PORTLAND, Ore.— Northwest Health Foundation (NWHF) has awarded $750 thousand ($750,000) in grant funds to 25 communities in Oregon and Southwest Washington as part of its Healthy Beginnings+Healthy Communities Initiative (HB+HC). HB+HC, launched in 2014, will help communities improve health, from birth to high school, by 2020. “Birth, kindergarten readiness and high school readiness are critical stages in building lifelong health and family prosperity,” said NWHF President and CEO Nichole June Maher. “Through the Healthy Beginnings+Healthy Communities Initiative, NWHF will help communities improve health during these crucial years.”
Over the next year, communities will use these grant funds to organize themselves for five-year Community-Based Partnerships. Of the 25 Organizing Grant Communities, up to 10 will be selected for Community-Based Partnerships beginning in 2016. These partners will join NWHF in transforming institutions, programs and policies to deliver better outcomes in early life, equity and community health. The Organizing Grant Communities plan to impact everything from African maternal and child health, to families at risk for and impacted by family violence and sexual assault, to rural Latino communities, and much more.
ABOUT HB+HC
A safe, healthy childhood can set the stage for lifelong health. But no child raises herself. Family, friends and the community at large play a critical role in setting a child up for success. It’s all hands on deck. That’s why the best strategies for improving health involve and are led by parents and their community. Working together, communities can forge connections, build leaders and collaborate to improve health for all children. In turn, those healthy children grow to contribute to our community’s overall health.
Healthy Beginnings+Healthy Communities supports community-led efforts that impact health in the early years of life and aligns with Northwest Health Foundation’s belief that we are most effective as a foundation when supporting the conditions for community organizations and members to develop common goals, and produce strategies and results that improve the lives of everyone.
Each Organizing Grant Community is self-identified by geography, shared experience/identity or both and made up of a lead organization, strategic partners and key community members. For profiles of the communities, please visit the following url:
https://static.squarespace.com/static/52b20be1e4b09f7904dfa46f/t/54b03346e4b068cf47e98050/1420833606106/HB%2BHC_Community_Profiles_Edited_01_09_15_no+contacts.pdf
