community and 50 volunteers were trained as instructors and presenters. Two trained volunteer instructors attended NAMI National Train the Trainer and are now State Certified Trainers for the respective NAMI Signature programs.

The partnership between the Paso del Norte Health Foundation and the leadership of Family Services of El Paso has opened opportunities for NAMI El Paso to receive additional funding from the Hogg Foundation for its Peer Support efforts and from the Junior League of El Paso to implement the “Ending the Silence” program in schools.

NAMI El Paso was one of 10 grantees funded by the Health Foundation’s Think.Change Initiative.

One in four kids in El Paso County lives in a food-insecure home without sufficient resources to consistently purchase healthy food. Access to healthy, affordable food is a critical component of a healthy lifestyle and disease prevention, yet many must travel long distances to purchase food or rely on mom-and-pop shops and convenience stores where fresh fruits and vegetables and other healthy, affordable food options are limited.

In response, the County of El Paso took a major step to make healthy, affordable food easier to buy. After several months of collaboration with the Paso del Norte Institute for Healthy Living at UTEP (IHL) and the American Heart Association, as well as discussion with the El Paso County Commissioners Court, County Commissioner David Stout and the County Economic Development Department presented the final Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI) Policy Guidelines for the County of El Paso. Commissioners Court allocated $500,000 from the County Economic Development Impact Fund to kick-off the initiative. HFFI is a public and private partnership that aims to increase access to healthy food for residents by encouraging the development and expansion of healthy food retail and related infrastructure into underserved areas of El Paso County. This initiative is the first ever county-level HFFI program in the United States.

HFFI was one of a series of recommendations from the Food for Every Child report that was developed by the IHL in 2017 with funding from the Paso del Norte Health Foundation’s Healthy Eating Active Living Initiative. The report mapped El Paso County’s food access needs, showing areas of El Paso County that do not have sufficient access to fresh fruits and vegetables and other healthy food. The IHL convened multiple partners to address healthy food access and recommend other programs including nutrition education, cooking classes, health screenings and increased access to federal funding for food through the Supplement Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

In the initial phase of the County HFFI program, local grocers, farmers, and other small businesses were eligible to apply for funding for projects that increase access to healthy foods. Public investments in healthy food retail typically attract additional dollars from other sources – public and private – such as financial institutions, foundations, and state and federal funds. PeopleFund, one of the state’s largest Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI), pledged to match the county’s investment by putting up $500,000 of its own capital for financing eligible healthy food retail projects. This means that applicants can also apply for loans through CDFIs like PeopleFund, resulting in a high return on investment for the County of El Paso.

To learn more about the HFFI guidelines and to apply, click here.

The IHL is one of 18 organizations funded through the HEAL Initiative in 2018.

A few years ago, with support from the Paso del Norte Health Foundation’s A Smoke Free Paso del Norte Initiative, the Housing Authority of the City of El Paso (HACEP) made its public multi-housing units smoke-free.

This was a highly successful effort giving the more than 30,000 people living in subsidized housing the right to live in smoke-free environments. HACEP is the 14th largest Public Housing Authority in the nation and the largest in Texas with 52 housing communities across El Paso.

Based on the success of HACEP’s adoption of smoke-free policies, the Clean Air Coalition and the UT Houston School of Public Health’s Youth Advocates for Policy Execution, with support from Paso del Norte Health Foundation’s A SmokeFree Paso del Norte Initiative, reached out to private multi-unit housing residents and managers. Surveys were conducted to assess residents’ experiences with secondhand smoke as well as their opinion of smoke-free housing. There were 93 surveys completed, and the findings indicated that 90 percent of residents would be supportive of smoke-free policies in their building. Further, 40 percent of residents would be willing to pay more rent to live in a smoke-free apartment building and 57 percent would be willing to speak to a property manager about adopting a smoke-free building policy.

The Clean Air Coalition is working closely with the El Paso Apartment Association to make smoke-free living available in private housing units.

A Smoke-Free Paso del Norte Initiative partnered with four organizations to eliminate tobacco smoking in the region.

To download the infograph of the secondhand smoke survey among multi-unit housing residents in El Paso, click here.

Nearly 20 percent of Doña Ana County high school seniors report their first drink of alcohol was before age 13. By 12th grade, 72 percent of Doña Ana High School students self-report they have consumed alcohol, a troubling trend in a county where, since 1997, adults have reported the highest or second-highest rates in the nation for alcohol-related deaths from chronic liver disease, injury death, and motor vehicle traffic death.

The Unified Prevention UP! Coalition provides a wealth of knowledge and experience on how to effectively implement data driven strategies to reduce underage and binge drinking. The Coalition partnered with New Mexico State University’s SpARC (Spatial Applications Research Center) to map alcohol outlets and calls for service to law enforcement to discover if alcohol consumption and crimes mix. This was made possible through a grant awarded to the Southwest Center for Health Innovation (CHI) from the Paso del Norte Health Foundation’s Shift+ Initiative. CHI works with communities to advance health and social justice through innovation and effective policies and programs.

Information was collected from January 2017 to April 2018, which helped map alcohol outlets and excessive calls for service from law enforcement. Results identified six areas alcohol outlets clustered along with excessive calls for service within the Las Cruces city limits. UP! Coalition also conducted a survey of residents and business owners adjacent to the identified hot spots, then visited 33 of the off-premise alcohol outlets, mostly convenient stores and gas stations, to assess the sites. The assessments included if alcohol was displayed at a child’s eye level, was identification requested during a sale to assure the purchaser wasn’t a minor and the availability of parking lot lighting to increase customer safety when arriving or leaving the premises.

A series of community information seminars and story mapping sessions will be conducted by the UP! Coalition throughout Doña Ana County to engage residents in opportunities to advocate for their communities on alcohol related issues and other substance use and abuse issues.

To learn more about the UP! Coalition partners click here.

The Health Foundation’s Shift+ grant cycle supported four partners in the region to help with advocacy and policy change.

Ensuring that disconnected youth have access to safe, structured after school programs led by caring adults is a priority for the Paso del Norte Health Foundation.

The Health Foundation refers to “disconnected youth” as people between the ages of 5 – 17 who are not involved in out-of-school activities or not working. Evidence indicates that youth who are involved in out-of-school programs are less likely to use drugs, alcohol or be involved in criminal activity. Well-designed youth activities increase protective factors needed for youth to lead healthy and productive lives.

The FEMAP Foundation, partnering with SADEC in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, implemented its Connect with ValorArte program, delivering art education through dance to 100 children between 9 and 12 years of age in school communities that experience low academic performance, high school dropout rates, violence issues, as well as lack of recreational spaces and activities. Overall, youth are engaged in activities during the week, weekend activities and activities carried out during the summer recess, totaling more than 500 hours of activities.

FEMAP/SADEC was one of eight organizations in the region that received funding from the Health Foundation’s IGNITE Initiative to provide safe and healthy environments, develop talents and skills and ensure meaningful interaction with caring adults. IGNITE Initiative partners served more than 2,000 youth in the region.

For more information on the IGNITE Initiative and funded programs, click here.

Ensuring that board members of nonprofit organizations fully understand and are prepared for their roles and responsibilities is one of the fundamental goals of REALIZE Board. Funded by the Paso del Norte Health Foundation’s Health Leadership priority area, the United Way of El Paso County instituted a robust training program for new and seasoned board members across the region.

In 2018, the United Way’s BoardSource-certified REALIZE Board trainers led seven “Lunch and Learn” series with more than 180 participants covering topics like board-executive director relations, running effective board meetings, making sense of financial reports, and more.  They also hosted a REALIZE Board Summit in El Paso and Las Cruces for nearly 400 people, featuring Susan Decker, Master of Leadership Development Director at Saint Mary of the Wood College and senior governance consultant with BoardSource. Additionally, the United Way’s team of trainers provided individualized and group training for a range of organizations in the region.

BoardSource is the recognized leader in nonprofit board leadership and supports, trains, and educates nonprofit leaders from across the country and throughout the world.