Country of Residence
United States
Age
16
Project title
Project FairCare Health
Project Summary: Describe your project in one sentence
Project FairCare Health is a youth-led initiative that advances health equity by hosting free community health fairs, empowering underserved communities with free/preventive screenings, 1-on-1 doctor consultations, and health education, while mobilizing volunteers and healthcare partners to reduce the financial and logistical barriers to care.
Website URL(s) or social media handles.
https://fair-care-health.com/
Project Category
My project is an existing project that I started
Project Stage
Scaling (We’re expanding impact to new locations or in new and innovative ways)
Founding Story: What was the spark that led you to start your project? What was the "Aha!" moment that led you to get started and see the potential for this to succeed?
My grandfather's experience with a heart attack and a stroke sparked Project FairCare Health. He was fortunate to have access to healthcare, and that made me think about those without the same access to care when facing serious health challenges. Akshay Sharma, my co-founder, had a personal reason for doing this work: his former nanny, Caty, was diagnosed with breast cancer and didn't have access to preventive healthcare. These experiences gave us a shared goal: to make healthcare access less dependent on circumstances. I realized we didn't need a whole new healthcare system to make a difference. We could connect existing providers with people who needed them, and bring free screenings and healthcare services into the community. With the Dragon Kim Foundation fellowship, we turned this idea into health fairs during food distributions, reaching people where they already went. As organizations joined in and community members came back to build relationships with us, I saw this could be more than a one-time thing, it could be a lasting resource for the community.
The Problem: What problem are you helping to solve? Why does it matter to you and your community?
ProjectFairCare Health is solving inaccessible healthcare to help marginalized communities, specifically uninsured and underinsured families in immigrant and low-income communities locally who often avoid the healthcare system due to cost, deportation, and complex government paperwork. FairCare Health aims to make healthcare systems less intimidating by bringing access to familiar community spaces. I care about this issue because my grandfather had a heart attack and a stroke, but luckily he had healthcare access. His experience made me think about people facing serious health challenges without access. A former nanny of my co-founder's, diagnosed with breast cancer and lacking preventive healthcare, made this concern personal for our team. These experiences shaped our belief that healthcare should be a human right, not a privilege, and we're committed to helping our community access care and support.
Your Solution: How are you solving this problem? Share your specific solution.
Project FairCare Health tackles healthcare barriers with community health fairs which combine preventive care, personalized guidance, and insurance help all in one place. Our solution connects attendees with blood pressure checks; tests for cholesterol, glucose, and blood; screenings for dental, vision, and skin issues; bone density tests; mobile mammograms; and one-on-one doctor consultations. By providing multiple services in one spot, it's easier for people to tackle various health issues. We go further than just screenings and offer insurance and wellness help, like CalOptima consultations, health navigation via Celebrating Life, and sessions on meditation and wellness. Our approach combines healthcare services with help navigating resources, and honestly helps people take the next steps to manage their health. More than 60 volunteers have supported this work, delivering $74,820 in healthcare services to date.
Impact: How has your project created impact / made a difference so far? Or, if at an early stage, what will impact look like?
Project FairCare Health made a difference by turning our belief into action. So far, we've brought together more than 60 volunteers to serve 527 health fair attendees, and provided $74,820 worth of healthcare services at no cost. Our outreach has also reached more than 32,000 people, and extended our impact beyond the health fair. Our impact includes 238 blood pressure tests, and 155 screenings for cholesterol, glucose, and blood, 172 dental screenings were also done, and we've had 139 one-on-one doctor consultations. Participants could also get vision screenings, skin screenings, bone density tests, and mobile mammograms. By bringing these resources together, we've made preventive care and personalized health guidance more accessible and reduced the financial burden on participants.
Your Innovation: What is different about your project compared to other programs or solutions already out there? How is your project new or innovative?
We innovate by integrating: instead of focusing on one health need, Project FairCare Health offers a range of preventive services, one-on-one consultations with doctors, and help with insurance and wellness, all together in one place, at a community health fair. Attendees can access services ranging from dental and vision screenings to blood tests and mobile mammograms, and they also get guidance on coverage and other resources for health. This approach sort of helps with access to care and figuring out where to go for help. We've built a network of 10 community partners, including CalOptima Health, the Delhi Center, Alinea Mobile Mammograms, and Celebrating Life, to bring this model to life. Our innovation isn't a new medical technology; it's a youth-led approach to connecting existing healthcare resources and community organizations in one accessible setting. By mobilizing partners and more than 60 volunteers, we have delivered $74,820 in healthcare services, demonstrating how young people can turn community collaboration into tangible healthcare access.
How many people are on your team?
2
Your team: What role(s) do your team members play? How do you share leadership with them?
Akshay and I split tasks. He handles logistics, like coordinating with partners and finding venues for our health fairs. My job is communications and outreach. I manage our website and social media, apply for grants, and reach out to news stations. We play to our strengths. He gets the resources we need, I get the word out.
What’s Next: What are the next steps you plan to take to grow or strengthen your project over the next year? If your project is still in the idea stage, describe the steps you will take over the next three months to launch or begin developing it.
Over the next year, we plan to expand Project FairCare Health with more health fairs and a monthly schedule. We want to make preventive screenings and medical consultations something our community can count on. To support this, we're recruiting more teens to help with events and promotion. We want to give other young people meaningful opportunities to contribute to healthcare access while building a larger team that can sustain regular events. Akshay will continue coordinating partners and venues, while I will pursue grants and awards, manage our website and social media, and reach out to news stations to grow awareness and support. We want to ultimately strengthen the partnerships, funding, and volunteer involvement needed to put on monthly health fairs.
How do you encourage other people to join your project or learn about the problem you’re working on? If you have a new idea, tell us how you will do this in the future.
We're using social media, our website, and local news to get the word out about FairCare Health. We need more teens to help with promoting, organizing, and volunteering at our health fairs. On social media, we post about volunteer opportunities, and pitch it as a way to get involved with our project and obtain volunteer hours. We also recruit our friends and family members to volunteer. In fact, a majority of our volunteers were our friends. They can make a real difference in healthcare access and help people learn about available services.
