Grant Partner Spotlight Videos
Our Grant Partner Spotlight Video page features Rx Foundation grant partners describing their experience, perspective, and impact in their own words.
Building Capacity for Health Advocacy
We are thrilled to launch this series with videos featuring a few of the leaders and organizations in our Building Capacity for Health Advocacy network!
Rx partners in the Building Capacity for Health Advocacy program are working at the state and national levels to advance health justice.
The Rx Foundation provides grant funding and related support to build advocacy, organizing, and civic engagement capacity and infrastructure in networks, coalitions, and communities.
Learn more about the grant program, and two of our partners, by watching the video series below.
Building Capacity Grants
The Building Capacity for Health Advocacy grant program supports advocacy, organizing, and civic engagement, with a focus on developing and strengthening leaders, organizations, and networks.
Alabama Arise
Alabama Arise was one of the first grant recipients in our Building Capacity for Health Advocacy program. The Rx Foundation made a three-year grant commitment of $150,000 per year to Alabama Arise, supporting its efforts to increase statewide capacity and infrastructure for proactive organizing and advocacy for policies that will improve the health and well-being of people in Alabama.
Alabama Arise was one of the first grant recipients in our Building Capacity for Health Advocacy program. The Rx Foundation made a three-year grant commitment of $150,000 per year to Alabama Arise, supporting its efforts to increase statewide capacity and infrastructure for proactive organizing and advocacy for policies that will improve the health and well-being of people in Alabama.
With support from peers in the learning community and resources from our Coaching and Technical Assistance program, Robyn Hyden, Executive Director of Alabama Arise, shared: “The peer learning community helped me understand how other peer organizations dealt with the real challenges of capacity building. I also received coaching resources that met me and my organization where we were. Together, these tools were unmatched in helping me truly get what I needed to grow my organization!”
The Rx Foundation grant enhanced not only Alabama Arise’s organizational capacity but it dramatically expanded the Cover Alabama Initiative too, enabling it to have its own dedicated field staff, including a campaign director, an organizer, a communications associate, among others. Since 2019, the Coalition has grown from 31 organizations to 118.
Most recently, in response to Cover Alabama, the State extended, on a pilot-project basis, postpartum Medicaid coverage from 60 days to one year – at a cost of $9 million per year. That’s a major achievement, as about 30,000 births in Alabama are covered by Medicaid annually, and many postpartum problems occur after 60 days. Cover Alabama continues to pursue overall Medicaid expansion.
Today, Alabama Arise continues to fight and advocate for a future where all Alabamians have a chance to thrive, regardless of their income or background.
People’s Action Institute
People’s Action Institute was one of the first grant recipients in our Building Capacity for Health Advocacy program. The Rx Foundation made a three-year grant commitment of $150,000 per year to People’s Action Institute, supporting its efforts to develop strong rural community-based grassroots organizations in Idaho (United Vision for Idaho), North Carolina (Down Home NC), and New Jersey (NJ Resource Project), and to build power and capacity in local communities across the United States advocating for policies that improve health and well-being.
People’s Action Institute was one of the first grant recipients in our Building Capacity for Health Advocacy program. The Rx Foundation made a three-year grant commitment of $150,000 per year to People’s Action Institute, supporting its efforts to develop strong rural community-based grassroots organizations in Idaho (United Vision for Idaho), North Carolina (Down Home NC), and New Jersey (NJ Resource Project), and to build power and capacity in local communities across the United States advocating for policies that improve health and well-being.
The Rx Foundation grant expanded the capacity of three statewide grassroots organizations. Thousands of people became new members of these entities, turning their pain into collective power through organizing. Through storytelling and advocacy, these members shared their stories with decision-makers, educating them on the transformational impact that increased access to healthcare would have in their lives and that of their neighbors. Most recently, Down Home North Carolina members successfully organized and advocated for Medicaid expansion in their state.
The grant also strengthened a national collective of leaders, building the power needed to achieve health justice. People’s Action Institute developed and is leading its Care Over Cost campaign, organizing everyday people from Maine to Colorado to fight private health insurers’ medical claim denials. Together, this national grassroots campaign, made up of 38 state and local, grassroots, power-building organizations in 28 states, are forging lasting power to transform how we receive healthcare.
Discussing the Coaching program, Aija Nemer-Aanerud, Health Care for All Campaign Director, shared: “The coaching was really invaluable. We would not have thought to work with a consultant like PowerLabs without this opportunity from the Rx Foundation, and it added a whole new set of tools for us to draw on when we are building and maintaining strong teams inside our organization and in coalition spaces. This has been immediately useful for our national Health Care for All cohort and campaign teams, as well as one national coalition that we co-lead. In all of these spaces, we have more clarity of purpose, better strategic plans, role clarity, and greater follow-through”.
Vot-ER
Vot-ER is one of our more recent grant recipients in the Building Capacity for Health Advocacy program. While the Rx Foundation provided initial support for their Civic Health Organizing Fellowship in 2021, we made a three-year $150,000 commitment to Vot-ER in 2022 to support their capacity-building efforts for civic engagement leadership in healthcare across the United States.
Vot-ER is one of our more recent grant recipients in the Building Capacity for Health Advocacy program. While the Rx Foundation provided initial support for their Civic Health Organizing Fellowship in 2021, we made a three-year $150,000 commitment to Vot-ER in 2022 to support their capacity-building efforts for civic engagement leadership in healthcare across the United States.
In the first year, the Rx Foundation grant expanded the capacity of the organization by supporting their three core goals to (1) expand the electorate, (2) change the culture of health, and (3) grow a multi-disciplinary community of health professionals. One of 2022’s highlights included the development and launch of a Community Civic Engagement program, wherein Vot-ER provided funding, tools, training and 1:1 support to 60 Community Health Centers (CHCs) on the topic of civic engagement for patients, staff, and their communities. More recently, the American Medical Association passed a resolution, recognizing voting as a social determinant of health, in large part due to the continued advocacy of Vot-ER and its coalition of peers.
When reflecting on the Coaching resources Vot-ER accessed through the Building Capacity for Health Advocacy grant program, Aliya Bhatia, Executive Director, shared: “At Vot-ER, we aspire to be a highly collaborative organization — but as our staff grew, relationships alone were no longer enough to mediate collaborative decision making. Working with PowerLabs allowed us to combine the best practices of research-driven frameworks with the customized touch of adapting to our team’s needs and culture. We have now adopted decision-making frameworks, updated team norms, and are on a path to our leadership learning more about psychological safety as a result of PowerLabs work with us.”
As we step into 2024, Vot-ER remains steadfast in its commitment to creating healthy communities powered by an inclusive democracy.