The Blue Shield of California Foundation has announced second-quarter grants totaling more than $9.1 million to improve the healthcare safety net in the state and provide domestic violence services to the most vulnerable.

Grants totaling more than $5.3 million were awarded by the foundation in support of efforts to help low-income Californians transition into coverage under the Affordable Care Act, strengthen community clinics, and inform policy makers about issues related to the residually uninsured. Grant recipients include the University of California, San Francisco, which was awarded more than $2.1 million for its Clinic Leadership Institute; the Integrated Healthcare Association, which will receive $150,000 to develop performance metrics for Medi-Cal-contracted physician groups and pilot the reporting of such metrics; and the National Immigration Law Center, which was awarded $100,000 to conduct policy analysis on the gaps in and barriers to affordable coverage and services faced by low-income immigrant Californians. The foundation also awarded more than $925,000 to help eight counties maximize enrollment in the state's Low Income Health Program and transition LIHP enrollees and uninsured residents into coverage through Medi-Cal or Covered California.

In addition, grants totaling more than $915,000 were awarded in support of innovative approaches to and new partnerships that address domestic violence. Grant recipients include the Center for Domestic Peace (formerly known as Marin Abused Women's Services), which was awarded $185,000 to develop a joint business model that consolidates the key financial functions of six member agencies of the San Francisco Bay Area Domestic Violence Shelter Collaboration, and the Family Violence Appellate Project, which will receive $100,000 to provide appellate representation to domestic violence survivors as well as training for legal professionals interested in creating case law related to state protective statutes that benefit domestic abuse survivors and their children. The foundation also awarded two special project grants totaling $2.9 million.

"We continue to focus on the core issues that we believe will transform systems and improve access to California's healthcare safety net and domestic violence services," said BSCF president and CEO Peter Long. "These grants will support promising practices and projects designed to have immediate impacts as we approach January 1, 2014, and lay the groundwork for long-term changes."