Health Equity Challenge

An opportunity to create change in our community by developing solutions to California’s most pressing health equity concerns.

Many students are imagining a future where they can change the world, often starting with their local community. For those with a vision of improving health equity, a competition from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research (CHPR), MolinaCares, and California Health Care Foundation, provides that opportunity — the Health Equity Challenge.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to shine a light on significant inequities in many aspects of health: insurance coverage and affordability, social determinants of health, and structural barriers to high-quality care. With the signs of inequity more obvious than ever, the increased focus has also spurred ideas from those who are closest to the problems.

Each year, UCLA graduate students are invited to turn their ideas into action and develop innovative community-based solutions to improve health equity in California.

UCLA graduate students are invited to submit a two-page application that identifies a current health equity issue in Los Angeles, San Bernardino, or Riverside counties, and a short description of an intervention that could be executed by a local community-based organization to address it. Proposals can span direct interventions, program development, policy changes, or other innovative ideas. Concept proposals are welcome from many disciplines that intersect with health, including policy, education, law, urban planning, and others.

Up to 15 applications will be selected for the full competition, in which each student will be awarded a $2,500 stipend and 15 weeks of mentorship to develop a full project proposal that a community organization can implement. An independent review committee will review the proposals and up to four students will be awarded an additional $2,500 stipend and the community organization will receive up to $50,000 to implement the project.