Investments in community organizations focused on serving children by providing health education, advocacy and healthy meals

UnitedHealthcare, a UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) company, has provided $110,000 in investments in the past several months to community-based organizations in Rhode Island to support children and their families with health education, advocacy and healthy meals.

"We're honored to be investing in local organizations that offer resources to children and their families to address social factors that have a profound impact on their health," said Patrice Cooper, chief executive officer of UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Rhode Island. "These organizations play a vital role in providing greater access to education and essential services in high-risk and high-need communities throughout Rhode Island.”

Investments in Rhode Island have gone to:

• Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center — $30,000 to support the organization’s hunger relief, community-building wellness, and youth education programs.
• Progreso Latino — $30,000 to support educational outreach to adolescents about the COVID-19 vaccine.
• Rhode Island Food Bank — $25,000 to provide Meals4Kids to 2,000 students during school vacations.
• RIPIN — $25,000 to further the organization’s mission of providing information, training, education, support and advocacy for person/family-centered care and system change.

“UnitedHealthcare’s generous funding helps sustain programs that improve the economic, social and physical well-being of thousands of people across Newport County,” said Heather Hole, executive director of the Strout Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center. “This funding means we can continue offering programs that engage seniors, support families, educate kids and fight food-insecurity, at a time when our services have never been more important. We are so grateful to UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Rhode Island for standing by us in our work to make our community healthier.”

“Progreso Latino, Inc. has been working assiduously as part of the community to confront the challenges associated with the pandemic, including connecting individuals and families to available resources and support,” said Mario Bueno, executive director of Progreso Latino, Inc. “We are so excited to continue working with partners and volunteers in order to bolster our resilient community.”

“We’re grateful to UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Rhode Island for their generous contribution of $25,000 to provide 2,000 Meals4Kids boxes to low-income families with children,” said Andrew Schiff, Rhode Island Community Food Bank CEO. “These boxes provide a week’s worth of breakfasts, lunches and snacks to help us ensure that children at risk of hunger have the food they need to grow and thrive.”

“Families raising children with special needs have been through so much the past year and a half,” said Sam Salganik, executive director of RIPIN. “This funding will help us connect more families to the health care and education supports that their children need to thrive.”

Good health encompasses more than visiting a doctor’s office. According to the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, nearly 80% of what influences a person’s health relates to nonmedical issues, such as food, housing, transportation and the financial means to pay for basic daily needs. For so many, the global pandemic has caused additional social and economic challenges that continue to affect healthy behaviors and exacerbate health disparities.

These investments are part of several initiatives that UnitedHealthcare, along with its parent company UnitedHealth Group, have launched to address health equity throughout the United States. The company is also investing in programs and partnerships focused on food, housing, transportation and social isolation, including $500 million invested in affordable housing in underserved areas and $80 million to fight the pandemic and support vulnerable minority populations disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.

About UnitedHealthcare

UnitedHealthcare is dedicated to helping people live healthier lives and making the health system work better for everyone by simplifying the health care experience, meeting consumer health and wellness needs, and sustaining trusted relationships with care providers. In the United States, UnitedHealthcare offers the full spectrum of health benefit programs for individuals, employers, and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, and contracts directly with more than 1.3 million physicians and care professionals, and 6,500 hospitals and other care facilities nationwide. The company also provides health benefits and delivers care to people through owned and operated health care facilities in South America. UnitedHealthcare is one of the businesses of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), a diversified health care company. For more information, visit UnitedHealthcare at www.uhc.com or follow @UHC on Twitter.

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