González receive a job offer from this internship,” said Louise McCarthy, president and CEO of the Community Clinic Association of Los Angeles County. When our healthcare workforce reflects the communities we serve, it reduces health inequities and can improve health outcomes.” “The pipeline for future allied health professionals is critical to helping Californians live longer and happier lives. “Blue Shield Promise is thrilled to congratulate the graduates of the Allied Health Internship Program and to recognize the impact of their work,” said Jennifer Schirmer, vice president of Growth and Community Engagement of Blue Shield of California Promise Health Plan. This fall, she plans to continue her studies at Los Angeles Mission College and aims to graduate in the spring of 2024. Her work was so exemplary that the health center offered her a permanent job as a medical coder. Through AHIP, she gained more than 100 hours of hands-on work experience at the San Fernando Community Health Center. González recently graduated from the internship program, along with 28 other participants. The funding provided by Blue Shield Promise covered internship stipends and administrative support for participating health centers, making this transformative program possible. As part of the program, interns receive paid, hands-on training to prepare for careers in community health. This summer, she took another important step by participating in the Community Clinic Association of Los Angeles County’s Allied Health Internship Program (AHIP), a workforce initiative funded in part by Blue Shield of California Promise Health Plan.īlue Shield Promise’s funding of AHIP is part of the health plan’s efforts to support career pipelines for people from diverse backgrounds and perspectives. I walked away from my fears and barriers.”ĭetermined to honor her son’s memory, González signed up for medical classes at Los Angeles Mission College last fall. “After he passed, I gathered the courage. “My son used to tell me ‘Mom, you have so much potential,’” said González. He had always believed she could do anything. However, this project was not the only one that was shaped by the extraordinarily high levels of ownership, solidarity and perseverance of the Honduran rural population: EnDev has supported a total of 8 micro-hydro projects in Honduras providing more than 5,700 people with modern energy.Last year, when González’s son, Aurelio González, Jr., tragically passed away at the age of 23, she reflected on what he would have wanted for her. The idea of accessing electricity generated by hydro power plants was born from within the community. Together with EnDev, María will continue shaping the young people of her community into future leaders who will one day sustain and manage the hydroelectric plant. Turning a community-led project into reality has also empowered the villages and given them a sense of achievement, paving the way for future community developments. We have stoves, coffee makers and microwaves and can use these appliances whenever we want.” COMISERICLAL charges users a monthly fee to cover its running costs energy has become reliable and energy costs have been halved. María explains: “People can now refrigerate their food, so that it lasts longer.

In Lempira, life became much easier for the 800 people – as well as for the community’s six social institutions and three enterprises. Supported by the National Electric Energy Company, and municipal and central governments, the Río Claro Hydroelectric Plant opened in December 2018. It manages the day-to-day operation and maintenance of the plant. In a community assembly, the three communities decided to organize themselves and started their own cooperative COMISERICLAL. But this was only half of the story: apart from construction and overcoming budget limitations, somebody had to resume responsibility for operation. Taking the available budget into account adjustments were made to the technical design of the power plant, all involved stakeholders brought together and key equipment transported to the site, which had been in storage by the ENEE. In 2016, EnDev Honduras pledged to provide technical assistance to reinitiate the project. Unfortunately, the project development had to be halted due to lack of funding. With this in mind, she worked tirelessly to realize a hydroelectric power plant for the communities – 15 years after it was originally designed by the government owned company ENEE. María recognised the importance of energy access for economic and social development.

Maria in her own hands