The BUILD Health Challenge

The BUILD Health Challenge partners believe that local nonprofits, health departments, and hospital systems are uniquely positioned to create opportunities for better health in their communities.  Especially concerning are people whose circumstances have made them vulnerable to poor health, whether that’s because of poor access to healthy, affordable food, safe places to walk and play, job prospects, or safe, affordable housing. Recognizing that health starts long before illness, in our neighborhoods, homes, schools, and jobs, the BUILD Health Challenge will award grants to collaborative partnerships that are making community conditions more conducive to health for everyone within a particular neighborhood, not just certain individuals.

Planning grants will enable community-based partnerships to connect the dots between downstream health problems and potential upstream solutions, and to develop a comprehensive plan to implement those solutions. Planning awards are more appropriate for collaborations that need support to develop a well-defined community health improvement action plan with clear roles and responsibilities for each partner, and shared goals and objectives. Planning awards could support a number of activities, including examining community health needs assessments and other data sources, developing strategic plans, broadening community engagement, convening partners from multiple sectors to define roles and responsibilities, and/or embarking on an asset mapping process.

Implementation grants will support collaborations that have already developed a well-defined action plan with clear roles, strategies and goals, and where an infusion of philanthropic support could accelerate their work. Sample activities covered by Implementation Awards could include, but are not limited to: Advancing local policy solutions that will create better opportunities for health; expanding the range of committed partners to bring complementary sets of expertise, resources, and capacities to the table; supporting staff to manage the initiative, organize the community, and keep all partners on track; developing robust data-sharing agreements to inform intervention strategies and track results for continuous improvement; strategic communications; and program evaluation.

In both tracks, the BUILD Health Challenge will expect to see demonstrated involvement of (at a minimum) one local hospital or health system; the local health department; and a non-profit community-based organization with the capacity and local credibility to lead the effort within a low-income urban neighborhood experiencing significant health disparities.

Funding partners include The Advisory Board Company, deBeaumont Foundation, Kresge Foundation, and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Amount: BUILD Health will award up to $7.5 million in grants, low-interest loans, and program-related investments over two years. Five Planning awards will be made for $75,000 over a one-year period. All Planning awardees are eligible for up to $100,000 in Year 2 Implementation Funding. Nine Implementation awards will be made for $250,000 over a two-year period. All Implementation awardees are asked to demonstrate a 1:1 match.

Eligibility: The BUILD Health Challenge seeks to support multi-sector partnerships between health care, public health, and community leaders and residents. The nonprofit community organization will be the recipient of the monetary award and will therefore likely serve as the lead applicant. To be eligible to apply, applicants must:

• Include (at minimum) the partnership of a hospital or health system, local health department, and nonprofit community organization or coalition of organizations.
• Focus activity within a delineated zip code(s), census tract(s), or neighborhood(s) experiencing significant health disparities within a city of 150,000 residents or more.
• Be willing to participate in a learning collaborative and openly share challenges, results, and outcomes

Link: http://www.buildhealthchallenge.org/

Note: Q&A Web conferences for potential participants on December 2, 4, and 9, 2014.

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