Grantmaker Profiles

We deeply believe in the practice of authentic listening and engagement, and we are establishing a more focused emphasis on the social determinants of health – namely, structural racism and community safety – that affect so many neighborhoods in Cleveland. In 2021, we named a new program officer to develop a health equity focus area, intended to connect and uplift resident voices to share community influence and power. Our goal is to help residents challenge the policies and practices that continue to devastate the health and well-being of too many individuals in our communities. It is time for us to invest in building trust.

In 2003, two mates from Melbourne, Australia (Travis Garone and Luke Slattery) were having a quiet beer at the Gypsy Bar in Fitzroy when their conversation turned to recurring fashion trends. The mustache, a fixture in past decades, was nowhere to be seen in recent trends. They joked about bringing it back.

In both the US and internationally, Direct Relief’s support mobilizes private philanthropic resources to address chronic gaps in access to quality health services for people who have the fewest resources, face heightened health risks with highly limited options, rank highest on social vulnerability indices, and experience poor health and outcomes disproportionately.

Local health philanthropy has evolved over the years, moving away from funding direct services to becoming strategic change agents, offering community leadership, and promoting collaboration. Place-based health legacy foundations can leverage impact beyond our grantmaking, using our resources to help set agendas and fuel system improvements. By convening and partnering with regional nonprofits and the public and private sectors, we can achieve sustainable solutions to entrenched health challenges.

Six years ago, the foundation launched our Healthier Together initiative, committing $1 million to six communities with the greatest health disparities in Palm Beach County. Healthier Together represented a radical shift in our grantmaking – we put residents at the core of developing health solutions around their own needs, rather than force-fitting a system that doesn’t always recognize the complexity, culture, context and circumstances of diverse communities.

In addition to exposing the ongoing racial and ethnic health care disparities in our country, the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated how crucial palliative care is in supporting patients and families as they navigate serious illness. It has unfortunately also drawn attention to how (relatively) few clinicians are trained in providing palliative care.

In addition to exposing the ongoing racial and ethnic health care disparities in our country, the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated how crucial palliative care is in supporting patients and families as they navigate serious illness. It has unfortunately also drawn attention to how (relatively) few clinicians are trained in providing palliative care.

Our agenda is bold and ambitious. It calls for us to address the entrenched systems that too often—as was so painfully exposed in 2020— act as barriers to health. Our strategy calls for us to reach out and bring together our fellow leaders and neighbors from across South Florida because we know that’s the only way to truly make a difference. Above all, because we’re not looking to bring solutions to communities. We’re looking for communities to bring solutions to life

What’s exhilarating about being a new and nimble funder is that we are not entrenched in outdated philanthropic ways. Each day we build toward our values and aspirations with our practices.