WSU partners in community health, development initiative

G-2-L-logoSEATTLE – Washington State University has joined a Seattle-area nonprofit partnership to improve health care and economic development in diverse, low-income communities. It is anticipated that successful programs of Global to Local (G2L) in south King County might be replicated in eastern Washington.

“WSU brings a new set of expertise to our diverse group of founding partners,” said Adam Taylor, executive director of G2L. “For the first time, we can look at opportunities to expand our work beyond SeaTac and Tukwila.”

Developing-world solutions applied at home

G2L builds on the expertise of the state’s global health institutions to bring strategies that have proven effective in developing countries to underserved communities in the United States that face similar challenges.

Through programs like the SeaTac-Tukwila Food Innovation Network, G2L has reached more than 4,000 SeaTac/Tukwila community members and has identified, trained and equipped dozens of community leaders to make a positive difference in their neighborhoods. More than $2.5 million has been raised from public and private partners to support key activities.

“Serving underserved populations throughout Washington state is at the core of what we do at Washington State University,” said WSU President Elson S. Floyd. “The goals of G2L perfectly align with our land-grant mission to help address the real and emerging challenges facing Washingtonians.”

WSU offers global health, ag expertise

WSU Spokane and G2L will begin working together to identify opportunities to use WSU’s global health and agricultural programs as well as successful G2L programs that could be replicated in Eastern Washington.

“We are incredibly excited to partner with such a widely respected research institution and look forward to developing more solutions that make a positive impact on people’s health,” said Taylor.

G2L was created in 2010 as a partnership between Swedish Health Services, HealthPoint, Public Health-Seattle & King County, the Washington Global Health Alliance and the cities of SeaTac and Tukwila. Learn more at http://www.globaltolocal.org/about/.