I am grateful for the opportunity to reflect upon and share the generative work we pursued alongside our community partners in 2023. After three years of thoughtful listening, learning, and planning, we officially launched the first organized funding opportunities of our fiveyear strategic purpose plan.
Reflecting on our learnings through a year of “firsts,” we are reminded of the strides we’ve made together on the path to building inclusive, powerful, and healthy communities characterized by racial equity and economically just systems. Our path ahead holds many triumphs, but also many obstacles. The polarized sociopolitical climate of 2023, which continues today, led me to share my thoughts in an article published by the Center for Effective Philanthropy. I wrote about Health Forward’s commitment to what I call accountable philanthropy — philanthropy in service of repairing past and current injustices to Black, Indigenous, and Latino/a/x communities while holding tensions for love, power, and justice in life-giving ways.
Holding ourselves to this standard of accountability, implementing new purpose areas and funding opportunities presented the kinds of challenges you might expect, yet we are exceptionally proud of our team, board of directors, and our community partners for everything we pursued and achieved together.
We deepened our commitment to trust and community proximity through invitation-based funding in our Place and People purpose areas. This approach honored our longstanding relationships and embraced new partners whose solutions we were excited to help test or advance.
In our Platform purpose area, we invested in equity, inclusion, and antiracism practices within organizations most ripe for this learning and opportunity to evolve. Concurrently, our Power purpose area focused on strengthening the capacities of rural-, Black-, Indigenous-, and Latino/a/x-led organizations, as well as broadening community-led civic engagement efforts in Missouri and Kansas.
In 2023, we elevated our policy and advocacy efforts, while also amplifying the power that exists within our communities of focus. We contributed to developing broadband internet plans, defended against anti-DEI and immigrant legislation, co-authored a Kansas state plan amendment for community health worker reimbursement, and achieved numerous other wins.
Our work to continuously align our investment portfolio with our purpose also advanced significantly. Nationally, we remain at the forefront of foundations increasing assets managed by Black- and Latino/a/xled investment firms, achieving an increase of over $100 million since the beginning of 2023. This work of achieving racial equity within our investment portfolio while increasing net asset returns will continue in 2024 and beyond.
Our successes in 2023 also encompassed several key initiatives:
• We convened numerous learning, action, and networking opportunities through the KC Health Equity Learning and Action Network, advancing capabilities of health ecosystem leaders to practice racial equity in health care and community health
• We launched a regional assessment to increase representation and advancement of rural talent and people of color in our region’s health workforce, toward increased quality and equitable health outcomes. We also established a boarddesignated fund for health sciences pathways investments, leveraging a significant seed investment to support the sustainability of these efforts
• We partnered with funders and community partners to implement public information and outreach campaigns in Missouri and Kansas to support post-pandemic Medicaid re-verification and enrollment efforts to ensure our community maintains equitable access to health care
LAN Action Team Training
• We launched social impact investments which support regional pathways for affordable housing and home ownership through Community Development Corporation (CDC) partners focused on revitalizing disinvested communities in Missouri and Kansas
Our achievements and investments are a testament to our belief in the ingenuity, collaborative spirit, and effectiveness of our partners. Whether new or longstanding, we take pride in our collective commitments to progress for equitable health outcomes in the face of struggle and the joy in our shared work. We stand with you, leaning into the work ahead with accountability, celebration, and resolve. Forward.
QIANA THOMASON President/CEO, Health Forward Foundation
Returning and Redemption DocuCourse with Ave Stokes and Randy George
In every funding opportunity, we seek to honor and trust the expertise of our community partners. Including diverse perspectives and experiences is essential to building anti-racist systems.
Photo courtesy of Bluford Healthcare Leadership Institute
PEOPLE
Our People purpose area addresses and seeks to remove barriers built into our health care system that prevent people from living their healthiest lives.
Our approach centers equity in all aspects of community health and focuses on strengthening the capacity and effectiveness of partners to provide whole-person, equity-centered care.
POWER
Our Power purpose area focuses on redistributing and sharing power with the people we serve.
Our approach amplifies community-driven movements, advances participation in democracy, and strengthens small, community-based organizations and leaders.
PLACE
Our Place purpose area focuses on building health and wealth by improving access to safe, healthy and affordable housing and home ownership.
Our Platform purpose area focuses on advancing racial equity and economic inclusion by partnering with governments and funders to center equity and race in all decisions.
PLATFORM
We are also reshaping narratives and the way people understand and talk about racial, economic and health equity, along with investing our resources to align with this purpose.
PURPOSE AREAS
Our approach also includes digital access, working to make sure everyone has affordable digital tools and the knowledge and skills to use them.
This funding will increase access and retention services for HDF Scholars pursuing degrees in the health sciences, thus, strengthening the pipeline of future Kansas City Latino health care professionals.
KANSAS CITY HISPANIC DEVELOPMENT FUND
Sammy Sierra-Diaz, the daughter of a single mother who immigrated from Mexico, is the embodiment of a first-generation college success story: After receiving multiple scholarships for a full ride to The University of Kansas, she is now pursuing her doctorate in occupational therapy.
But Sierra-Diaz will be the first to tell you she probably wouldn’t be where she is without help from the Kansas City Hispanic Development Fund (HDF). “As a first-gen student you can’t really rely on your parents for support as much as my peers did,” she said. “HDF brings that support to scholars like me.”
As a first-gen student you can’t really rely on your parents for support as much as my peers did...
SAMMY SIERRADIAZ, FIRST GENERATION STUDENT
In 2023, Health Forward partnered with HDF through $200,000 in funding to increase college access and retention services for scholars pursuing degrees in the health sciences. The idea is to expand and strengthen the pathways to these careers for future Kansas City Latino/a/x health care professionals like Sierra-Diaz. These pathways matter because health outcomes are generally better for patients when their caregivers understand and share their personal experiences, especially for people of color and rural residents who frequently encounter obstacles and bias in accessing health care services.
Access is one thing; many scholarship funds exist to help first generation students meet some of their financial burden. But HDF also places a premium on “retention.” In this way, it is a model for realizing Health Forward’s focus on centering equity in all aspects of the health system and to support innovative ideas that promote more inclusivity.
Alejandra Perez, director of HDF’s scholarship program, said this funding makes it possible to do just that by reaching more scholars. (While the scholarship program is open exclusively to Latino/a/x students, HDF does offer support to high school students of all ethnicities in the Kansas City area through its Family College Prep program.)
Earlier this year, HDF awarded $1.25 million in scholarships to 509 students. So the pressure to make sure those students have resources to help them stick with their education is greater than ever.
“Someone may say they want to be a dentist, but they don’t know what they have to do to get to dental school, the hoops they have to jump through,” Perez said. “Through our academic advising, we help them navigate the path, connect them with resources at their respective institutions, look into licensure requirements, write letters of recommendations, and create a plan. We also have a network of 5,500 alums. We know so many professionals in different fields. They can all connect with our students so they can learn more about the alum journey.”
Earlier this year, HDF awarded $1.25 million in scholarships to 509 students. So the pressure to make sure those students have resources to help them stick with their education is greater than ever. “The Health Forward funding will help us have more stories like Sammy’s,” Perez said. “That’s the idea.”
For her part, Sierra-Diaz is eager to return the favor. In 2022, she joined HDF’s scholar advisory board, which is made up of current HDF scholars who bring their perspectives and ideas as students to foster positive change.
“When I first arrived at the KU campus, there weren’t many people I could connect with who could understand what I was going through,” she said. “Through HDF I met friends and found mentors. Just knowing you’re not the only one going through this makes you feel better. Now I want to turn around and be a mentor to others who want to go to grad school.”
IT’S ABOUT RECOGNIZING THAT THE GREATEST CHANGE OFTEN ORIGINATES FROM THE PEOPLE AND ORGANIZATIONS GRAPPLING WITH THESE ISSUES EVERY DAY.
EUSEBIO
DÍAZ,
VICE PRESIDENT, STRATEGY, LEARNING, AND COMMUNICATIONS, HEALTH FORWARD FOUNDATION
Outcomes from this funding include confidence, knowledge, and connections to advocate and improve outcomes for children and families.
Powerful communities are healthy communities.
PARENT LEADERSHIP TRAINING INSTITUTE
Tiffany Price’s anger had many sources. The single mother of four felt it when she reflected on her father’s murder when she was just seven years old. She felt it when she thought about her friends and classmates who died from gun violence. She felt it when she thought about how many broken lives she’d encountered, and how few resources were available to address that brokenness.
“That anger caused me to isolate myself,” Price said. “It was easier to be angry and not have to deal with stuff than not to be angry and handle stuff.” It didn’t have to be this way.
In 2018, Tiffany took a big step toward channeling that anger into a newfound power that would transform her life. That’s when she encountered Parent Leadership Training Institute – Kansas City, which offers a 21-week leadership and civics course to help parents become effective advocates for children. The course covers a range of topics — from honing leadership skills to primers on state and local governments to media engagement strategies. Most importantly, it teaches participants how to acquire and use power.
“Until PLTI, I didn’t know how powerful my voice could be,” Tiffany said. “I haven’t been quiet since!”
It was easier to be angry and not have to deal with stuff than not to be angry and handle stuff.
TIFFANY PRICE, MOTHER OF FOUR AND PLTI PARTICIPANT
Last year, PLTI partnered with Health Forward through $75,000 in funding to support its learning opportunities, which embody one of our core health equity strategies: building power in communities of color and in communities that have been economically excluded. In that respect, PLTI delivers: 60 percent of its nearly 100 graduates are people of color.
“PLTI is firmly committed to the principle that powerful communities are healthy communities,” said Jason Williams, Health Forward Principal Impact Strategist. “By showing parents how to fully participate in our democracy, PLTI is redistributing power to the people we partner with so they can hold our institutions accountable and build healthier communities for everyone.”
Graduates have testified at the Missouri and Kansas legislatures. They’ve voiced their opinions at city council meetings, joined nonprofit boards, written letters to the editor, and even run for office.
Julie Holland, PLTI’s director, founded the nonprofit in 2019. The year before, she created a pilot program, based on a national PLTI model, while an education advisor in Kansas City Mayor Sly James’ office. One hallmark of the PLTI course: it steers clear of telling parents what to advocate for.
“We don’t tell them how they should express their new found power,” Holland said. “We tell them, ‘You have the passion, you have the knowledge about what your community needs. We can help you navigate, disrupt, or work in the systems for the change you want.”
Graduates have testified at the Missouri and Kansas legislatures. They’ve voiced their opinions at city council meetings, joined nonprofit boards, written letters to the editor, and even run for office. One deaf leader helped draft “LEAD-K” legislation in Missouri, a model for promoting language equality and acquisition for deaf kids. Gov. Parsons signed it into law last summer.
Then there’s Tiffany. Her community project for the course explored ways to provide free bras to girls who could not afford them. After a pilot demonstrated an overwhelming demand, Tiffany founded a nonprofit organization. Today, she’s the executive director of Hold ‘em Up 4 Care, which received $40,000 from Health Forward in 2022 and has distributed more than 2,000 bras.
Tiffany’s efforts haven’t stopped there. She has since received an Associate of Arts degree and is actively pursuing her BSW at the University of Central Missouri. In 2021, the Brookside Charter School invited her to serve on its board. She recently joined other PLTI parents to support a bill that would transform Missouri’s approach to assessing school performance by focusing on academic growth. And earlier this year she filed for the vacant District 26 seat in the Missouri House of Representatives.
Before PLTI, Tiffany said, she couldn’t have imagined running for office, let alone starting a nonprofit.
“There was a point when I was angry and I just spoke from a place of hurt,” she said. “PLTI showed me I was holding myself back. I didn’t know I had power within me.”
This funding round was designed to strengthen small, community-based organizations led by and serving people of color or rural areas.
Dorothy Sparks, Hope Unlimited Executive Director
Health Forward is advancing capacity building, leadership development, and connectedness for nonprofits.
HOPE UNLIMITED
ALLEN COUNTY, KANSAS
In Kansas and Missouri, our nonprofit partners and their leaders stand at the forefront of advancing equitable policies, practices, and resources focused on health equity. They play a crucial role in shaping transformative change. However, many small, community-based nonprofit organizations face barriers in accessing the resources they need to drive meaningful impact.
Hope Unlimited, a nonprofit organization in Kansas, is one such organization. Its staff work tirelessly to support survivors of sexual and domestic abuse as they emerge from the shadow of their abuse and rediscover their individual power. But its relatively small size limits the time it can spend raising awareness about domestic and sexual abuse, as well as human trafficking.
Its relatively small size limits the time it can spend raising awareness about domestic and sexual abuse, as well as human trafficking.
In 2023, Health Forward partnered with Hope Unlimited through $125,000 in funding to increase its capacity to perform more outreach. This outreach, in turn, will help more women, men, and children in rural Allen County address their trauma and navigate a path toward healing.
The funding supports a community engagement coordinator to raise awareness about domestic abuse and to help direct Hope Unlimited’s $3 million campaign for a new domestic violence shelter. The coordinator will also focus on Hope Unlimited’s DEI efforts and engage diverse communities in more conversations about its services.
Health Forward’s Vice President of Strategy, Learning, and Communication Eusebio Díaz knows that this kind of support for community-based nonprofits in rural areas and communities of color is essential to fostering real systemic change.
“These organizations, deeply embedded within their communities, possess an intimate understanding of the challenges faced by their friends and neighbors. It’s about recognizing that the greatest change often originates from the people and organizations grappling with these issues every day.”
The demand for our services never eases, and our shelter has been running at capacity since Covid...
DOROTHY SPARKS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Executive Director Dorothy Sparks said that Hope Unlimited’s existing shelter is in an old house that does not give its residents much privacy and that creates logistical challenges for providing efficient services. During the pandemic, social distancing rules required the shelter to reduce its capacity, prompting the board to consider plans for a new facility. The new shelter will feature private rooms with kitchenettes, allow for social distancing (if the need arises), and give its residents greater agency.
“The demand for our services never eases, and our shelter has been running at capacity since Covid,” Sparks said. “So we need to make sure we’re in a position where we don’t have to turn people away.”
In addition to the shelter, Hope Unlimited offers support groups, crisis counseling, and a children’s visitation center. It also assists law enforcement with forensic interviews for victims of sexual and physical assault and makes itself available, if survivors request it, to attend medical exams. Through all of this work, Hope Unlimited aims to help each person it serves make a successful transition to a thriving life after experiencing abuse.
Sparks tells the story of a Spanish-speaking mother and child who had just experienced an act of violence. Law enforcement was having trouble communicating with the woman, so they called for a bilingual advocate at Hope Unlimited, who offered the woman a room at the shelter. The advocate helped the woman find resources, and, eventually, a job and a place to live — far from her abuser.
“We empowered her to begin to live her life here,” Sparks said. “to make a home here.”
With help from Health Forward funding, Hope Unlimited will have the capacity to share more stories like this. In the process, it will not only raise money for the new shelter, but spark more conversations about domestic violence, sexual abuse, and human trafficking.
“The more we’re out there talking about these things, the more comfortable people can become with seeking our services and supporting the work we do,” Sparks said. “In this way, we lend voice to those who are not being heard.”
YOU HAVE THE PASSION, YOU HAVE THE KNOWLEDGE
ABOUT WHAT YOUR COMMUNITY NEEDS. WE CAN HELP YOU NAVIGATE, DISRUPT, OR WORK IN THE SYSTEMS FOR THE CHANGE YOU WANT.
JULIE
HOLLAND, DIRECTOR,
PARENT LEADERSHIP TRAINING INSTITUTE
“We’re going to take our message as deeply into these communities as we can. In the process we hope to reach the people who need us most.”
Emily Hage, First Call President and CEO
This funding is designed to support predominantly white-led organizations that are looking to instill equity and inclusion into their work, as well as their organizational policies and practices.
As a participant in the Kansas City Health Equity Learning and Action Network, First Call addressed the inequities in its own services and crafted a plan for improvement.
FIRST CALL
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI
For nearly a decade, First Call — one of the Kansas City region’s go-to agencies for people affected by substance use disorder or addiction — has worked to create a more diverse organization. It has undergone a number of DEI trainings. Its staff have launched a DEI committee. Its board and staff are beginning to reflect the diversity of the communities it serves.
“But everything changed in 2020,” said CEO Emily Hage. “We started thinking differently about diversity and health disparities. As a team, we started asking, ‘What if we aren’t serving the people who need our help the very most?’”
Last year, this work received a boost from Health Forward with $50,000 in funding to support the marketing of First Call’s services to typically excluded communities. Issued as part of Health Forward’s Platform purpose area, the funding is designed for predominantly white-led organizations to forge policies and practices that center equity and race. Because how healthy we are is strongly influenced by systems and policies implemented across our region. And racism seeds our society with hate and scarcity rather than acceptance and abundance, which touches all of us in negative ways, from people who experience little advantage all the way to people who have the most advantage. Structural racism in yesterday’s systems harms communities of color and creates uphill battles toward health.
As a team, we started asking, ‘What if we aren’t serving the people who need our help the very most?’
EMILY HAGE, FIRST CALL CEO
To help with that work, First Call had already turned to the KC Health Equity Learning and Action Network, an initiative of the KC Health Collaborative, Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), and Health Forward Foundation that convenes key players in the region’s health care system to identify inequities in treatment and outcomes. After a series of workshops, First Call emerged with a plan to address the inequities it observed with its own services.
“We began to realize that we weren’t getting to the people who have the most barriers to accessing resources related to substance abuse,” Hage said. “Those people were from our Black, Brown, and LGBTQ communities, and they were experiencing worse outcomes than those from better resourced communities. Now we’re deliberate about asking who has the most barriers to accessing treatment? Who is overdosing? Where do we need to be?”
The numbers underscore why it’s critical to make this shift: From 2021 to 2022, overdose deaths increased 5.5 percent for Black Missourians statewide, but in Kansas City they skyrocketed by 52 percent.
The answers to those questions has not always come easy: To truly advance equity, First Call concluded that it would have to be more intentional about resource allocation and how its limited staff prioritizes the populations it serves. As a result, the agency shifted its recovery support services, which are free, to concentrate in places where people have more barriers to accessing these vital support services.
The numbers underscore why it’s critical to make this shift: From 2021 to 2022, overdose deaths increased 5.5 percent for Black Missourians statewide, but in Kansas City they skyrocketed by 52 percent.
“We had to say no,” Hage said about resetting priorities to serve more diverse and often excluded communities. “We need to prioritize people for whom transportation is a challenge, for whom safe housing is a challenge. And we especially need to help those at greater risk for overdose deaths.”
That’s where First Call’s marketing project enters the picture. To reach the people in those communities requires targeted outreach. Social media alone won’t do the trick. So First Call’s marketing plan calls for creating hotspot maps to identify which parts of the region are experiencing the most drug use and overdoses.
Bus ads and billboards have dotted those areas. Radio ads will be broadcast on stations with large Black and Latino/ a/x audiences. Brochures have been completed in different languages. Leveraging partnerships with other networks will help them grow their audience beyond their own, so First Call is engaging with the Black, Hispanic, and LGBT Chambers of Commerce.
The campaign already is showing signs of success. Last year, non-white participants in its recovery services climbed by nearly 10 percent.
“We’re going to take our message as deeply into these communities as we can,” Hage said. “In the process we hope to reach the people who need us most.”
We believe we can simultaneously meet financial and health equity goals. To that end, we are aspiring to diversifying the investment firms and managers we partner with.
$7M in capital was committed to three organizations advancing housing in Kansas City.
EMMET PIERSON, JR., PRESIDENT AND CEO, CBKC
PLACE
We must address the imbalance of power and the systemic racism that has created generations of poverty across large swaths of our community.
PURPOSE - DRIVEN INVESTMENT PROGRAM FUNDING
Social impact investing is a powerful way to direct capital toward initiatives that deliver measurable social benefits alongside financial returns. One of the primary areas we anticipate deploying this kind of purpose-driven investment is in housing and homeownership.
At Health Forward, we often speak of ‘building’ healthy communities. And when it comes to promoting safe and affordable housing and homeownership opportunities, we mean that literally: No community can achieve full health without building and maintaining quality homes for everyone — regardless of how much they are paid.
This is why we have recently begun supporting nonprofit organizations that have strong track records of constructing safe and affordable housing in economically excluded communities — especially communities of color. Last year, for the first time in our history, we implemented a low-interest loan program, committing up to $7 million dollars in capital to three organizations:
Urban Neighborhood Initiative ($1M)
Community Housing of Wyandotte County ($1M)
Community Builders of Kansas City ($5M) in 2023
Health Forward is fortunate to have a generous endowment of close to $900 million that allows us to make loans of this size. Our plan, adopted by our board of directors, is to invest a total of $20 million over the next three years.
Healthy communities typically have socioeconomic, racial, and ideological diversity. All of it blending together to create a melting pot for the good.
EMMET PIERSON, JR., PRESIDENT AND CEO, CBKC
It is important to note that money for these loans comes directly from our endowment’s principal and will not alter the annual spending target amounts for our funding partners. All of our funding for gifts and other purpose-driven partnerships with community organizations is drawn from an annual interest of four to five percent off that principal. (You can read about how four of our community partners are using their funds to create healthier communities in the other sections of this annual report.)
We know from their histories that they are experienced developers with highly-skilled staff who have forged strong and lasting partnerships with numerous stakeholders.
All three organizations will be required to pay back their loans at two percent interest. Each organization is using the resources to expand and accelerate work in affordable housing and other place-making efforts. We know from their histories that they are experienced developers with highly-skilled staff who have forged strong and lasting partnerships with numerous stakeholders. We trust that they will use these funds, and their partnerships, to bolster existing projects or to leverage new ones.
Emmet Pierson, Jr., President and CEO of Community Builders of Kansas City (CBKC) said the loan will help his organization “not only expand but more importantly accelerate what we’re doing.”
It takes time to cobble together numerous resources to build in the economically excluded communities that CBKC serves, most of them in east Kansas City. “Banks view developments on the east side as riskier,” Pierson said. “To lessen the risk they require us to put in more cash equity.”
One use for the Health Forward loan, Pierson said, will be to increase the equity invested in order to secure the larger loans required for big projects that CBKC is tackling. That includes directing some of Health Forward’s loan funds to the $90 million mixed-use development on what is currently 11 acres of blighted land at MLK Boulevard and Chestnut Avenue. The development will feature multi-family housing and office space, 20,000 square feet of which Health Forward will own for its new headquarters.
Pierson said that CBKC will aim to attract residents with diverse incomes to the development. “We may have someone making six figures with someone who is in low-income housing,” he said. “We have to begin to break the mold of concentrating people in poverty in one area. That’s how we can best support our community, support our grocery stores, and increase the tax base. Healthy communities typically have socio-economic, racial, and ideological diversity. All of it blending together to create a melting pot for the good. We need to create a place for our children to return after college and for our parents to empty-nest to, all while continuing to be active participants in our community.”
To be sure, the money we lend is one piece of a very complex puzzle. To complete that puzzle we must address the imbalance of power and the systemic racism that has created generations of poverty across large swaths of our community. Our hope is that our investment will not only leverage investments from other sources, but will inspire our community partners to continue their work of building a healthier Kansas City.
Statement of Financial Position
2022 ASSETS Cash, Prepaids, Accounts Receivable 11,142,593 16,187,837 Investments at Market Value 889,121,232 821,262,841 Programmatic Investments, Net 3,515,000 0
Fixed Assets 1,494,575 479,850
Assets 905,273,400 837,930,528
LIABILITIES & NET ASSETS
Contributed Capital Historical Value 660,620,188 660,620,188 Increase (Decrease) since inception 226,536,327 167,681,576
Unrestricted Net Assets 887,156,515 828,301,764 Total Liabilities & Net Assets 905,273,400 837,930,528
Statement of Changes in Net Assets
REVENUES
Net Investment Revenue 99,085,777 (102,835,865) Public Support & Contributions 5,000 15,001,466
