Capacity Building
Invest Health
Invest Health is a new initiative that brings together diverse leaders from mid-sized U.S. cities to develop new strategies to increase and leverage private and public investment and accelerate improvements in neighborhoods facing the biggest barriers to better health. The program is a collaboration between the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Reinvestment Fund.
Why Invest Health
The initiative aims to transform the way city leaders work together to help all communities thrive, with specific attention to factors that drive health in low-income neighborhoods, including a scarcity of quality jobs, affordable housing and nutritious food, high crime rates and unhealthy environmental conditions.
The program was developed to:
- Bring together disparate sectors in mid-sized cities to align around a vision for better health, create innovative ideas, and unlock new sources of investment.
- Help mid-sized cities attract capital to improve health outcomes in low-income communities.
- Build lasting relationships in these cities that extend beyond the length of the program and help inform work in other communities nationwide.
- Test potential solutions to inform the national conversation about how to best invest to achieve health equity in more communities throughout the U.S.
- Advance systems-focused strategies that reach across sectors to support health improvement in low-income communities.
- Help cities use data as a driver for change, beginning with an evidence-based understanding of the problem and continuing to a data framework for assessing impact.
How it Works
Invest Health is supporting new partnerships in 50 mid-sized cities across the nation. Mid-size American cities face some of the nation’s deepest challenges with entrenched poverty, poor health, and a lack of investment. But they also offer fertile ground for strategies that improve health and have the potential to boost local economies.
Invest Health cities will fundamentally change the way communities improve opportunities to live healthy lives by addressing the drivers of health including jobs, housing, education, community safety, and environmental conditions. In addition to the $60,000 grant, Invest Health teams will take part in a vibrant learning community, have access to highly skilled faculty advisors and coaches, and engage a broader group of local stakeholders to encourage knowledge sharing.
Learn more about Invest Health