United States & Territories

Founded in 1958 with headquarters in Washington D.C., Project HOPE’s work in the United States began in 1969 serving rural and medically underserved communities in the Southwest. Over the years, Project HOPE has continuously expanded its reach, responding to emergencies and implementing impactful public health programs across the United States and in U.S. Territories.

Our unwavering commitment to improving health includes a diverse array of health initiatives, including promoting health equity, responding to crises and pandemics, combatting infectious diseases, offering crucial mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) services, improving maternal and child health outcomes, and alleviating the burden of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs).

We collaborate closely with partners to address local needs through comprehensive strategies, such as training frontline and community health workers, strengthening local health systems, procuring critical medical equipment and supplies, and building equitable health programs that pave a way for sustainable solutions.

Our Work

Health Equity

Project HOPE works domestically and around the world to build healthier, more equitable communities where everyone can access the health care they need. We collaborate directly with partners and communities in underserved regions, extending our support to those in the greatest need, including rural populations, migrants and asylum-seekers, indigenous communities, people of color, youth, older adults, and people with disabilities to address inequity and reduce health disparities.

In our effort to champion health equity, Project HOPE partners with community clinics and community-based organizations that serve the U.S.’s most marginalized populations. Our work includes noncommunicable disease programming for refugee and immigrant populations, assisting migrant welcome centers with organizational capacity building and psychological first aid, deploying medical volunteers to historically marginalized communities, and supporting frontline workers.

Additionally, we collaborate with indigenous leaders and communities of color to support culturally appropriate mental health initiatives and address systemic barriers to health care. Across the U.S. and in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, we partner with local organizations and strategic partners to increase health equity and ensure access to health care services for underserved communities.

COVID-19

Supporting Free and Charitable Clinics

With funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Project HOPE supported 37 free and charitable clinics to improve COVID-19 vaccination rates in low-income and uninsured communities across Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. With Project HOPE’s support, the clinics were able to offer vaccination incentives and hire community health workers who served as a critical link to build trust, combat misinformation, and reach the most underserved populations. In addition, with the support of the Brave of Heart fund, Project HOPE delivered Mental Health & Resilience Train the Trainer curriculums to 218 health care workers in nine different free and charitable clinics through both live and online sessions.

Providing Guidance and Testing in Long-Term Care Facilities

In Chicago and Cook County, Illinois, we’re helping reduce the transmission of COVID-19 in long-term care facilities, which experienced staggering numbers of infections in residents and staff. Our team has visited more than 120 facilities in the Chicago area, assessing needs, building plans, and helping staff and administration keep residents healthy, engaged, and safe in accordance with recommended guidance from local public health agencies.

>> Read: Volunteer Voices: The Cost of COVID-19 on Seniors

In partnership with Quest Diagnostics, we also facilitated free COVID-19 testing services — testing supplies, diagnostics, and courier services — to two long-term care facilities in the Chicago Metro Area. This included infection prevention and control support and training for facility staff, working with them to develop strategies for engaging residents and their families in infection control efforts and to bring awareness to education related to COVID-19 and testing. This extra support allowed staff to continue providing residents with the best care possible, at the height of the outbreak.

In partnership with the University of Chicago, Project HOPE subject matter experts provided 16 weeks of infection prevention curriculum and virtual mentoring to more than 240 long-term care facilities in Illinois and Texas.

Supporting the Navajo Nation

In partnership with Indian Health Services, Project HOPE supported Navajo Nation throughout the pandemic with PPE donations and deployments of medical volunteers to provide surge support in the reservation’s hospitals. We deployed more than 50 expert medical volunteers, provided increased access to COVID-19 testing, and supported one of the most successful vaccination outreach efforts in the country, which included mobile vaccine clinics.

Disasters and Health Crises

Hurricanes and Natural Disasters

Project HOPE has a long history of responding to natural disasters in the U.S. and territories, including Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria, Laura, Ida, and Katrina. Our response strategies included sending surge medical volunteers to understaffed clinics and hospitals; distributing critical hygiene items and supplies to community-based organizations and shelters; procuring medical equipment, supplies and medications for affected health facilities; and providing mental health and resilience training for frontline health workers.

In 2005, we deployed medical volunteers in response to Hurricane Katrina in collaboration with the U.S. Navy effort. When Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria struck in 2017, we sent medical volunteers to Texas, Florida, and Puerto Rico. In Texas, we partnered with Team Rubicon to mobilize volunteer teams to help address the most pressing health needs and stayed long past the storm to help patients with hypertension, chronic illnesses, and mental health ailments.

In 2020, we provided medical supplies and PPE in Texas and Louisiana following Hurricane Laura. In 2021, in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida, we worked with Louisiana health authorities and partners to respond to the needs of displaced populations by providing medical surge support and relief supplies. In 2022, our emergency response team deployed in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian to support local health systems in Florida.

Expanding Migrant Health Care

Project HOPE is currently partnering with the Casa Alitas migrant shelter and the Southeastern Arizona Health Education Center (SEAHEC) in Tucson, Arizona, two organizations that provide compassionate and dignified support and health services to asylum seekers once they cross the border. Our team is supporting a community health worker and a medical advisor and engaging two medical volunteers to assist shelter guests. While migration patterns are often unpredictable, Project HOPE’s domestic team is continuing to strengthen and build partnerships along the U.S.-Mexico border to support migrant health service providers and create linkages to care for medically underserved communities.

Our Impact

Our work in the U.S. and territories has helped tens of thousands of families recover from disasters and health crises, build back stronger, and grow more resilient in the face of future emergencies.

Project HOPE’s COVID-19 response delivered millions of pieces of PPE to health systems across the U.S., including Arizona, California, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, and Texas.

Our medical volunteers in the U.S. provided care to over 3,700 patients in ICUs, surge units, and COVID-19 units in Houston and Navajo Nation. They also tested more than 25,600 people for COVID-19 across Houston; Montgomery County, Maryland; the Navajo Nation; and Cook County, Illinois. Our infection prevention experts have reached 120 nursing homes housing more than 13,800 local residents.

We’ve also supported the Puerto Rico Science, Technology & Research Institute to implement its first Project ECHO series on COVID-19 and other topics on mental health and resiliency during disasters. The first series of ECHOs reached more than 1,200 first responders.