bi3 Awarding $4.7 Million to Accelerate Health Equity

Funding fuels seven area organizations’ efforts to address health disparities and improve health outcomes

bi3, a philanthropic initiative to transform health for all people in Greater Cincinnati, announced today it is awarding $4.7 million in grants to seven area nonprofit organizations to address health disparities in maternal and infant health and behavioral health and remove social barriers to better health outcomes.

“bi3 issued this request for proposal in response to community voices and the needs identified in the 2021 Community Health Needs Assessment,” said Jill Miller, President & CEO of Bethesda Inc. and bi3. “bi3 looks forward to partnering with these organizations to lead the way to a day when every person has a fair and just opportunity to achieve their best health.”

Grant recipients include:

$580,000 to The Health Collaborative in partnership with Cradle Cincinnati to support the development, implementation, and initial evaluation of Mama Certified, created by Cradle Cincinnati’s Queen’s Village to improve equitable maternal care for Black parents-to-be. The project will result in families feeling more empowered in choosing a birthing hospital that is right for their family.

$695,000 to Lighthouse Youth Services (LYS) to develop the Lighthouse Clinic, which will expand mental health services to provide in-house psychiatric and medical management services to youth under age 24 who experience multiple barriers to receiving care in the community.

$1.5 Million to Women Helping Women (WHW) to support their Rise Beyond Violence campaign. Specifically, bi3 funding will help scale school-based prevention programming in Cincinnati Public Schools and the Domestic Violence Enhanced Response Team (DVERT) to all 49 police jurisdictions in Hamilton County and expand organizational capacity and technology.

$1.5 Million to Children’s Home of Northern Kentucky (CHNK) Behavioral Health to support their Expanding Mental Health Services in a Pandemic Climate Campaign. bi3 funding will contribute to the expansion of CHNK’s mental health and family preservation services by 55%. CHNK currently partners with 16 school districts with increasing demand and is pursuing public-private funding partnerships to support the initiative.

$100,000 to Mental Health and Addiction Advocacy Coalition to gather and analyze statewide data on the behavioral health needs of racial and ethnic minority populations and make recommendations to improve data collection and policy.

$300,000 to Refugee Connect to expand its Health Navigator Program, connecting refugee and immigrant families to a local cultural leader with native language skills to address health-related needs and help them navigate the healthcare system.

$45,000 to Every Child Succeeds to support the development and implementation of a sustainable fundraising model through a capacity building partnership with Ignite Philanthropy. Every Child Succeeds provides comprehensive, evidence-based home visitation and mental health support for families from low-income backgrounds. ECS’s goal is to build more sustainable sources of revenue.

bi3 accelerates efforts to transform health, particularly for those most impacted by health disparities: Black, Indigenous and People of Color; individuals with lower levels of education and income; individuals living with disabilities; immigrants and new Americans; and individuals without health insurance. Funding was awarded to fuel initiatives to improve maternal and infant health, increase access to behavioral health services and address social determinants of health—priorities identified in the 2021 Community Health Needs Assessment.

Since 2010, bi3 has awarded more than $86 million to TriHealth and community-based organizations to fund innovative ideas to transform health.