WEConnect visits Richmond!

Enthusiastic volunteers, passionate community partners, colorful signs and balloons, and helpful resources of all sorts transformed the Richmond Memorial Auditorium and Convention Center into one-stop-shop for health and well-being this past Saturday, June 27. Richmond residents were able to enroll in free and low-cost healthcare with the help of trained counselors, get free medical screenings and counseling, receive resources about many topics from financial services to immigration laws to discounted utilities, and receive a free bag of healthy groceries. The event was hosted by WEConnect, a program established in 2005 by former First Lady Maria Shriver and now operated by the California Endowment. WEConnect tweeted that 750 people attended the Richmond event, and 140 of them enrolled in low to no cost health coverage. Hopefully many more will be able to use WeConnect's engaging and well-organized website to connect with additional federal, state, and local services such as food assistance, mental health counseling, legal services, immigrant resources, employment and education opportunities, financial planning, low cost auto insurance, and more. The Digital Health Literacy Project will be using the WEConnect website as a resource for learners to engage with in our digital health literacy curriculum. We also look forward to partnering with WEConnect to update their expanding resource map. A few photos from the event are below, and more can be found in an album on the WEConnect facebook page, including a picture of Healthy Richmond staff and Richmond City Manager Bill Lindsay sharing their vision for health in Richmond at the event's Dream Wall for All.