Eddie Sanders

Eddie Sanders has over 20 years of experience in addressing the health care, housing and psychosocial service needs of Los Angeles County’s most vulnerable residents, particularly those impacted by HIV/AIDS, substance abuse and/or homelessness. Eddie is the Associate Director of Grants for Northeast Valley Health Corporation (NEVHC), a Federally Qualified Health Center that serves over 72,000 low-income patients across 14 licensed Health Centers throughout the San Fernando and Santa Clarita Valleys, including their Van Nuys Adult Health Center, which specializes in the treatment of HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis-C Virus, as well as two Health Care for the Homeless sites.  Since 2006, Eddie has strategically raised millions of dollars in public and private grants, expanding NEVHC’s physical and programmatic capacity to respond to the growing demand for low-cost, comprehensive medical, dental and behavioral health services. Additionally, since 2008, Eddie has served as Co-Chair for the San Fernando and Santa Clarita Valley Homeless Coalition.  This cross sector coalition has over 35 active member agencies that work year-round on collaborative projects to help end homelessness in “The Valleys.”  For the past 3 years, the Coalition has been scaling up the region’s Coordinated Entry System model, which streamlines individuals and families into permanent housing and connects them to needed services.

Prior to NEVHC, from 2001- 2006, Eddie was the Housing & Development Assistant for Safe House (a subsidiary of Friends Research Institute, Inc. [FRI]).  Located in North Hollywood, Safe House provided emergency, transitional and permanent housing to homeless individuals living with HIV/AIDS who also had histories, or active conditions, of mental illness and/or chemical dependency.  Abiding by Safe House’s high tolerance/harm reduction model, Eddie facilitated intake assessments, navigated clients to and from off-site appointments, provided housing location support and wrote grant proposals to help sustain and expand the project.  During 2003-2006, he was also the Secretary for the SPA 2 HIV Consortium.

From 1998-2001, Eddie worked at FRI’s Friends Health Center in Hollywood, where he was a 1) Research and Lab Assistant on a NIDA-Funded study that provided cognitive behavioral therapy, HIV risk reduction and contingency management services for MSM/MSMW struggling with methamphetamine abuse, and 2) HIV Risk Reduction Counselor for a Post-Exposure Prophylaxis Project.

Contact: esanders@nevhc.org