Peninsula Journal

As the only agency in San Mateo County with the sole purpose of serving victims and survivors of domestic violence and abuse, CORA works hard to provide life-saving services to over six thousand clients annually.

On June 11, CORA marked its 30th anniversary with its inaugural corporate-backed event at the Kohl Mansion in Burlingame, presented by longtime partner and Diamond Level sponsor Kaiser Permanente of Northern California.

"Kaiser and CORA share a belief that healthy families lead to healthy communities and that domestic violence is a public health issue,” said Lukin. "Kaiser has supported our mission in so many ways — from adding domestic violence to their focus areas locally, to funding a major portion of our 24-hour hotline.” said Melissa Lukin, CORA executive director.

CORA is one of the most comprehensive service providers in the nation, with a combination of hotline, law enforcement collaborations, counseling, legal services, emergency shelter and transitional housing. CORA currently enjoys strong partnerships with federal, state, county and local government agencies, as well as solid relationships with state and local foundations and is continually increasing the number of individual donors who support its work. CORA’s focus in 2008 is to develop strong corporate relationships to help address the problem of domestic violence on all fronts—in the community at large, in the home and in the workplace.

"In total, more than 35 local businesses are supporting this event. Going forward, we will expand our base of corporate partners to raise awareness of the impact of relationship abuse and offer solutions to end it once and for all.” Lukin said.

County’s Children Health Initiative celebrates five years

The San Mateo County Children’s Health Initiative (CHI) celebrated its fifth-year anniversary June 27 with an appreciation dinner attended by over 180 staff from county agencies, schools and community-based organizations.

The Children’s Health Initiative ensures that all children up to 18 in San Mateo County have access to comprehensive health insurance coverage and has caused the number of uninsured children in the county to decrease from 17,000 in 2001 to 3,000 in 2005, a reduction in the uninsured rate from 4.3 percent to 1.9 percent.

Foster City resident Tina Jackson spoke to the audience about the difference that CHI’s Healthy Kids coverage program has made in the life of her one-year-old daughter, Kiana. Jackson recalled paying $700 for just one doctor visit during which Kiana was treated for an ear infection and given her immunizations. Jackson said, "If we didn’t have Healthy Kids, I just would not know what to do.”

"To guarantee that children will grow up healthy is unprecedented…what we have accomplished is a celebration of what children need and what children deserve,” San Mateo County Supervisor Rich Gordon said.

To find out if your children are eligible for Healthy Kids benefits call the Children’s Health Initiative at 573-3595.

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