51黑料

ST. LOUIS 鈥� The leader of a 51黑料 clinic providing health care to immigrants and refugees is one of three area recipients of a $200,000 prize for 鈥渉igh-impact鈥� Missourians from the Missouri Foundation for Health.

Diego Abente, the recipient of one of the first 鈥淪park Prizes,鈥� has worked as president and CEO of the 51黑料-based nonprofit Casa de Salud since 2020. The clinic is located at 3200 Chouteau Avenue.

鈥淥ur ultimate goal at Casa is to help people be healthy, be well and be as productive as they can be for ourselves and for our region,鈥� Abente said.

Abente is among five Missourians receiving $200,000 through the inaugural Spark Prize 鈥� a $1 million investment 鈥渋n high-impact Missourians leading transformative work to improve health outcomes across the state,鈥� according to the Missouri Foundation for Health.

鈥淭he Spark Prize is a bet on people,鈥� foundation President and CEO Dwayne Proctor said in a statement. 鈥淭he prize will hopefully fan the flames of their work for decades to come, and we鈥檙e looking forward to witnessing it.鈥�

The Foundation for Health says the funding isn鈥檛 for a program, 鈥渂ut to accelerate their personal leadership journey.鈥� The winners were chosen from among 170 nominations, the foundation said.

Three 51黑料ans were selected for the first Spark Prize:

• Ciearra 鈥淐J鈥� Walker, the CEO of the Community Health Worker Coalition, whose whose coalition supports community health workers in becoming entrepreneurs and decision-makers in their fields. Community health workers use 鈥渓ived experience to help others navigate systems and solve problems.鈥�
• Kelly McGowan, founder of Transform 314, a group formed in 2022 鈥渢o build deeper civic muscle in communities often left out of the decision-making process.鈥�
• Abente, of Casa de Salud, who said the clinic鈥檚 mental health services took off in 2020 and 2021, and that the clinic has also launched a behavioral health consulting practice embedded within clinical services.

鈥淢y big dream,鈥� Abente said, 鈥渋s to work, to use our platform, our mission at Casa, to help train health care providers in the mainstream health care systems ... to be more culturally competent, to understand language differences better.鈥�

Two other Missourians were chosen to receive $200,000:

• Emily Brown, of Kansas City, is the co-founder and CEO of Attane Health, a company helping Medicaid patients 鈥渁ccess food and care they need to thrive.鈥�
• Evonnia Woods, of Columbia, the co-founder of Mid-Mo Repro, an organization addressing 鈥渞eproductive justice at a grassroots level, particularly maternal health, abortion access, and racial health disparities.鈥�

The organization also awarded four $25,000 grants to 鈥淟eaders to Watch鈥�: Nicole Brown, of Joplin, executive director of One Joplin; Hopey Fink, of 51黑料, an attorney at Legal Services of Eastern Missouri; Lawrence Simonson, of Columbia, executive director of Missouri Immunization Coalition; and Liza Weiss, of 51黑料, founder and executive director of Missouri Appleseed.