Health Program

Fostering healthy and safe communities for adults and children living in underserved urban and rural areas is a priority of The Kresge Foundation.

• Farmworkers at the Border
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We seek to promote the physical health and well-being of low-income and vulnerable populations by improving the environmental and social conditions affecting them and their communities. We also work to increase both access and quality of their health-care services, and advance the field through new knowledge and promising practices.

Our programmatic approach

The Health Team funds evidence-based work and innovation developed at the local, state, or national levels in the following three areas:

• Healthy Environments: Supporting efforts that create healthy and safe spaces for children and families
• Caring Communities: Strengthening partnerships and practices to achieve better health-care outcomes
• Emerging and Promising Practices in Health: Stimulating innovative connections across sectors to improve the well-being of vulnerable populations. (See Glossary of Terms, located in the Resources box in the upper-right-hand corner of the Emerging and Promising Practices page for Kresge’s definition of “vulnerable populations” and other relevant terms.)

Healthy Environments supports strategies that engage communities in the promotion of healthy surroundings for children and families. Support is directed to issues such as air quality, safety, and eliminating exposure to hazardous environmental conditions in homes, schools and neighborhoods. Work is concentrated in three areas:

• Protecting children from exposure to air pollution and other environmental hazards
• Promoting healthy homes, schools, and neighborhoods, including the Kresge Foundation’s Getting the Lead Out Initiative, a two-year, national effort to advance the elimination of lead poisoning among vulnerable children
• Making outdoor places safe for children through support of collaborative efforts to protect children from violence or fear of violence.

For more information and to apply online with a letter of inquiry, visit the Healthy Environments page.

Caring Communities supports safety-net institutions and those providing health services to underserved populations in high-need rural and urban settings. The three grant opportunities in this area are:

• Health Clinic Opportunity Fund – a national grant opportunity developed in response to the economic crisis to help charitably funded clinics, public health clinics, and those designated federally qualified health center look-alikes sustain or increase their capacity to meet growing demand for their services. This grant opportunity is closed. Read about the Health Clinic Opportunity Fund first-round grant recipients and second-round grant recipients.
• Safety-net Enhancement Initiative attempts to strengthen cross-sector collaboration among community-based health-care agencies that provide primary-care services to low-income and vulnerable individuals. This grant opportunity has two parts: (1) a program planning and design phase and (2) a demonstration phase. It is designed to foster new models and approaches for health-care delivery that reduce health disparities and improve the health outcomes of adults and children living in underserved communities. This grant opportunity is closed. Read about the Safety-net Enhancement Initiative part-one-planning and design award recipients. The part-two demonstration project award recipients will be announced in late December 2010.
• Safety-net Facility Improvement Fund supports new construction and renovation of clinics and other health care organizations so they may expand their facilities in order to increase access and enhance the quality of their services for underserved populations. Most grants are awarded in the form of a challenge grant during an organization’s capital campaign.

Emerging and Promising Practices is designed to explore, test and promote new knowledge, interdisciplinary and cross-sector approaches for improving the health of vulnerable populations and those living in low-income and underserved communities. This interest area responds to the growing awareness that health services alone do not address the root causes of health disparities. Focus will be given to projects that work at the intersection of multiple sectors, such as environmental sustainability and health care; medical-legal partnerships; food delivery systems and health; community design and development, including transportation and health; mental health and public health; and climate change and health.

For more information and to apply online with a letter of inquiry, visit the Emerging and Promising Practices page.

How we work

We believe that health – of individuals and whole communities – results from factors along a continuum, from prevention to policy, and that change originates through the relationships of individuals with their local communities. It is the level and quality of interactions within and across traditional and non-traditional health-related sectors that will improve health outcomes for vulnerable populations.

We support funding partnerships with community-based, state, and national organizations, academic institutions, and others – including groups involved in environmental justice, housing and land conservation – whose mission is to address community health problems.

To further our mission, we may develop and support strategic health networks, generate strategic communications, commission research, and fund policy-oriented and advocacy organizations, as well as invest directly in projects and partners using the full spectrum of our funding methods. These include both grants and below-market-rate loans as appropriate.

The funding process

The Health Team initiates projects with organizations already doing notable work to advance its strategic objectives, and also encourages letters of inquiry from potential partner organizations. Competitive proposals demonstrate the following:

• Advancement of our values criteria, particularly creating opportunity, working in underserved geography, promoting diversity and strengthening community impact
• Opportunities to align/inform health policy and future programming
• Responsiveness and capacity to address the social determinants of health
• Opportunities to strengthen the grantee’s level of capacity and sustainability
• Engaging and leveraging existing and new partners and resources
• Expanding the work of existing health collaborations or developing new ones
• Increasing or expanding the quality and quantity of, and access to, health benefits and resources within communities
• Exhibiting innovation and leadership in community health

Please visit the Healthy Environments, Caring Communities and Emerging and Promising Practices Web pages for letter of inquiry requirements, submission deadlines, if applicable, and to apply online. Letters of inquiry are accepted online only.

You will receive an e-mail confirmation of your submission. Your letter of inquiry will be reviewed by the Health Team and a program officer may request a follow-up phone conversation. If your project has potential for grant funding, we will notify you and provide necessary application information.

Eligibility

Who may apply?

• 501(c)(3) organizations based in the United States that are not classified as private foundations and have financial statements prepared and certified by a certified public accountant in accordance with U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles or Government Accounting Standards.
• Government entities that have financial statements prepared and certified by a certified public accountant in accordance with U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles or Government Accounting Standards.

Who may not apply?

• Individuals
• Individual elementary and secondary schools (Note: School districts may apply.)

If you have questions, e-mail our Grants Inquiry Coordinator or call 248-643-9630.

Image credit: AVANCE, San Antonio, Texas