Funded Projects

Enhancing care access for immigrant youth

Project Year

2026

City & State

Oakland, California

Program Name

Resident

Topic

Immigrant/Migrant/Refugee/Undocumented Health

Program Description

Immigrant children and families served by the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland Claremont Clinic face persistent barriers to accessing preventive and primary care, including language and cultural differences, difficulty navigating the U.S. health care and insurance systems, and fear or discomfort engaging with medical institutions. These challenges are compounded by limited access to safe physical activity opportunities and affordable, nutritious foods—key drivers of child health that are often deprioritized amid competing demands.  This project will address these gaps through a community-based partnership with Soccer Without Borders (SWB) Bay Area, a trusted organization serving newcomer and refugee youth through trauma-informed soccer programming. SWB reaches over 1,000 youth annually and provides an established, culturally responsive setting for engagement.  The primary goal of this project is to increase access to preventive care, physical activity, and nutrition resources for school-age children and adolescents by coordinating health-focused “field days” during SWB’s annual summer camp. These field days will pilot the use of the Claremont Clinic mobile van to provide on-site sports physicals, enabling youth to safely participate in organized sports throughout the year. Volunteer pediatric residents and attending physicians will conduct physicals and engage directly with youth and families.  In collaboration with community partners, field days will also include access to nutritious foods through local food banks or the UCSF "Food Farmacy." To further enhance health equity, the field days will include interactive, age-appropriate nutrition and hydration education. Youth will learn things like how to identify sugar content in common sports and energy drinks through hands-on demonstrations, practice reading food labels, and explore affordable, health-conscious snack options.  In addition, the project will partner with East Bay Community Law Center to offer families access to one-on-one legal information and referrals in a trusted, community-based setting. Legal support will focus on issues that directly impact child health and family stability, including immigration-related concerns and access to public benefits. This intervention aims to reduce toxic stress and barriers to care while facilitating warm handoffs to ongoing legal resources. Outcomes will be measured by the number of families receiving legal consultations or referrals and caregiver-reported confidence in understanding their rights and available resources.  Anticipated outcomes include increased participation in physical activity, improved nutrition knowledge, reduced family stress, and strengthened trust between immigrant families and the health care system. Evaluation will include quantitative tracking of sports physicals completed and qualitative feedback from participants, volunteers, and community partners.

Project Goal

The goal of this project is to advance health equity and improve the overall health and well-being of immigrant and refugee children and families by increasing access to preventive pediatric care, healthy nutrition and physical activity opportunities, and trusted health and legal resources through community-based, family-centered partnerships that are sustainable and scalable well beyond the grant period.

Project Objective 1

Increase equitable access to preventive pediatric care for school-age youth: By the end of the Soccer Without Borders summer camp period, reduce barriers and family stress related to school and sports participation by ensuring that approximately 200 immigrant and refugee children and adolescents receive timely sports physical clearance for the upcoming school year.

Project Objective 2

Improve nutrition and hydration knowledge among participating youth: By the conclusion of summer camp field days, increase nutrition and hydration knowledge among participating children and adolescents through culturally responsive education, with at least 70% of participants demonstrating improved understanding of healthy beverage choices (reviewing sugar content in sodas, gatorades, etc), food labels (reviewing how to read and interpret labels), and affordable snack options. 

Project Objective 3

Increase caregiver knowledge of health care access and immigration-related rights and resources:  By the end of the project period, improve caregiver understanding of health care access, patient rights, and immigration-related legal protections by providing linguistically appropriate education, with at least 75% of participating caregivers reporting increased confidence in knowing how and where to seek care and support for their family.

AAP District

District IX

Institutional Name

Oakland International High School

Contact 1

Jenna Lindsay, DO

Contact 2

Elizabeth Chen, MD

Contact 3

Alma Esparza Castaneda

Contact 4

Madhu Manivannan