Health

Pursuing an education, achieving economic security and participating as a productive member of society all depend on sound health. Health, in turn, is strongly influenced by the places people live. Too often, the deck is stacked against people in low-income neighborhoods. They are disproportionately affected by polluting industries, violence, inadequate housing and economic underinvestment.

We believe the United States should shift more resources from addressing disease to promoting good health and by focusing on conditions that affect not just individuals, but whole communities. The U.S. spends nearly $3 trillion a year on health care, devoting an unsustainable level of resources to medical care and only the most limited funding to improving health at the community level.

Everyone should have access to resources that support health: things like safe, affordable housing and neighborhoods, fresh food and economic opportunities. We seek to help communities overcome the environmental and social disadvantages that contribute to poor health so that everyone has the chance to enjoy productive, self-determined lives.

We invest through these focus areas:

ACCELERATING COMMUNITY-CENTERED APPROACHES TO HEALTH

Achieving a healthier population requires allocating resources in ways that will improve the community conditions that shape health – the upstream contributors to health. Locally based, multisector collaborations play a key role in redirecting and expanding effective upstream interventions.

We encourage health systems – hospitals and other organizations long focused on illness – to share resources and responsibilities with a broad range of community partners, particularly those representing communities that are facing significant barriers to health. We support strong leadership in public health and look for opportunities to promote wider adoption of programs, practices and policies that advance community health.

DEVELOPING HEALTHY PLACES

Improving community health requires programs and policies that ensure the places where people live, work, learn and recreate support good health. To advance this objective, we focus on three key environmental factors of health – housing, food systems and land use.

Grant opportunities are listed on the Health Program focus area pages, linked above, and on the Current Funding Opportunities page.

As we evaluate proposals, we look for efforts that:

• Include genuine community engagement and leadership.
• Facilitate cross-sector partnerships and connections.
• Link practitioners to objective evidence and science.
• Promote community or population health.
• Direct resources to upstream solutions.
• Promote access to opportunities that can improve health.
• Employ effective communication strategies.
• Evaluate and disseminate the impact of health initiatives, programs and investments.

We rarely fund:

• Projects that are primarily focused on direct health or social services.
• Health education, promotion or counseling programs.
• Research projects.
• Organizations with annual budgets of less than $250,000, except when invited or when specified during a formal request-for-proposal process.
• Construction or renovation of facilities, including the acquisition of medical equipment.
• Projects whose total cost is less than $100,000, except when invited or when specified during a formal request-for-proposal process.

We use a full array of funding and investment tools to foster change, including project grants, operating support, planning grants and program-related investments. Program-related investments may take the form of direct loans, guarantees that provide credit support to borrowers or linked deposits. (Learn more about our social investing.)

Most of our grants span 1-3 years. We also use resources to convene partners to learn and lead. And, in certain situations, when project proposals offer opportunities to advance the goals of multiple teams, those teams will jointly fund the proposal.

We accept and review inquiries for some grants on an ongoing basis. There is no deadline. Other portions of our portfolio are developed through a time-limited, request for proposal process.

We announce Kresge’s grant opportunities on our website and through our weekly newsletter. You may be notified of these opportunities by subscribing to our newsletter, or by following @kresgefdn and/or @kresgehealth on Twitter.