Human Services

The Human Services Program is laser focused on achieving person-centered systems change that accelerates social and economic mobility for children and families using a racial equity lens. To accomplish this primary goal, we work with local, state and national partners who are reimagining support systems and co-creating solutions with children, families and community partners to meet them where they are and provide the support they need to build well-being and reach their full potential.

Though human services organizations are facing significant challenges in our current social and political environment, the sector is maintaining its momentum and realizing outcomes that help children, families and communities in cities around the nation achieve their dreams.  

To learn more about our strategy to advance social and economic mobility and how we think about person-centered care, please watch our video above.

FOSTERING THE NEXT GENERATION OF HUMAN SERVICES ORGANIZATIONS

Through our Next Generation Initiative, we support a cohort of high-performing nonprofit and public sector human services organizations by providing the technical assistance and tools to improve their leadership development, develop a community of practice and create organization and cohort-wide action plans that accelerate social and economic mobility for children and families and revolutionize the human services sector. By participating in this learning journey, organizations discover how they can more effectively employ a brain-science informed two generation, whole family approach that addresses the needs of both children and the adults in their lives together and includes the important role of fathers.

The next learning cohort begins in fall 2019. To find out about new funding opportunities, subscribe to our weekly newsletter or follow @kresgefdn and @kresgehumansvcs on Twitter.

BUILDING PLACE-BASED OPPORTUNITY ECOSYSTEMS

We focus our efforts in select cities to create sustainable, integrated and person-centered systems of supports and services anchored by nonprofit and public sector human services organizations.

One sector alone can’t solve all social problems. To build on what we’ve learned about the needs of people and communities from providers and our place-based work, we make investments, support learning networks and hold convenings with public, private and philanthropic partners to push for creative ideas and innovative solutions to complex issues.

DEVELOPING SUPPORTIVE, ALIGNED PUBLIC POLICY 

We support efforts that advance public policies at multiple levels that help people build well-being and achieve social and economic mobility.

BUILDING A MORE ROBUST HUMAN SERVICES FIELD

We support a range of activities that advance the field toward using evidence-based best practices and policy work that help children and families achieve social and economic mobility.

As a funder, we serve as a strategic thought partner that is on a mutual learning journey with our grantees. Viewing ourselves as equal partners in this journey, we host convenings and roundtables; join grantee partners at national meetings; participate in work sessions with partners across the public and private sector; and broker relationships to build community well-being and a more robust field.

Grant opportunities are listed on the Human Services Program focus area pages, and on the foundation’s Current Funding Opportunities page.

We also announce Kresge’s grant opportunities on our website and through our weekly newsletter. To be notified about these opportunities, subscribe to our our weekly newsletter or follow@kresgefdn and @kresgehumansvcs on Twitter.

As we evaluate proposals, we look for efforts that:

• Focus on advancing and accelerating social and economic mobility.
• Offer innovative and effective approaches that can provide lessons for the field.
• Have a clear strategic vision and are able to articulate what works and why.
• Have shared and adaptive leadership.
• Recognize racial equity as a significant barrier to social and economic mobility and have an explicit focus to address this reality.
• Are intensely person-centered in their approach and utilize best practices (brain science informed, two-generation, whole-family, trauma-informed approaches, etc.)
• Are outcomes focused and data driven.
• Measure organizational and programmatic efforts against the Human Service Value Curve.
• Are committed to person-centered, co-created and power sharing systems change that addresses structural barriers through policy solutions; are  positioned to inform and influence communities of practice; and build the public will for supportive public policies.

We do not fund:

• Capital requests.
• Individuals.
• Organizations that discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, national origin, citizenship status, age, disability, sexual orientation or veteran status.
• Organizations that require membership in certain religions or advance a particular religious faith. (Faith-based organizations may be eligible if they welcome and serve all members of the community regardless of religious belief.)
• Programs operated to benefit for-profit organizations.

We use a full array of funding and investment tools to foster change, including project grants, operating support, planning grants and program-related investments. Program-related investments may take the form of direct loans, guarantees that provide credit support to borrowers, or linked deposits. To learn more about our social investments, click here.

In certain situations, when project proposals offer opportunities to advance the goals of multiple teams at the foundation, those teams may jointly fund the proposal. Most of our grants span one to three years.