Much of the Foundation’s work centers on the fact that the health of all Americans, but particularly the health of the most vulnerable people in our society, is influenced significantly by factors outside of the health care system, or the social determinants of health. The Vulnerable Populations portfolio supports innovative solutions at that intersection of health and social factors—poverty, education, housing, employment, community environments—to give those at greatest risk their best opportunity to live healthy, productive lives. We identify, grow, and rigorously test promising programs and approaches that can create fundamental change in the systems and circumstances that affect vulnerable people.
We seek visionary and yet practical, sustainable solutions that have potential for widespread replication and impact.
REMARKS FROM KRISTIN SCHUBERT, TEAM DIRECTOR
"When we think about scale, we're talking about that far-reaching social impact that can fundamentally change the systems or forces that affect the health of vulnerable populations. It's bigger than growing effective organizations to have broader reach, though that's an important component. Playworks and The Green House Project reflect promising approaches—we hope our investment in and partnership with these initiatives will help push past a tipping point of growth to generate large-scale social change."
Scaling Innovative Ideas: The Green House Project & Playworks
What we look for is those ideas that are going to transform a field. . . This is about significant social change."
Jane Lowe, senior adviser for program development
When the Foundation starts to take a program to scale we’re looking for both national partners as well as regional and local partners, whether they are funding partners or they are thought partners or they are connections to help move the program to the next stage."
Nancy Barrand, senior adviser for program development
Our Five Stages of Development for Grantees
When we identify a promising concept that we believe could be scaled, we support grantees to adapt and evaluate the original concept and to develop business plans for growth and eventual scaling. It is not a linear process, but one that is unique to the concept and the social norm we aim to achieve.
