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Dear Invest Health city team members and friends,
It’s a new year and we are inspired. There are endless opportunities for us to grow as a nation, message hope and really dig into the critical work of ensuring that we can and must carry on in our collective efforts to improve the systems and places that enable all people to thrive.
We start our 2021 journey by listening – with our first Invest Health Sustaining the Network advisory group meeting in the next month. We are pleased to have 25 different city team voices volunteer to provide insights and feedback on potential grant activities to keep content depth and breadth relevant to the work catalyzed by Invest Health. And along with the philosophy "out with the old, in with the new" – we are starting 2021 with a redesigned newsletter that will continue to share opportunities, resources, and stories from the field, while also bringing perspectives from various experts in our monthly blog. This month, we are pleased to share resources developed or contributed to by our Reinvestment Fund team and partners, some of which reflect on the year’s Invest Health learnings and city teams that has emerged with a renewed vision for their communities after taking on a very challenging year.
We also recognize that the road ahead to building more equitable communities will not be easy, and many are hurting and struggling as a result of both decades of inequities and the ongoing health and economic crises. You inspire us – to be better, to be brave, and support each other through it all.
Stay safe, stay well, stay inspired.
In partnership,
Jennifer Fassbender and the Invest Health Program Team
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OPPORTUNITIES
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An Equitable Path Forward
[ Funding ]
Enterprise, with a $25 million commitment from Netflix, announced a new initiative called an Equitable Path Forward, a five-year, $3.5 billion nationwide initiative to help dismantle the deeply-rooted legacy of racism in housing – from the types of homes that are built, where they’re built, who builds them, and the wealth that is generated from them. The multipronged initiative establishes an equitable path forward for BIPOC and other historically marginalized housing providers. A $350 million Growth Fund that will attract an additional $3.1 billion of debt, equity, and grants to provide BIPOC-led and other historically marginalized housing providers both entity-level and project-level capital to grow their businesses and pipelines of affordable homes. To learn more about this opportunity, click here.
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Housing Solutions in a Time of Crisis
[ Webinar ]
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The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is hosting a webinar on January 27 to explore the critical question, with tens of millions of families on the brink of eviction, how can we protect people’s health and homes? Advocates and practitioners will speak on the policies, anchor institutions, and grassroots networks mobilizing to protect those renters and homeowners most impacted by COVID-19 and the economic crisis. To register, click here.
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Community Land Trust Breakthroughs: Improved Access to Funding and Financing
[ Webinar ]
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During this webinar, Grounded Solutions Network will premiere a HOME Rider for the 2011 Model Ground Lease, review Fannie Mae’s recently updated Selling Guide, and discuss new opportunities that Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and other partners are supporting to drive innovation and growth in the community land trust field. To register, click here.
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RESOURCES
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Now Is the Time to Enhance Efforts Around Systems Change
Blog Post
 Today, leaders across our country are having some tough and important conversations about how we get our nation to a better place. As a result, this is a powerful moment to be doing community building work in the United States. This is especially true for leaders working in small to mid-size cities, where the systems that should promote health, wellbeing, and economic mobility, are more burdened than ever. As powerful as this moment is, if we are not careful in how we make the case for our community building work and the importance of investing in mid-size cities, we can miss the opportunity to mobilize new supporters and catalyze much needed resources. Worse, if we are not careful in how we use our data, facts, and statistics, we may see our efforts backfire, undermining the support we need. To read the full blog post written by Dr. Tiffany Manuel, President and CEO of TheCaseMade, click here.
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Community Engagement: How the Process Leads to Progress
An Invest Health Case Study
 A critically important element of health and equity-focused community development, and a program principle of Invest Health, is authentic community engagement. This case study highlights the strategies, challenges, and lessons learned from community engagement efforts in five Invest Health cities: Hartford, CT; Lansing, MI; Missoula, MT; Roseville, CA; and Spokane, WA. To read the executive summary and full report, click here.
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Lessons for Building Public Will, Authentic Engagement, and Network Sustainability
Field Building Virtual Convening Series
 Invest Health Field Building (IH FB) city teams were originally slated to convene in Missoula, MT, in spring
2020, but because of the Covid-19 pandemic, Reinvestment Fund reconfigured the event as a three-part series of virtual workshops and events. Invest Health teams approached the change in format with positivity, actively engaging with their colleagues through Zoom breakout rooms and the chat box. The series included workshops on leveraging the Invest Health learning community network and effectively making a case to stakeholders that advances the Invest Health work in cities, with a final event led in partnership with the Missoula IH FB city team that provided a sense of place through a virtual site visit and focused on how to authentically undertake sustained community engagement efforts. To read the write up, click here.
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Using Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs)
to Promote Affordable
Housing, Equity, and Well-Being
Invest Health Field Building Report
 In looking to address the nation-wide affordable housing crisis, many advocates have turned – literally – to their own backyards. Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) can be a solution that provides additional units of housing in areas where single-family homes dominate. As smaller units of housing that can be built on the property of the main house, they can accommodate short- or long-term renters or additional family members, as well as supply a source of supplemental income to the homeowner. Invest Health Field Building city teams from Grand Rapids, Missoula, Napa, and Riverside – led by Lark Ferrell, Housing Manager for the City of Napa and Lisa Beczkiewicz, Health Promotion Supervisor for the Missoula City-County Health Department – collaborated with Kol Peterson, ADU expert and author of Backdoor Revolution: the Definitive Guide to ADU Development, to bring five days of virtual programming about ADUs to Invest Health city teams and other local stakeholders. To read the full blog post, click here.
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Keeping Everyone at the Table, Six Feet Apart
Blog Post
Like most of the Unite d States, the city teams participating in the Invest Health initiative found their priorities upended by the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. The second phase of the Invest Health Initiative, Field Building, provided ten of those cities with ongoing targeted support for their work. The pandemic’s disproportionate impacts on the health of Black, brown, and low-income communities brought into stark focus the inequities the city teams were already fighting. However, despite the challenges of COVID-19, leaders in Akron, OH, Missoula, MT, and Greensboro, NC also found opportunities to leverage the cross-sector relationships and community engagement practices they had fostered since 2016 through Invest Health. To read the full blog post, click here.
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The Tortuous Path to Home Repair Help
A Case Study
Healthy homes are a human  right. However, many people live in substandard conditions that result in increased health issues and hospitalizations. For many low-income homeowners, paying for crucial repairs and maintenance is often out of reach, leaving them in unhealthy homes. There are programs designed to help with home repairs, but sometimes bringing the right ones to bear at the right time is easier said than done. To read more about Greensboro resident Mary Stimpson's experience, click here.
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Community Health and Economic Prosperity: Engaging Businesses as Stewards and Stakeholders
A Report of the Surgeon General
 The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Office of the Surgeon General (OSG) have released Community Health and Economic Prosperity: Engaging Businesses as Stewards and Stakeholders- A Report of the Surgeon General. The first report of its kind, the Surgeon General’s Report raises awareness of the U.S. health disadvantage and demonstrates to business leaders the opportunity investing in community health can bring to the business bottom line and the health of the economy. Reinvestment Fund was a contributor to this work, writing two case studies, "A CDFI Uses Data to Expand Food Retail in Ohio" and "Using Data to Expand High-Quality Early Childhood Education". To read the full report, click here.
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CITY TEAM NEWS
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Spokane, WA
Through their advocacy efforts, along with pressures from city council and the state Commerce Department, the Invest Health Spokane team has helped shift the Mayor's stance to be in favor of building a shelter for young adults experiencing within the city limits, a project for which she previous would not allow proposals. Invest Health Spokane team member Fawn Schott, president and CEO of Volunteers of America of Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho, described leaving last week’s meeting of regional leaders “feeling optimistic that we were at least in a space where we could, in a calculated way, present locations for actual consideration.” To learn more, click here.
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Keep Sharing Updates
Keep sharing updates on your work, including special events and news media pieces to us using this online form. We look forward to hearing from you and the notable news your Invest Health city team is creating! |
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