Second Round of BUILD Health Challenge Funds 19 Community Projects
Nineteen community collaborations focused on the root causes of serious health challenges will receive funding support over the next two years in the second round of the BUILD Health Challenge.
Multi-sector local partnerships seek to address a variety of upstream factors such as transportation planning, quality of housing, and workplace tobacco policies to improve community health.
Funders announced $8 million in support, and each community selected has identified local hospital partners that will collectively add more than $5 million in monetary and in-kind support.
The 19 community projects located in 12 states have identified a variety of projects that have the potential to dramatically affect the health and wellness of their communities. The communities selected are:
• Avondale Children Thrive (Cincinnati, OH) – Children’s health
• Bridging Health and Safety in Near Northside (Houston, TX) – Safe communities
• BUILD Health Aurora (Aurora, CO) – Children’s health
• Building Uplifted Families (Charlotte, NC) – Safe communities
• Cleveland Healthy Home Data Collaborative (Cleveland, OH) – Healthy housing
• Collaborative Cottage Grove (Greensboro, NC) – Community revitalization
• Developing a Community-Driven Health Equity Data System to Enhance Resident Mobility (New Orleans, LA) – Transportation
• FLOURISH St. Louis: Improving Transportation Access to Help Mothers and Babies Thrive (St. Louis, MO) – Maternal and child health
• Forward, Franklin (Franklin Borough, NJ) – Safe communities
• Healthy Homes Des Moines (Des Moines, IA) – Healthy housing
• Healthy Together Medical-Legal Partnership for Improving Asthma in Southeast DC (Washington, DC) – Medical-legal
• Home Preservation Initiative for Healthy Living (Philadelphia, PA) – Healthy housing
• New Brunswick Healthy Housing Collaborative (New Brunswick, NJ) – Healthy housing
• One Northside Center for Lifting Up everyBody (Pittsburgh, PA) – Safe communities
• Project Detour (Colorado Springs, CO) – Addiction
• Raising of America Partnership Boulder County (Lafayette, CO) – Children’s health
• Reducing Tobacco Use Through Innovative Data Sharing and Creative Engagement Strategies (Covington and Gallatin Counties, KY) – Tobacco control
• Transforming Breastfeeding Culture in Mississippi (Jackson, MS) – Maternal and child health
• Trenton Transformation: A Safe & Healthy Corridor (Trenton, NJ) – Community revitalization
“It’s exciting to see how organizations, residents, and those outside of traditional health spaces, are embracing a shared sense of responsibility for community health,” said Emily Yu, executive director of the BUILD Health Challenge, in a prepared statement. “This shift in thinking and application of bold, localized, and data-driven approaches is transforming the future of health.”
The initial cohort of BUILD Health Challenge projects, launched in 2015, included 18 community partnerships working on projects such as home remodeling to improve indoor air quality and control childhood asthma; leveraging data to better understand patient needs and behaviors beyond the clinical setting to promote healthy lifestyles; and reimagining food supply and distribution channels in communities to address food insecurity, and more.
The BUILD Health Challenge is supported by the Advisory Board Company, the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation, the Colorado Health Foundation, the de Beaumont Foundation, the Episcopal Health Foundation, Interact for Health, The Kresge Foundation, Mid-Iowa Health Foundation, New Jersey Health Initiatives, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Telligen Community Initiative, and W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
