Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The Reinvestment Fund: Invest Health Strategies for Healthier Cities

Invest Health is a new initiative that brings together diverse leaders from mid-sized U.S. cities across the nation to develop new strategies for increasing and leveraging private and public investments to accelerate improvements in neighborhoods facing the biggest barriers to better health. The initiative provides an opportunity for mid-sized cities to transform the way local leaders work together to create solution-driven and diverse partnerships. These partnerships will emphasize making changes in low-income neighborhoods to improve resident health and well-being. These changes can focus on increasing access to quality jobs, affordable housing, and nutritious food, and reducing crime rates and environmental hazards.

Project goals are to:

• Bring together disparate sectors in mid-sized cities to align around a vision for better health, create innovative ideas, and unlock new sources of investment
• Test potential solutions to inform the national conversation about how to best invest to achieve health equity in more communities throughout the U.S.
• Help mid-sized cities attract capital to improve health outcomes in low-income communities
• Advance systems-focused strategies that reach across sectors to support health improvement in low-income communities
• Build lasting relationships in these cities that extend beyond the length of the program and help inform work in other communities nationwide
• Help cities use data as a driver for change, beginning with an evidence-based understanding of the problem and continuing to a data framework for assessing impact.

Amount: Grants of up to $60,000 will be awarded to 50 cities.

Eligibility: Cities with populations between 50,000 and 400,000 across the U.S. and its territories may apply. Participant cities must have a team that includes five cross-sector leaders representing, at a minimum, the public sector, community development/finance, and an academic or health-related anchor institution. The remaining team members should be drawn from sectors appropriate to the challenge the team seeks to address. Eligible cities in New Mexico include Las Cruces, Rio Rancho, and Santa Fe.

Link: http://www.investhealth.org/

Note: Webinars about the initiative will be held on January 7 and 14, 2016.

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