Diversity in the Health Professions
Advocacy Group Connects Working Poor to
Careers in the Health Professions
 taying healthy is no easy feat for the
working poor residents of Los Angeles
County’s communities of color. Many
are employed in retail and service-sector
jobs that neither pay a living wage nor provide
health benefits or opportunities for advancement.
Often lacking health insurance and access to
preventive health measures, these residents rely
heavily on emergency rooms as their primary source
of care, burdening an already overtaxed public
health system.
 At the same time, the region is facing a serious
shortage of trained, culturally competent health
professionals. Research has shown that a more
diverse health workforce can improve access to
health care services for underserved minority
populations, since minority providers typically
provide more care for the poor and uninsured and
practice in more areas with shortages of providers.
 To address this issue, organizations such as
Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy
Education (SCOPE) are mobilizing community
residents and waging public policy campaigns. In
December 2002, TCWF awarded SCOPE a two-year,
$100,000 grant to support The Community
Initiative for Health Care and Jobs, a project to
address public policies that will connect underserved
communities to careers in the health professions.
“We believe that people most affected by poverty
and unemployment should be in the forefront of
changing their conditions,” said Lalee Vicedo,
SCOPE development director. “We organize
low-income and communities of color to build
power in order to collectively effect change. With
this campaign, we address the lack of livable-wage
jobs and access to health care, which are critical
issues identified by the community, and seek
long-term and permanent solutions that will benefit
large numbers of residents.”
Targeting low-income residents in three
communities in Los Angeles that are predominantly
Latino and African-American, the campaign
provides training for entrance into the health
workforce, offers career paths in a growth industry,
and works to increase the capacity of underserved
communities to achieve solutions that address the
health and job issues of people of color. SCOPE’s
leadership development programs strive to demystify
these issues by exposing the economic or policy
decisions behind them, and they involve participants
in developing solutions that will positively impact
their community. Over time, these communities
build an expanded base of social activists.
This work includes the
Health Care Career Training
Ladder Program, a
comprehensive training and
placement program that
propels low-income residents
into health care careers that
offer livable wages. More than
200 graduates have gone on
to such jobs as licensed vocational
nurses, certified nursing
assistants, registered nurses,
medical coders, in-home
health support aides and
medical and lab assistants.
Additionally, SCOPE is mobilizing residents,
community-based organizations, educational
institutions, unions, employers and public
agency and industry/training experts. For example,
the organization was asked to join a local task force
that gathers and analyzes research for the county’s
Workforce Investment Board and makes recommendations
for training and supportive services.
This participation ensures a community-based
perspective and analysis in policy decision making.
“Organizations like SCOPE provide a vital health
service to underserved communities in Los Angeles
County,” said Saba Brelvi, TCWF program director.
“By providing health care career training and
building grassroots organizing and leadership skills,
they are helping low-wage residents gain access to
preventive health care and higher wage jobs while
working collectively to affect policies that improve
their health and wellness.”
For more information, please visit
www.scopela.org.
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