HAN member Providence St. Joseph Health announced a new commitment of $50 million over the next five years to reduce health disparities and achieve health equity, beginning with an immediate response to the impact of COVID-19, particularly for communities of color and those disproportionately affected by the pandemic. The health system published a recent study, which found that African Americans, Asians, and Latinos had a higher risk of COVID-19 infection, as well as people with housing issues living in low-income neighborhoods.
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It is undeniable: Racism is a public health crisis
39 health systems in 45 states and Washington, DC have committed to addressing racism and the public health disparities caused by racism. “As members and leaders of many healthcare organizations across the nation addressing the disproportionate Black and Brown mortality of the COVID-19 pandemic, we say without hesitation that Black Lives Matter.”
Continue ReadingImpact investing for community centers and art spaces
Healthcare Anchor Network member UMass Memorial Health Care has announced a seven-year, $500,000 impact investment to Creative Hub Worcester, a proposed arts and events community center. The 40,000-square-foot facility can hold up to 300 people and will include two dance studios and performance space, more than a dozen small studios for artists, three classrooms, a child care center, and a rooftop event space. “Through our work with them, we learned a lot about how art really does help people from a mental health perspective,” [Creative Hub Co-founder] Marotta said of UMass Memorial Health Care.
Continue ReadingSupporting minority-owned businesses in disinvested communities
In an article in Forbes, Healthcare Anchor Network member RWJBarnabas Health’s President and CEO Barry H. Ostrowsky and Michellene Davis, Executive Vice President and Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, write about four ways that large scale corporations can begin to promote an anchor institution approach. They point out that “COVID-19 has underscored the fact that band-aid solutions cannot undo systemic barriers. The economic crisis has disproportionately impacted minority-owned businesses in already disinvested communities.”
Continue ReadingImplementing anchor mission goals while battling the pandemic
Healthcare Anchor Network member Kaiser Permanente has committed $63 million to support contact tracing in California that will involve partnering with the Public Health Institute to hire and train 500 full-time residents from the hardest hit communities to be contract tracers. In addition to a quality job, the program will be positioning these individuals for ongoing employment with training and long-term career support. The funding will also connect Californians in self-imposed isolation and quarantine with supportive services to help with essentials needs such as food, housing, and medicine.
Continue ReadingHealthcare anchors investing in affordable housing to improve health and well-being
Healthcare Anchor Network member CommonSpirit Health, along with UnitedHealthcare and Aetna, has committed $35 million in financing to launch the Home Matters Arizona Fund for affordable housing projects. The project will invest $100 million in phase one to finance community development and affordable housing projects that proactively foster connected and healthier lives. From the Home […]
Continue ReadingPreserving affordable housing through anchor impact investing
Healthcare Anchor Network (HAN) member Intermountain Healthcare, along with a group of private institutions including the Clark and Christine Ivory Foundation and Zions Bank, created the Utah Housing Preservation Fund with the goal of raising $100 million to preserve subsidized and “naturally occurring” affordable housing. This year, the Preservation Fund helped secure 24 duplexes that will be rehabbed and targeted for rental to Housing Choice Voucher holders who earn less than 30 percent of Area Median Income.
Continue ReadingHow Chicago hospitals are engaging in anti-violence work
HAN member Rush University Medical Center’s David Ansell, senior vice president for community health equity, spoke about the Chicago Hospital Engagement, Action and Leadership Initiative, or HEAL, that HAN members Advocate Christ Medical Center, AMITA Health’s Saints Mary and Elizabeth Medical Center, and Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago are also members of. The HEAL action plan utilizes three pillars to address violence in 18 neighborhoods in Chicago. One of the key pillars is the anchor mission strategy of increasing local training and hiring commitments to reduce economic hardship.
Continue ReadingCommunity members supporting hospitals and each other
Across the country we have seen community members mobilize to volunteer, donate, and produce needed medical supplies and equipment for our hospitals throughout the pandemic. Healthcare Anchor Network members’ anchor mission strategies of community engagement, volunteerism, and local inclusive procurement positioned them to move swiftly. Some examples include HAN members Intermountain Healthcare and University of Utah Health, along with several faith and nonprofit groups, creating ProjectProtect which is a grassroots initiative that enlisted more than 50,000 Utahns to produce half a million medical-grade masks for frontline caregivers treating COVID-19 patients and for vulnerable community members.
Continue ReadingAnchor institution works with communities to strengthen community health and wealth
Healthcare Anchor Network member Maimonides Medical Center’s anchor mission approach is spotlighted in Building a Culture of Health in Central Brooklyn: From Protest to Health Systems Transformation, published by MIT CoLab. The case study tells the story of the partnership between the Coalition to Save and Transform Interfaith, Maimonides Hospital’s Community Care of Brooklyn, and Central Brooklyn residents and community leaders, that activated major cross-sector institutional commitments and investments in health equity.
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