The Save A Heart Partnership seeks not only to continue the lifesaving work of the Darius Jones Foundation, but to enhance its work while at the same time providing a healthcare career pipeline to community members intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (I/DD) living in Contra Costa County.

Through the combination of the Darius Jones Foundation’s well established model of community training, partnership, AED deployment and support, with Full Circle of Choices’s expertise in supporting individuals with IDDs in pre-vocational and vocational support, the Save A Heart Partnership will provide AED devices and layperson training to underserved communities in the Los Medanos Health Area. Additionally, by training and empowering Save a Heart Staff (Vocational Trainees) to be the deliverer of services, we will be challenging community perceptions and assisting in the general wellness and agency of an equity seeking group.

The Save A Heart Partnership will:

• Provide training by certified trainers with developmental disabilities in CPR and First Aid to at least 150 individuals.

• Fully Service at least 40 existing AED’s previously deployed in the community by the Darius Jones Foundation (e.g., battery test and pad replacement).

• Install at least five new AED devices in underserved communities in the Los Medanos Health Area.

• Provide at least three vocational trainees with part time employment throughout the grant cycle.

• Certify at least three vocational trainees with developmental disabilities to deploy and service community facing AEDs.

• Certify at least three vocational trainees with developmental disabilities to act in a training capacity to teach layperson CPR and First Aid in the community.

Finally, while striving to achieve the above outcomes, the Save A Heart Partnership will be working diligently to establish new partnerships within CCHS and the greater community as well as leverage existing partnerships and systems of support (LMHA, Department of Rehabilitation, CCC EHSD, Regional Center of the East Bay, etc.) to explore braided funding mechanisms and business partnerships to shift the partnership from a pilot/proof-of-concept into an ongoing and sustainable program.