The funding includes $5.3 million in grants to four organizations creating “third spaces” for young people, along with a $1.5 million investment in Hopeful Empowered Youth (HEY!), a regional effort focused on long-term youth mental health strategies.
The funding will help a pair of local nonprofits – Best Point Education & Behavioral Health and The Transformational Healing Place – expand services for mothers.
The annual Better Together Fund program aims to provide regional organizations with flexibility to navigate a shifting funding landscape, whether by strengthening leadership, improving internal systems or investing in regional partnerships.
The effort stems from research showing that many young people lack places where they feel they truly belong. Nationally, one in four youth report feeling disconnected.
The Data for Equity Funding Collaborative – a joint initiative of the bi3 Fund, HealthPath Foundation of Ohio and Interact for Health – awarded the grants as part of its ongoing effort to promote inclusive data practices.
The grantmaking initiative will award grants ranging from $150,000 to $500,000, totaling up to $2 million.
Co-authored by bi3 Fund CEO Jill Miller and Dr. Meredith Smith, executive director of Cradle Cincinnati, “Infant Mortality and Other Wicked Problems” details actions partners have taken to improve local infant mortality outcomes.
The Data for Equity Funding Collaborative will award 18-month grants to as many as 10 nonprofit and governmental organizations to help ensure all Greater Cincinnatians have a full, fair and “just opportunity” for good health.
