Dear Invest Health city team members and friends,

In this new era of fast-tracking – from vaccines to emergency fund deployment, the importance of taking a moment to step back before moving forward holds critical significance to ensuring that the innovations we create and the recovery strategies we plan are rooted in equity. How do we aspire to "build back with equity at the forefront"? What resources will it take? Who are the experts we seek guidance from to envision more equitable systems that work for everyone? These questions don’t all have easy answers, but if we don’t ask them now, the cycles of racist policies and practices will continue to perpetuate disinvestment and harm to the communities we seek to support.
 
Many of the resources in this month’s newsletter center around opportunities to lean into inequitable systems in different ways. To achieve a more equitable and well society, the status quo will simply not be good enough. Our Invest Health city teams have been working to think differently about how resources are deployed, racist structures are dismantled and what it means to share power dynamics. Aspiring beyond the transaction – to the transformational. Prioritizing community member lived experience as expertise; and joining and resourcing the community’s table, rather than the other way around.
 
Dr. Somava Saha, Executive Lead of the Well Being In the Nation (WIN) Network, shares her perspective on shifting to an equity and well-being culture and economy in our featured blog. Shifting our thinking to see the potential in all, removing the barriers caused by unjust structures and systems, so all people can thrive. As new federal and state level recovery resources become available to many cities, the moment for collaboratives to create a more just, more equitable, better normal is here. We hope you’ll share your innovations and promising practices on leveraging these funds, as you aspire to embed a strong equity approach to your work in building thriving communities.

In partnership,
Jennifer Fassbender and the Invest Health Program Team


OPPORTUNITIES

Spring 2021 WIN Week
 [ Convening ]

Twice a year, the Well Being in the Nation (WIN) Network hosts WIN Week. Join the WIN Network on April 26 - 30 for a virtual convening that will involve diverse stakeholders coming together, across generations, for a week of gatherings dedicated to: “Renewal”. We will take time to renew ourselves and our communities, our economy, and our earth. WIN Week is about building community. Advancing equitable well-being is challenging, rewarding, frustrating, and exciting work: We are creating space to share our lived experiences and deepen our relationships. We are celebrating the leaders, partners, and friends working tirelessly in communities, networks, and organizations across the country. To learn more and register for this virtual convening, click here.

Housing Solutions Collaborative with ChangeLab

 [ Collaborative]


ChangeLab Solutions is accepting applications for the Housing Solutions Collaborative ― a learning collective for cross-sector community teams that will offer peer support, technical assistance, and a stipend to help teams in eight cities advance legal and policy solutions to the growing housing crisis. Through the Housing Solutions Collaborative, selected cross-sector community teams from up to eight small and mid-sized cities will convene in a peer learning collaborative over the period of a year to share information, engage in collective problem solving, network, and build the knowledge and capacity to drive strategies that address the housing crisis. To learn more and apply, click here.

Reimagining Investments

 [ Webinar ]


The events of 2020 revealed underlying structural problems that have created deep financial disparities for women and people of color, limiting their financial security and overall well-being. Now, more than ever, multilevel support for women and Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and Asian people is critically needed. Philanthropy can play a catalytic role in the movement for equitable wealth building and economic mobility. The Asset Funders Network wants to reimagine how to build economic well-being for all by embedding equity in the fabric of all their work. Join AFN for the release of a new brief, From Relief to Resilience: Reimagining Investments. Hear from author Christi Baker, Asset Funders Network, on the opportunities to reimagine solutions to create more just paths to economic resilience moving forward. To register, click here

Transforming Policy & Systems to Build Equitable Economies

 [ Webinar ]

Join the Well Being In the Nation (WIN) Network on April 21 for a workshop on building equitable economies. This workshop will walk participants through examples of how to build equitable economies and create an action plan for the work. Participants will learn the benefits of creating equitable economies; orient to what system components contribute to equitable economies; see examples of bright spots of how equitable economies are affecting people/communities; and consider their role in creating equitable economies. To register, click here.

Assistance for BIPOC-Owned Small Businesses from Citi Foundation

 [ Funding ]

The Citi Foundation is accepting applications from nonprofit organizations providing direct technical assistance to small businesses owned by people of color that have been disproportionately impacted by the unprecedented health, social, and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The foundation will award up to $25 million in unrestricted grants of up to $500,000 to nonprofits working in California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, Puerto Rico, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., enabling them to expand their reach and serve more minority entrepreneurs in need. To learn more about this opportunity, click here.


RESOURCES

Shifting to an Equity and Wellbeing-based Culture & Economy


Over the last 25 years, in her work through the Well Being In the Nation Network100 Million Healthier Lives, and own personal journey, Somava Saha has had the privilege of watching those who are considered “poor,” “underserved,” and “vulnerable” utterly transform their outcomes, when systemic barriers are removed from their path and they are given enough support and accompaniment to become leaders of their own solutions. To read about her own personal experience and the important work the WIN Network is doing to break down barriers in Invest Health’s latest blog, click here

Lessons to Guide Future Equitable Development Planning

As the U.S. continues to grapple with issues of racial equity and justice, equitable development planning has emerged as a tool to address systemic inequity and advance inclusive investment strategies. In 2018 and 2019, JPMorgan Chase provided funding to 23 communities through the PRO Neighborhoods Competition to support the development of plans to advance equitable development in a range of neighborhoods experiencing disinvestment and neglect, including predominantly Black communities, racially and ethnically diverse low-income areas, and chronically distressed neighborhoods. To read key insights from their work, click here.

Deploying the American Rescue Plan

President Biden recently signed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan (ARP). The scale of intervention is historic and unprecedented as befits the devastating impact of this global pandemic. We now shift from legislation to execution — from design to delivery. There’s a lot in the bill, including substantial flexible resources sent directly to City and County Halls. The question for cities, metros and counties now is a big one: How can communities deploy the ARP in the most efficient and equitable manner? In what follows, an overview of key provisions of the package are provided with an explanation of how local leaders can prepare to deploy these funds. This piece by Bruce Katz and Colin Higgins provides an overarching framework for identifying and deploying needed investments. They’ve focused on small business support to show what this could look like in practice. To learn more, click here.

How a National Network of Local Leaders is Centering Racial Equity in Neighborhood Revitalization

 

In America, neighborhoods determine destiny. But unjust, racist policies and actions have created segregated and distressed neighborhoods. To revitalize these places, stakeholders must recognize how race—not family income, family structure, education level, or accumulated wealth—functions as the main determinant of life outcomes. And we must directly address racism through tangible, equity-focused action at the neighborhood level. Purpose Built Communities a national nonprofit that supports a network of local groups leading holistic revitalization efforts in 28 neighborhoods in 24 cities across the country is striving to do just that and learning along the way. To read more about their work, click here

To Help Black Developers, Programs Start with Access to Capital

 

Today, commercial real estate remains a field in which the vast majority of developers are white. Few reliable statistics are available, but the industry association NAIOP reported in a 2013 survey, the most recent year available, that 4.4 percent of commercial real estate professionals were Black. This year, just 5 percent of Urban Land Institute’s members described themselves as Black or African-American. The disparity has many sources, including many African-Americans’ unfamiliarity with the field and subsequent dearth of connections. But the biggest challenge, Black developers say, is gaining access to capital, including loans, loan guarantees and equity. That may be the result of limited balance sheets, short track records or a lack of wealthy and influential networks. As a result, their firms struggle to grow and remain on the margins as cities around the country see their downtowns reshaped by other, deep-pocketed developers. To learn more, click here.

Inclusionary Housing: Secrets to Success


Inclusionary housing programs tie the creation of affordable, below-market-rate units to the construction of new market-rate development. In its simplest form, an inclusionary housing program might require developers to sell or rent 10 to 20 percent of new residential units to lower-income residents at prices they can afford. If designed properly, inclusionary housing can also be a tool to combat exclusionary zoning and promote racial equity in housing. To learn more, read the full article here.

Three Steps to Improving Data to Help Combat the Public Health Emergency of Structural Racism

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic that is disproportionately killing Black people, more than 20 cities, at least 3 states, the American Public Health Association, and the American Medical Association have declared racism a public health emergency. Public health data glaringly highlight these disparities. The maternal mortality rate is three times higher for Black women than for white women, a reality that could worsen under COVID-19. And the average life expectancy for Black people is four years lower than for white people, in part because of medical racism and police targeting of Black communities. Advocates, researchers, policymakers, health professionals, and others should work together to fill information gaps to disrupt how structural oppression operates. The first step to doing so is disaggregating data by race and ethnicity to enable access to key data to inform public policy decisions that can transform lives. To read more about how to advance this goal, click here.


CITY TEAM NEWS

Paterson, NJ

Last month, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority approved $67 million in tax credits through its Economic Redevelopment & Growth program to preserve and rehabilitate historic Hinchliffe Stadium,  only two remaining Negro Baseball League stadiums, in Paterson, NJ. Construction will start on Hinchliffe Stadium in the coming weeks, paving the way for the redevelopment of the 7,800-seat stadium for baseball, soccer, track and football; and a recreational and cultural facility with a museum dedicated to the Negro League baseball. The project also includes: 75 units of affordable housing for seniors; a preschool; and a 12,000-square-foot restaurant and exhibition space dedicated to the Negro Baseball League. To learn more, click here.

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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