Ready-Set-Go!

San Diego, CA. January 6, 2021. Wishing you a bright New Year full of optimism and renewed passion for positive change.

While 2020 was a difficult year that none of us will ever forget, it created opportunities for collaboration and revealed paths toward greater health and social equity. It is these opportunities that we wish to build upon for greater social impact in the New Year. We know 2021 will bring continued challenges from the Covid-19 global pandemic. However, with a focus on health and racial equity, we also know that the work begun in 2020 has the potential to lead to positive social and economic impact that we must continue to support and accelerate.

We appreciate our grantees and funding partners for stepping up to do our collective best for others during this very challenging year, and look forward to continuing our work together for a better 2021.

Below are some of our promising projects underway that will progress this year:

Toward Health and Social Equity for All

Advancing Economic Mobility and Security
Strengthening the Nonprofit Ecosystem
Advancing Sustainable Innovation

Upstream Prevention: Advancing Economic Mobility and Security
There is a direct connection between wealth and health. Economic security is a clear upstream indicator for almost every health and social outcome. Moreover, it is highly intergenerational. Improvements in individual or family economic security and mobility now, could have lasting positive effects on children and future generations. That’s why AHF is investing energy and funding in this space. Here are a few examples:

• • Equitable Workforce Pathways – In collaboration with San Diego Workforce Partnership, we are funding new equitable pathways to living-wage, quality job attainment in healthcare, and expanding the promising Income Share Agreement model to support sustainable access to up-skilling opportunities.

• • Employee Ownership – Through our impact investment portfolio, we are excited to join Project Equity and Mission Driven Finance in expanding employee ownership models for small businesses with majority BIPOC employees. We know that worker ownership is an evidenced-based wealth generation tool for front-line workers and their families.

• • Affordable Housing + Home Ownership – San Diego is one of the least affordable places to live, and more than half of San Diego County renters are burdened by housing costs. Recognizing the critical importance of safe, affordable housing, AHF is supporting a variety of new projects, with more in the exploration pipeline. Two that we are pleased to support include:
    • • • 16 units of new affordable housing for homeless Veterans, led by YIGBY (Yes in God’s Backyard) and Bethel AME, San Diego’s oldest African American church.
        • 47 units of new single-family homes in Encanto, coupled with down-payment assistance to help first-time homebuyers of color build equity and wealth through home ownership.

    
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    Supporting the Safety Net: Strengthening the Nonprofit Ecosystem
    Covid-19 response continues to be a focus for Alliance. Over the past 9 months, we supported The San Diego Foundation’s Covid-19 Community Response Fund and Small Business & Nonprofit Loan Fund; The Black Business Relief Fund; Capital Impact Partners Community Health Clinic bridge loan fund, and culturally sensitive Covid-19 vaccine education and outreach, among many other efforts. Additionally, Alliance partnered with the Imperial Valley Wellness Foundation to raise more than $850,000 for Covid-19 relief in Imperial County.

    And finally, but not least, our core operating San Diego Mission Support program was expanded into a multi-year grant with an explicit focus on racial equity. The amazing 31 non-profits we are proud to support will be announced later in January.

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    Future Focused: Advancing Sustainable Innovation
    In collaboration with San Diego’s Accountable Community for Health, Alliance helped seed a new community-based care coordination network focused on patients with chronic conditions and complex needs. Known as “Neighborhood Networks,” the model is designed to achieve better individual health outcomes, lower costs, and improve population health by linking healthcare systems with community-based organizations and services.

    We are also proud to be supporting Concert Health through our impact investment portfolio as they expand Integrated Behavioral Health into primary care through a tech-enabled behavioral health medical group.

    We continue to work with many of our active Innovation Initiative (i2) grantees who are creating sustainable, transformational health & wellness programs and services through their innovations. One recent example is from Somali Family Service which has been working on new ways to increase vaccine understanding and acceptance. See a recent poster here.

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    While this is a small sampling of collaborative efforts, we know there is so much more we can accomplish together in 2021.

    From our Alliance Healthcare Foundation Family to yours, stay safe and well. Happy New Year!

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