Building Connections is an Rx Foundation Priority
The Rx Foundation values building relationships and peer-learning, and believes that these are important elements of our grant partnerships. We are committed to creating opportunities for our partners to learn from each other, to build relationships, and to collaborate. With 20 years of relationships and a broad network, the Rx Foundation often functions as a hub for connecting leaders, organizations, and resources.
Rx Advocacy Partners Network
In April 2020, in the chaos of the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Rx Foundation convened our first virtual meeting of Building Capacity for Health Advocacy grant partners. More than 20 people joined that first meeting, from 15 organizations, and since then the network has met quarterly. The agenda for each meeting is developed in partnership with grant partners, who take the lead in sharing their work and discussing their challenges and opportunities, finding inspiration and solidarity in these conversations. Some of these partners were already networked, and others had never previously crossed paths.
The Rx Advocacy Partners Network meetings focus on peer-led learning and cultivating an environment of learning – rather than just telling – where participants are encouraged to ask questions without knowing all the answers.
The peer learning community helped me understand how other peer orgs dealt with the real challenges of capacity building. I also received coaching resources that met me and my org where we were. Together, these tools were unmatched in helping me truly get what I needed to grow my organization!
– Robyn Hyden, Executive Director of Alabama Arise
Being a member of this grant cohort has been a unique and valuable experience, and I would encourage anyone entering into this learning community to take full advantage of the opportunities offered. It is rare to have such a varied collection of resources, trainings, coaches, workshops, and connections available through a grant cohort, and there is truly something relevant for everyone and every organization. Listening to other organizations share their programs, projects, successes, and challenges can give a new perspective on your own work, and meeting with others to chat about your work could help overcome sticking points. Peer-to-peer learning can be so valuable, and this cohort is a great place to take advantage of that.
– Kira Love, Public Policy Associate at the National Network for Arab American Communities
This network is the hub around which the Rx Foundation provides additional resources that go beyond grant dollars. This includes funding for training, coaching, and technical assistance with organizations like PowerLabs, Social Movement Technologies, and Families USA.
COVID-19 Vaccine Equity Convening
In February 2021, the Rx Foundation convened a two-day meeting of Vaccine Equity grant partners, allies, and funders to discuss the lessons learned and ongoing challenges of reaching historically disenfranchised communities with the COVID-19 vaccines. Presenters included Dr. Lisa Fitzpatrick, Young Invincibles, and community leaders from Mobile, AL and Columbus, OH.
Among the grant-funded work that led to this convening, the Rx Foundation funded Grapevine Health to work with organizations in the Vaccine Equity network to reach Black and brown communities with accurate information about COVID-19 and the vaccines. This included spending time in neighborhoods with community leaders, even answering questions about the vaccines outside a gas station, as well as virtual “Ask the Doc” sessions.
Dr. Lisa On the Street in Mobile, AL
What is Grapevine Health?
Dr. Fabian in Crown Heights
What we learned in working in hard-to-reach communities is that small wins are big wins. Any and all resources provided to people with little or no resources really make a big difference.
-Charlotte Rudolph, Eastern Union Missionary Baptist Association
Rx Grant Partner: El Centro in Kansas City, KS
Rx Grant Partner: La Casita Center in Louisville, KY
Rx Grant Partner: Northeast Ohio Black Health Coalition
Power is a Social Determinant of Health series
In 2022 the Rx Foundation launched a monthly series of meetings and webinars built around the belief that power is a social determinant of health, and the importance of going even further upstream than the commonly acknowledged drivers of health (e.g., food, housing) to tackle how resources are allocated and which problems are solved in order to change the systems that drive health and health care. This series brings together people leading and implementing advocacy, organizing, civic engagement, and grassroots health justice work across the United States, a diverse array of funders, leaders in healthcare delivery, researchers and other allies who care about these issues.
Together we have learned from:
In 2024 this series will continue to cover a broad mix of issues that impact communities, health care delivery, and philanthropy.
Most Recent Webinars
It is vital that we understand how power relates to and drives health in our communities, and how in an increasingly divided country we can meet people where they are, build bridges, and nurture both the health of our democracy and the health of our communities. Here are a few of our most recent conversations we’ve hosted:
