A group of funders focused on developing better data to improve health outcomes in Greater Cincinnati has granted 10 organizations $250,000 in a year-long new program.
The Data for Equity Funding Collaborative, a partnership among bi3, HealthPath and Interact for Health, made the awards to 10 Greater Cincinnati nonprofits to develop their organizational capacity around data and evaluation.
bi3 is a philanthropic initiative created by Bethesda Inc., one of the largest health care providers in the region, to drive innovation in healthcare and improve community health outcomes. Interact for Health and HealthPath are private health-focused foundations created out of the mergers of insurance plans to for-profit health insurance providers.
“Interact for Health believes everyone should have a chance to live their healthiest life, regardless of
who they are or where they live,” said Kate Schroder, Interact for Health president and CEO. “We cannot fix problems that we do not fully understand. Better data that more accurately reflects the realities and inequities within our community helps us all to develop more effective solutions. We are excited to support our community nonprofits to help advance health equity through better access to and use of data.”
The 10 organizations, each receiving $25,000, are:
- 1N5;
- Beech Acres;
- Black Women Cultivating Change;
- Catholic Charities of Southwestern Ohio;
- Cradle Cincinnati;
- Green Umbrella;
- Learning Grove;
- Refugee Connect;
- Word Play;
- YMCA of Greater Cincinnati.
“bi3’s purpose is to lead the way to a day when every person has a fair and just opportunity to be as
healthy as possible,” said Jill Miller, bi3’s president & CEO. “Data and evaluation efforts are not inherently objective and unbiased. Our nonprofit community has shared their priority to standardize data collection to help them develop solutions to reduce health disparities and improve health equity.”
In addition to building equitable approaches to data and evaluation, the 10 organizations will receive ongoing technical assistance, training and shared learning opportunities.
The funding collaborative is seeking an evaluator to design and implement an evaluation that will document the process, impact and lessons learned by the grant initiative and learning cohort. The selected consultant will engage with grantees to establish what they’ve learned and identify key themes across the portfolio of grantees.