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Power Funding Spring 2023 Civic Engagement Grants

Funding Announcement

Health Forward awards $4.9 million in grants to support and build community power

Kansas City, MO — Health Forward Foundation is proud to award $4.9 million in grants to 33 nonprofit organizations through funding that advances civic engagement and supports advocacy coalitions.

Funding this work is a core strategy in Health Forward’s Power purpose area because the healthiest communities tend to be those that are more civically engaged.

“Civic engagement is a key social factor that influences the health of people and communities,” said McClain Bryant Macklin, Health Forward Vice President of Policy and Impact. “Engaged communities are powerful communities and play an instrumental role in advocacy and better public policy. These organizations and coalitions are working to improve our democracy by focusing on the people and communities who have been excluded in the past.”

We are proud to partner with the following organizations:

 

Organization
Award
Funding Impact
ACLU Foundation of Kansas $150,000
To deploy a multitude of inter-related tactics, field organizing, policy advocacy, litigation, and public education to secure local-level and statewide reforms that increase voter turnout and access, especially in communities of color.
BlaqOut $100,000
To achieve improved physical and mental health outcomes, equitable access to care, and societal advancement for people who are fighting for justice and equality at the crossroads of both the LGBTQ+ and Black communities.
BLAQUE KC $300,000
To empower college students with the knowledge, skills, and resources to engage in civic participation and increase voter turnout.
Community Capital Fund (on behalf of Parent Leadership Training Institute – Kansas City) $75,000
To provide civics and leadership training to Kansas City Metro parents and support parent-led community initiatives so they have the confidence, knowledge, and connections to advocate and improve outcomes for children and families.
Community Care Network of Kansas $100,000
To build a culture of advocacy throughout our member clinics while developing or strengthening recognition of both individual member clinics and the network’s major contributions to reducing health injustice and increasing access to care.
El Centro $200,000
To provide civic engagement and advocacy opportunities to the Latino community; achieve grassroots power building; and strengthen community-driven efforts to create positive policy changes.
HCC Network $45,000
To support conference registration, travel, and membership for staff participation in advocacy, policy, and issue conferences hosted by the National Association of Community Health Centers and the National Rural Health Association.
Health TeamWorks $175,000
To organize community health leaders and community-based organizations as a collective impact coalition advocating for meaningful use of nonprofit hospital community benefit dollars.
Kansas City Indian Center $70,000
To hire a part-time coordinator for a civic engagement initiative that will increase community partnerships, voter registration, voter turnout, and civic education in the Native American community.
Kansas Action for Children $250,000
To support aligned partners in the Kansas advocacy network in order to achieve positive policy and legislative outcomes for kids and families.
Kansas Appleseed $50,000
To build upon previous success of energizing people who don’t often vote, increase voter registration and turnout, improve health outcomes, and decrease food insecurity.
Latino Community Network $100,000
To organize leadership development programing for and by Latinos, organize Latino networking opportunities, create Latino civic engagement resources, put together targeted voter contact efforts in Latino neighborhoods, and build a database of Latino leaders.
LeadMO Action $100,000
To identify, recruit, train, and place diverse new talent in paid positions with organizing and advocacy organizations.
Loud Light $250,000
To increase voter registration and voter turnout, dismantle old voter suppression laws, prevent new voter suppression laws, scale up community organizing programs, produce accessible information about key legislative issues, and train the next generation of civic leaders in order to build youth power, foster a more inclusive democracy, and reach critical mass in voter turnout among young diverse Kansans.
Missouri Budget Project $180,000
To facilitate the Missouri Health Partnership coalition and advance health and economic policy solutions that reflect community-identified priorities, particularly those identified by historically disenranchised communities.
Missouri Center for Public Health Excellence $100,000
To provide coordinated policy advocacy and legislative engagement training in order to achieve expanded capacity and expertise for Missouri public health leaders.
Missouri Coalition for Oral Health $100,000
To advocate for policies and systems change that expands oral health coverage and improves access to oral health care.
Missouri Family Health Council $150,000
To collaborate with health advocates across Missouri to engage stakeholders, mobilize historically excluded communities, and advance a shared policy agenda with the goal of reproductive justice for all.
Missouri Jobs with Justice Voter Action $250,000
To build and lead a statewide coalition to educate voters about the November 2024 opportunity to raise the state minimum wage and guarantee access to paid sick leave for all workers.
Missouri Organizing and Voter Engagement Action $300,000
To catalyze Missouri’s multi-racial movement and progressive organizations to plan for, engage, and sustain a durable, progressive, multi-racial governing majority of (at least) 1.6 million voters.
Missouri Primary Care Association $150,000
To address the advocacy needs of Federally Qualified Health Centers statewide, as well as assist the Missouri Rural Health Association develop and initiate an advocacy strategy as they experience a leadership and staff transition.
MORE2 $150,000
To fund a full-time community organizer position that will recruit, train, and develop formerly imprisoned people into a powerful base of leaders that will influence public policies and systems adversely impacting their lives.
Oral Health Kansas $125,000
To support an advocacy coalition that helps Kansans understand the importance of their oral health and focuses on systems change to ensures people can access the affordable oral health care they deserve.
Pro-Choice Missouri $150,000
To build and mobilize an engaged constituency in Kansas City to pass proactive reproductive policies at the local level, which will also lay the groundwork for rebuilding abortion access at the state level.
Revolución Educativa $100,000
To build power within the Latinx community of greater Kansas City through voter registration and mobilization efforts, community organizing training, policy advocacy, and political activity, to improve the educational outcomes and experience of Latinx students.
Shepherd’s Center of Kansas City Central $100,000
To provide policy engagement opportunities for an historically excluded Black, Indigenous, Latino, and LGBTQ+ older adults.
Shirley’s Kitchen Cabinet $100,000
To create a Black women’s advocacy table that drives policy change through collective activism of Black women and Black women-led groups.
Suburban Balance $50,000
To advance voter engagement, increase voter turnout among excluded Black communities, and increase representation and participation in the electoral process by engaging in non-partisan civic activities, initiatives, and efforts.
The Neighboring Movement $125,000
To diversify executive level leadership, which will provide long term stability for a founder-led organization. Funding will also support an in-person gathering of our program alumni, which will increase the capacity of our trained community organizers to maintain their work and improve their communities.
The Voter Network $200,000
To recruit, empower and equip Kansas stakeholders to effectively organize low-propensity and historically disenfranchised voters in year-round civic education and engagement efforts.
Thrive Allen County $170,000
To support the Allen County Rural Health Initiative engage in advocacy work focused on telehealth, provider recruitment, care coordination, and more in order to achieve improved health outcomes for Allen County residents.
Urban League Of Greater Kansas City $135,000
To provide community organizing and power building support in order to promote racial equity in education and health care policies and practices for Black parents and Black students in public and charter schools in the Greater Kansas City area.
Urban Summit $300,000
To transition from an all-volunteer organization to a professional staff in order to increase civic engagement among historically excluded people and communities.

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