Pasadena Planned Parenthood Receives State Grant Designed to Help Develop New Sources of Funding

Pasadena’s Planned Parenthood Clinic will receive a $250,000 grant as one of 42 Los Angeles County and Orange County community health clinics that have been awarded more than $8 million in Clinic Lifeline Grant Program funds, designed to bridge the gap between federal funding and new future funding.

The Lifeline grants do not replace lost federal dollars but rather act as mitigating funds to help clinics remain open while they develop new sources of funding.

Federal actions in play include new proposed restrictions on the use of Title X funding, which would no longer be used to fund abortions, regulatory actions that restrict the Affordable Care Act, and potential cuts to Medicaid and Medicare.

The Clinic Lifeline Act which launched the Lifeline Grant Program was created through legislation in 2017 through the sponsorship of State Treasurer John Chiang. The program is designed to assist California’s safety net providers should the Trump administration carry out its threats to slash budgets or change regulations for a range of health programs.

The Act appropriated a total of $20 million in one-time emergency grants to support community clinics providing vital health services to California’s most vulnerable residents.

“For many low-income Californians, community clinics are often their only source of health care,” Chiang said Thursday in Sacramento. “Tearing apart this vital safety net would have enormous consequences, leaving our most vulnerable residents with no access to primary and preventative care and no option for treatment other than costly emergency room visits. Here in California, we do not turn our backs to those in need. We will provide a helping hand to make sure men, women, children and undocumented immigrants continue to have access to the basic health care services they require.”

Chiang also chairs the California Health Facilities Financing Authority (CHFFA), which administers the Lifeline Grant Program.

“The grants to Planned Parenthood will mitigate the impact of Trump’s insidious proposal, which would prohibit medical providers from referring patients for abortion and deprive thousands of California women access to health care,” Crystal Strait, Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California President and CEO, said. “We appreciate Treasurer Chiang’s leadership during Trump’s continued attacks on women’s health.”

Aside from Planned Parenthood’s Pasadena clinic, the other fund beneficiaries include 11 north and central California clinics, three central and coastal clinics, 12 Los Angeles and Ventura clinics, and 16 southern clinics.

Under the conditions of the grant, clinics will have to demonstrate the loss that they have suffered before actually receiving payments. Each clinic has six months from the date of the award to receive reimbursement for documented expenses. If a clinic does not experience a loss, or does not utilize its entire award, the money reverts to the Treasurer’s Office for future grants.

A second round of awards for the approximately $12 million in remaining funds are expected later this year, the state treasurer’s office announced.

Funding for the Lifeline grant program comes from principal and interest payments that have accrued over the last 15 to 20 years in the Treasurer’s Help II Loan Program. The Help II Loan Program provides low-interest rate loans to California’s nonprofit small or rural health clinics for facilities and equipment.