Address: 12410 Milestone Center Drive, Suite 600, Germantown, MD 20876
Phone: 301.907.9144
Email: crystal.townsend@hifmc.org
Web: www.hifmc.org
The Healthcare Initiative Foundation (HIF) was established as a 509(a)(3) grantmaking organization in 1973 as the Suburban Hospital Association (Md.) Foundation. In 1980 the scope of giving broadened and accordingly the name changed to the Suburban Maryland Health Foundation. The current name, Healthcare Initiative Foundation, dates from 2002. The foundation operated anonymously until 2007, when the board hired its first staff person to facilitate the grantmaking and begin building a public presence. On July 1, 2012, the Healthcare Initiative Foundation transitioned from a 509(a)(3) charitable support organization to a 501(c)(3) private foundation.
Program Information:
The Healthcare Initiative Foundation supports organizations that offer solutions to improve the quality and delivery of health care for residents of Montgomery County, Maryland. The Healthcare Initiative Foundation considers grants to 501(c)(3) health care nonprofits that are based in Montgomery County, Maryland, or to nonprofits that have county-based health programs or activities.
Within its geographic and focus area, it considers efforts to:
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- Improve the quality and delivery of health care
- Expand the availability of comprehensive health care
- Build appropriate capacity in the health care network
- Grow the health care workforce
- Financial Information:Total Assets: $31.6 million (FY16)
Amount Dedicated to Health-Related Grants: 1.6 Million (FY16) - Special Initiatives and/or Representative Health and Human Services Grants Thriving Germantown Planning Grants to create Community HUB and establish programs at the local elementary school serving as the HUB—Over the past 18 months, HIF has convened a multi-sector group of partners, funders, and service providers to explore how to address poor outcomes and the growing educational, health, and socio-economic disparities for children and families living in distressed communities in Germantown, Maryland. Throughout the planning and concept design process, over 60 individuals have participated and 20 organizations have committed to being either partners and/or service providers in this effort.Research confirms that children by virtue of their economic status are two or three times as vulnerable to adverse childhood experiences as more privileged county children. The goal of this collective impact, place-based project is to ensure that children have safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments that foster conditions in which all residents can live, learn, work, and play in a healthy and thriving community. The Thriving Germantown Community HUB is a multisector, multi-generational initiative that will use the Pathways HUB Connect™ IT technology platform to identify risk and link low-income families with an array of resources to address the social determinants of education and health. The Community HUB acts as a central clearing house that assesses and tracks individual and family risk factors and establishes pathways for achieving measureable outcomes. The project will hire Care Coordinators specializing in early care/education, health and wellness, behavioral health, emergency assistance/housing, and economic sustainability.
A Title I, highly trusted local elementary school was selected for the pilot with 71 percent of the student households identifying as low income, 90 percent minority and 38.4 percent Limited English Proficiency. During the first year of the pilot, Pre-K and Kindergarten 150 students and their families will be offered integrated care coordination. Annually thereafter, an estimated 90 additional children will be enrolled as consecutive cohorts, serving an estimated 2,000 people over the five-year span of the pilot.
As part of the planning and capacity building process, HIF has funded five social service organizations to:
- Secure multi-sector funding streams for the Community HUB, refine evaluation and data collecting capacities, and solidify service provider partnerships ($65,000)
- Set up after-school and academic support programs for students ($50,000)
- Provide behavioral health services for students and their families experiencing trauma ($80,000)
- Provide vision screenings for students and eyeglasses as needed ($10,000)
- Offer out-of-school nutritional meals for children in need ($10,000)
Building Healthcare Career Pathway—To meet the need for culturally competent health care professionals as well as Montgomery County’s health care workforce demands, HIF has partnered with Montgomery Community College and the Universities at Shady Grove to fund a five year grant to support educational pathways for 112 nursing, social work, and public health students. In addition to providing renewable semester scholarships, the grant funds bilingual education and faculty support, and medical interpretation certification training. These additional supports help ensure degree completion for students, many of whom come from low-income families, are first generation college students, and/or are non-native English speakers. To further prepare the HIF scholars for entering the healthcare workforce in Montgomery County, the scholars are required to complete an internship at a safety-net clinic or nonprofit health provider. The goal of the project is for 80 percent of the students to work in Montgomery County in a health care career upon graduation. ($1 million over five years)
Business Model Transformation to Build Safety-Net Clinic Sustainability—The Primary Care Coalition (PCC) coordinates the network of high-quality care for more than 32,000 vulnerable residents of Montgomery County at 12 safety-net clinics, five hospitals, and other partners. HIF funded PCC’s Business Model Transformation three-year project to promote growth, patient retention, industry-standard practice management, and sustainable business models for six participating safety-net clinics. The project also strengthens PCC’s ongoing capacity to support the clinics with metrics, reporting, and process improvement so the clinics become financially sustainable. ($620,000 over three years)
Role of Philanthropy
“Discovering the synergies in all of our work and investments for the advancement of thriving and healthy communities are imperative and inspiring, and funding efforts to integrate and braid investments that serve the whole person, household, and community are paramount.”
—Crystal Townsend, President