The National Collaborative for Health Equity (NCHE) has a bold vision: create more equitable neighborhoods, economic opportunities, and environments for kids to grow up in and thrive.
It’s an aspirational vision, but the solutions to fully realize it are complex.
Focusing on Black and Latinx communities
NCHE focuses on communities that are disproportionately impacted by systemic and historical barriers that create grave disparities in their health outcomes. At birth, Black and Latinx babies have higher rates of infant mortality and low birth weight. Young people of color have higher risks for diseases as they enter adulthood, leading to shorter lives.
Promoting health equity
To reverse these trends, NCHE promotes health equity by harnessing data, developing leaders, and catalyzing partnerships across communities that share responsibility for creating a more equitable and just society.
The collaborative started with a relatively modest start-up grant of $500,000. But NCHE knew it needed to quickly grow this start-up grant into a sustainable fund to accomplish its vision.
Getting support from the New Venture Fund
NCHE needed to get money to frontline communities most impacted by disparities in health outcomes, and to be at the table with the influential donors who could make a difference in these communities—which is where the New Venture Fund could provide them expertise and support.
Our team has provided counsel throughout NCHE’s start on how to manage its projects, raise and distribute grant funds, and implement programs and initiatives in the most efficient way possible.
Achieving Success Across the US
Since we first partnered, NCHE has achieved successes all over the country. In 2018, NCHE leaders testified in support of a bill in the Maryland legislature to establish a task force on racial reconciliation and equity. It also assisted advocates who fought for and won a $15 minimum wage in Cook County, Illinois. And in King County, Washington, NCHE’s team helped advocates build support for a county-wide equity and social justice ordinance requiring the county to prioritize equity and social justice in all of its policymaking—becoming one of the first jurisdictions in the nation to do so.
