About the Health Program

Health is about so much more than health care.

Our health depends on where we live, our education, having enough money, being able to around town and the other services we all need. It also includes how much we can participate in our community and how we interact with police and the court system.

Our access to these social determinants of health is governed by unfair systems and structures that perpetuate racism, sexism, discrimination against immigrants, discrimination against people with disabilities and poverty.

As the Health team at the Kresge Foundation, we are focused on building equity-focused systems of health that create opportunities for everyone to be as healthy as they can be.

In our ideal future, people and communities are thriving and have the power to make their vision of health and well-being come true. All sectors work together for the benefit of everyone, especially low-wealth communities of color. And we benefit from a fully functioning democracy that includes and represents everybody.

To help make that future happen, we champion community-led solutions, working closely with our partners to make sure that people with low incomes in America’s cities have access to high quality affordable housing, fresh food, clean air, safe neighborhoods and jobs.

We aim to reduce the gap between how much money white families have compared to families of color. We seek to reimagine care systems so that communities are safe, engaged, served and healthy.

We’re committed to addressing racial equity in our work and recognize the challenges communities face in addressing structural racism.

Communities across the U.S. have the expertise and experience to design solutions that can change systems, services and practices to achieve better health outcomes for everyone. By changing how we invest in communities and trusting in their power and ability, together we can build new systems of health for all of us.