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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 5, 2024 – Build Healthy Places Network (BHPN), a national organization dedicated to fostering collaboration between healthcare, public health, and community development, announced today that it has received a $1.1 million grant from The Kresge Foundation. This funding will expand BHPN’s Community Innovations for Racial Equity (CIRE) initiative to tackle structural racism and health inequities in disinvested communities across the country.
The grant will enable BHPN to launch a peer-learning cohort of BIPOC-led and allied Community Development Corporations (CDCs) in small and mid-sized cities. This Learning Action Lab will co-develop tools and resources to support community power and racial healing, foster partnerships with mission-driven investors to channel capital towards community-led projects that promote health, economic opportunity, and racial justice.
“We are thrilled to receive this generous grant from The Kresge Foundation, which will allow us to scale the impact of our CIRE initiative,” said Colleen Flynn, Co-Executive Director at BHPN. “With this funding, we will be able to support more BIPOC-led and allied CDCs in building community power, advocating for community-centered investments, and improving health outcomes in the communities they serve.”
The Learning Action Labs will provide participants with training, technical assistance, and networking opportunities to strengthen their capacity to engage with mission-driven investors and advocate for equitable community investment. BHPN will also work to influence mission-driven investors to direct capital and utilize their resources to BIPOC communities and support community-ownership models that help close the racial wealth gap. Through its national communications platform, BHPN will share lessons learned and best practices with the broader field of community investment.
As part of the CIRE launch, BHPN will form a 12-member Advisory Council of seasoned multisector leaders working to support health and racial equity. The Advisory Council will provide insights on potential CIRE partners and locations that would benefit from engagement with the CIRE initiative. With the Advisor Council’s input, BHPN will award five BIPOC-led and/or allied CDCs with grant funding when CIRE launches later this fall.
“We believe that the Community Innovations for Racial Equity initiative has the potential to transform how and where community investments are made, ensuring that they are directed towards the communities that are most impacted by structural racism and disinvestment,” Said Jacquelynn Y. Orr, DrPH, FACHE, Senior Program Officer, Health at The Kresge Foundation.
With Kresge, CIRE is poised to make significant strides in advancing racial equity in community investments and creating healthier, more just communities for all.
About Build Healthy Places Network
Build Healthy Places Network is a national organization that fosters multi-sector partnerships to advance equitable community investment and improve health outcomes. BHPN supports collaborations that prioritize community-owned solutions and approaches for trust building, such that community investments align with residents’ values and create prosperous and healthy neighborhoods for all. For more information visit buildhealthyplaces.org.
About The Kresge Foundation
The Kresge Foundation was founded in 1924 to promote human progress. Today, Kresge fulfills that mission by building and strengthening pathways to opportunity for low-income people in America’s cities, seeking to dismantle structural and systemic barriers to equality and justice. Using a full array of grant, loan, and other investment tools, Kresge invests more than $160 million annually to foster economic and social change. For more information visit kresge.org.
Contact: Colleen Flynn, Co-Executive Director, cflynn@buildhealthplaces.org