Health Promotion Council of Southeastern Pennsylvania (HPC), a non-profit corporation, was founded in 1981 to implement community-based hypertension education and control programs. Known then as Southeastern Pennsylvania High Blood Pressure Control Program (SEPA) and funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Health, it was as part of a national hypertension control effort organized by the National Heart Blood and Lung Institute (NHLBI).

When NHLBI disease control efforts broadened to include cholesterol and tobacco control, HPC took on these additional disease prevention concerns and changed its name accordingly. Now HPC has programs in 6 major areas:

• Chronic Disease Management
• Health Communications; Language, Culture and Literacy
• Tobacco Control
• Nutrition Education
• Staying Healthy: Disease Prevention
• Pediatric Asthma

HPC is governed by a board of directors and has over 40 full and part-time staff. Vanessa Briggs, MBA, RD, LDN is the Executive Director. HPC works closely with a wide range of government agencies, foundations, private corporations and service providers. Funding is from multiple private and public sources as well as fee for service and individual donations. In 1999, HPC became an affiliate of the Philadelphia Health Management Corporation, a leading non-profit public health organization in Philadelphia.

HPC and its staff have been the recipients of numerous awards. Some of these are:

• Community Health Impact Award from GlaxoSmithKline, 1998
• Benjamin Rush Community Service Award, Phila. County Medical Society, 1997
• Robert Wood Johnson Community Health Leadership Award, 1997
• Outstanding Community Health Promotion Awards in 1990 and 1994 from the Department of Health and Human Services for Taking Control and the Health Literacy Project.

[ Board of Directors ]