RCHN Community Health Foundation Awards $5 Million To Establish New Center
Grant to the National Association of Community Health Centers Will Support Improving Community Health Care Delivery
To help establish a new Center for Community Health Innovation (CCHI), the RCHN Community Health Foundation (RCHN CHF) has awarded $5 million to the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) (@NACHC), the leading advocacy organization for community health centers and health care access for marginalized and medically underserved people.
“The Biden administration’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan stimulus package details the need for care in marginalized, medically underserved communities, and the essential role of Community Health Centers in providing that care,” said NACHC President and CEO Tom Van Coverden. “At a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare alarming health inequities, the RCHN Community Health Foundation’s gift will help us to address those needs and develop innovative models for the future.”
The Center for Community Health Innovation (CCHI), which NACHC will launch with the RCHN CHF grant, will work to identify, support, and replicate ground-breaking approaches to practice innovation, workforce development and collaborative arrangements in the delivery of community-based health care. The CCHI will evaluate existing best and promising practices and determine opportunities for value and scalability to further the health center mission. The goal of the CCHI is to prepare Community Health Centers for sustainable operational and clinical success, building on their unique, 50-plus year history and commitment to equity and access.
“The RCHN Community Health Foundation has had a robust voice through our policy research, grant-making and investment in on-the-ground initiatives to improve health and health care,” said Feygele Jacobs, RCHN CHF’s President and CEO, whose organization will end operations this year. “We’ve had the remarkable privilege to do this work, and this grant to NACHC, along with our other final awards, will underscore our legacy and build on our investment at a crucial time for community health.”
Founded in 1971 to promote efficient, high quality, comprehensive health care for all, NACHC provides training, technical assistance, and leadership development to support and strengthen health centers and advance the health of the nation’s most vulnerable and at-risk people and communities.
The $5 million grant to NACHC is one of three final major awards being made by RCHN CHF as the foundation sunsets its operations.