SUPPORTING NEW AND ESTABLISHED COMMUNITY PRACTICES,
NETWORKS & STRUCTURES THAT FOSTER ECONOMIC MOBILITY

Achieving health equity requires more than improving individual health outcomes and expanding access to services. A vision for health equity demands that we directly engage the social and structural determinants of health—societal factors that have been shaped by centuries of laws, public policies, behaviors, and practices that have worked together to produce the disparate outcomes we see today

Based on the Health Equity Fund’s learnings over the previous two years, The Community Foundation will invest in community practices and infrastructures that improve the prospects for economic mobility for Black, Brown, Indigenous, people of color, and other marginalized populations and the communities where they live in the District of Columbia.  While the committee expects to field applications that align with traditional approaches for improving health outcomes and advancing economic mobility, we are especially interested in projects that break from the status quo and embody the spirit of innovation, disruption, and collective work that Black, Brown, Indigenous, people of color, and other marginalized populations continue to model in the context of their families and communities.  

While not mandated, we encourage collaborative community networks as part of these innovations. We seek to fund organizations that value community networks that strengthen community support services, provide health resources, and implement service models that increase income, economic mobility, and/or build wealth.

Grants will be awarded to select partner organizations that meet the following minimum eligibility criteria:

• The applicant (defined as the organization that will receive the grant agreement and funds, if awarded) must have current status as a 501(c)(3) public charity designation. Organizations that have not yet received a 501(c)(3) designation must have a fiscal sponsor that serves as the respondent (an entity will need to have an EIN or the EIN of their fiscal sponsor in order to access the application in the online portal). The fiscal sponsor must meet all eligibility requirements at the time of submission.

• For profit entities such as LLCs and sole proprietorships are not eligible to apply for funding.

• Hospitals, health systems, and their supporting organizations (e.g., fundraising entities, subsidiaries, or affiliated nonprofit corporations) ARE NOT eligible for this funding opportunity. 

• Although, only those with 501(c)(3) charity designation are eligible for the grant, for-profit partners can appear in the budget as contracted services.

• The organization must not be listed on the Office of Foreign Assets Control Specially Designated Nationals or the Southern Poverty Law Center Hate Group lists. 

• The organization must be both based in and primarily implementing in the District of Columbia.

• The organization should approach their work through a racial equity lens.

• The organization’s staff and board leadership should reflect the communities served by the organization and have a demonstrated track record of community engagement as demonstrated by the existence of community advisory boards, community listening sessions, community representation on the board of directors, or other measures defined by the organization.

• If previous funding has been received from The Community Foundation, the applicant must be current in meeting reporting or other requirements to The Community Foundation as specified in the grant agreement. 

• The organization must be willing to engage with the Health Equity Fund as key informants and partners for future strategy.  The grant agreement will ask recipients to agree to be responsive to requests for information, data, and engagement (e.g., surveys and interviews, etc.,) and to participate in evaluation related convenings over the course of the two-year grant. 

Questions?

For programmatic questions, please contact Isabel Spake at [email protected].
For technical questions about the application portal,
please contact Alex Cahill-Sanidas at
[email protected]

No phone calls, please.