CARESTAR Foundation: Transformations & Innovations Grants

CARESTAR Foundation: Transformations & Innovations Grants

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: CARESTAR Foundation
Amount: US $1,000,000 - US $3,000,000
Last Updated: April 11, 2025

Summary

The CARESTAR Foundation's Transformations & Innovations Grants aim to enhance Emergency Medical Services (EMS) in California by supporting collaborative projects that address racial disparities and reflect community diversity. Grants of up to $100k for one year or $300k for multiple years will be awarded to California-based non-profits or public entities focusing on innovative EMS changes. The program prioritizes projects involving diverse community representatives and local emergency response agencies to improve care delivery and equity.

Overview

Transformations & Innovations Grants Program Given the critical role of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) to provide emergency and urgent healthcare in our homes and communities, with the Transformations & Innovations Grants Program, CARESTAR seeks to catalyze new and improved ways for Californians to request, receive, and experience EMS response and care. This includes rethinking how and which EMS agencies are activated to respond, the type and location of care provided, as well as ensuring care is delivered by first responders and other healthcare providers who reflect and respect the rich diversity of our communities. Understanding and addressing racial disparities in response or care should be central to the vision for change. We are specifically looking for collaboratives that are working together to create transformational EMS change. At a minimum, collaboratives should include: prioritize the experiences, needs, and ideas of residents who identify as Indigenous, Black, Latinx, Asian, or another racialized group - as well as communities that have historically been under-resourced;include diverse community representatives/agencies;include one or more agencies responsible for local emergency response; andhave support from, or the potential involvement of a Local Emergency Medical Services Agency (LEMSA). Leighton Honorees Every year, in memory of Jeff Leighton, a former CARESTAR advisor, the Foundation designates a portion of its TII grantmaking funds to support collaboratives serving rural, frontier, or tribal areas in California. The aim is to provide these regions, which encounter distinctive and challenging obstacles, with critical funds to rethink and coordinate emergency and prehospital care to better align with the needs of their local communities. With expertise in non-profit foundation development, operations, finance, and investment management, Jeff Leighton helped establish the CARESTAR Foundation in 2018. His illness and subsequent passing during this period led the board of directors to want to honor and recognize Leighton’s outstanding contributions to CARESTAR and strengthen the rural areas of California Jeff loved so much. Scope of Work The scope of work proposed can be narrow and deep focusing on innovations within specific components of EMS - or broad and wide across the response and care delivery landscape. The collaborative must consider local data and engage community members to understand what’s needed to improve racial equity within EMS. The following are examples (not requirements) of activities a collaborative could pursue: assess the current system and highlight any racial disparities or biasescreate a shared vision, engaging a range of stakeholders to reflect on current realities and consider what communities want, need, the barriers, and opportunitiesdesign, implement and/or evaluate EMS reforms (e.g., programs or policies) that address identified racial disparities; and/orshare best practices with regional and state agencies to support the integration, spread, and sustainability of innovations achieved. Funding Grant award sizes may vary. The maximum amount is $100k for a one-year grant, and a maximum of $300k for a multi-year grant. Please do not feel obligated to apply for the maximum amount, as we would like to fund as many collaboratives as possible with a limited budget.

Eligibility

We've imported the main document for this grant to give you an overview. You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. To apply for a Transformations & Innovations grant, the lead applicant/organization must be a California-based non-profit organization or public entity, with at least one collaborative member physically located in the geographic area where the project will occur.Collaboratives can be in any stage of development, from the early introduction of potential partners, to fully functioning, multi-disciplinary groups.

Application Details

Transformations & Innovations Grants Program
Detailed Description
(Updated: November 2022)
OVERVIEW
The CARESTAR Foundation (CARESTAR) is pleased to announce that our Transformations and Innovations
Grants Program is open for applications. Through this initiative, CARESTAR is looking to invest in
community-based collaboratives reimagining and transforming emergency and prehospital care. For
example, how and who residents call for help in a crisis, the responders who show up, how they show up,
the care provided in homes and communities, or transport/transition to longer-term care when needed.
To honor the diversity of needs and experiences and encourage the creation of authentic system
transformation, CARESTAR is looking to support multi-agency local collaboratives representing
different perspectives on what is needed for emergency and prehospital care, specifically including
community voices. These multi-agency collaboratives can already exist or be newly forming.
We are particularly interested in lifting up and improving how residents who identify as Indigenous,
Black, Latinx, Asian or another racialized group, as well as communities that have historically been
under-resourced, engage, receive, and experience emergency and prehospital care.
Ideally Local Emergency Medical Services Agencies (LEMSA) will be aware of or involved in collaborative
efforts. This is important as LEMSAs oversee county-level emergency services such as paramedic,
emergency medical technician (EMT), air and ground ambulance response, to ensure that effective
emergency care is available throughout the county. Over the long term, CARESTAR hopes that local
successes can be shared across communities and inform or lead to local regulatory and policy changes.
BACKGROUND
Over 40 million California residents and visitors rely on effective emergency and prehospital care to
provide help and save lives whenever a traumatic event or injury occurs, regardless of the precipitating
cause (e.g., motor vehicle accident, gun violence, accidental fall, substance use, mental health crisis,
wildfire, disease outbreak, etc.).
The system responsible for providing this emergency and prehospital care is made up of a complex web
of public and private agencies, a range of first responders and health care providers, and various
communications and triage systems, all governed and influenced by local, state, and federal policies,
regulations, and payors. Many of these structures, processes, and even budget allocations, are based
on historic or traditional approaches and the “way thing have always been” rather than on a deep
understanding and assessment of what is needed and wanted in modern society by individuals and
communities requiring help in a crisis.
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In California, it is also important to acknowledge that the emergency and prehospital care system serves
diverse populations with a variety of cultures, languages and geographies, and functions in the context
of racism, disinvestment, and trauma many communities experience, which has led to mistrust and fear
of these very services.
Given the critical role of this system to protect public health and safety, and to provide healthcare in our
homes and communities, CARESTAR seeks to catalyze new and better ways for ALL Californians to
receive the most appropriate emergency and prehospital care when and where they need it, delivered
by first responders and other providers who reflect and respect the rich diversity of their communities.
In this reimagined system, it is critical that communities have a say in what they need, want, and
experience, and that community-based organizations and emergency and prehospital care agencies
better communicate, coordinate, and collaborate with each other. Embracing and applying a racial
equity “lens” is central to this transformative work. In other words, paying disciplined attention to race
and ethnicity in problem analysis, identification of solutions and to define success is absolutely essential.
Applying a racial equity lens will revolutionize how, where, why, and by whom emergency and
prehospital care is provided, and therefore improve health outcomes for all Californians.
Definition of Emergency and Prehospital Care
For the purposes of this initiative, the term “emergency and prehospital care” refers to a range of activities
and stakeholders including but not limited to the:
• 911 (211, 988 etc.) call centers and representatives who assist community members in crisis;
• First responders who are dispatched into home and communities;
• Type and quality of emergency response, care and services provided;
• Sharing and transferring of information between individuals, agencies and systems;
• Transport and/or transition to follow-up care as needed; and
• Injury prevention and disaster planning activities that specifically focus on improving racial equity.
CARESTAR’s Mission, Vision, and Goals
The CARESTAR Foundation’s mission is to improve health outcomes for all Californians using a racial equity
lens to fund and advocate for improvements to our emergency response system. Our vision is that all
Californians experience an emergency response system that is equitable, unified, and compassionate.
To achieve this vision, we are reimagining an emergency and prehospital care system in California in which:
• Individual Californians trust and are confident (and don't fear) in engaging with emergency and
prehospital care organizations and receive care and services that are appropriate for their
needs.
• Communities have the voice, power, and influence to transform emergency and pre-hospital
care to work for them.
• The system of emergency and prehospital care values community input and works
collaboratively with communities, and with each other, to better meet local health and safety
needs.
• Local and state policy codifies and incentivizes innovation and community-centered care to
improve equity in the emergency and prehospital care system.
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GRANT COMPONENTS
Award Amount
Grants will range in size from $100K-$150K for one-year grants, to $300K-$1M for multi-year grants. The
specific parameters (amount and time) will be determined in partnership with applicants to align with the
complexity, needs, and plans discussed. These are flexible funds for use by the collaborative as needed.
Collaborative
For this initiative, we consider a collaborative as multiple agencies who are committed to learning,
planning, and acting together, toward a shared vision and/or goals. A collaborative can be in any stage
of development -- from initial stakeholder assessment and introductions to early formation and launch,
or as a mature, multi-agency and fully functioning group with a history of working together.
Collaboratives can also be more formal in nature -- for example, having paid staff or memorandum of
understanding between agencies, or established rules/processes -- or they can be more informal as
groupings of representative(s) participating in shared activities, or simply acknowledging the work
through letters of support.
Collaboratives that include (or demonstrate strong potential to include) involvement of the following will
be prioritized:
• One or more agency responsible for local emergency response such as: fire department, public
or private ambulance company, mobile crisis unit, police or sheriff departments, and/or agency
overseeing call center(s) and triage services such as 911, 211 or 988;
• One or more community-based organization that can engage or advocate on behalf of local
community members, particularly Indigenous, Black, Latinx, Asian or another racialized group, as
well as communities that have historically been under-resourced;
• Local Emergency Management Services Authority (LEMSA). A list of LEMSA agencies and
contacts can be found here: https://emsa.ca.gov/local-ems-agencies/; and
• Local hospital or trauma center.
Examples (not requirements) of other partners that could be involved in a collaborative include:
• Local public health and/or behavioral health department;
• EMT or paramedic training program (including community colleges);
• Community-based agency that provides physical or behavioral health care, such as behavioral
health or substance abuse care facility;
• Local/regional government representatives; and
• Other relevant organization(s).
Scope of Work
The scope of work proposed can be narrow and deep - focusing on specific components of the emergency
and prehospital care system, or broad and wide to transform the landscape depending on local needs,
opportunities, and resources. How the collaborative operates and progresses toward reimaging and
transforming local emergency and prehospital care including the workplan, activities, and use of funds
over the multi-year period, is flexible as long as the collaborative engages local community members,
focuses on racial equity within the system, and considers local data.
The following are examples of activities a collaborative could pursue toward a transformed emergency and
prehospital care system. This is not a required list, but offered as ideas for consideration:
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• Assess the Current System: Paint a picture of how the current system is structured and working (or
not), where are the pressure points, what is working well, and what could be improved. Examine
and highlight any racial disparities or biases in the ways community members engage, receive
and/or experience local emergency and prehospital care. Review quantitative data related to the
local emergency and prehospital system at the local level (e.g., zip code, census tract, GIS mapping
etc.). Collect and reflect on qualitative data such as interviews, focus groups, surveys, etc. with
community members, people with lived experience, and other relevant stakeholders.
• Create a Shared Vision: Engage a range of stakeholders -- such as first responders, health care
providers, public officials, community members and/or community-based organizations -- to reflect
on local realities and data and consider what communities want and need, local assets, barriers,
challenges, and opportunities. Create a shared vision for a transformed local emergency and
prehospital care system that centers racial equity. What would the ideal system look like? How
would it function and feel? What would be different than the current system?
• Develop a Plan: Develop an implementation plan for pursuing goals toward change including
components such as stakeholders, key milestones, budget, participant roles, how progress will be
captured, and a process for engaging community members and if appropriate, key staff required
for success. A shared vision or goals and local data can inform this plan.
• Advance Systems Change: Share process, progress and outcomes with key regional and state
agencies including the Local or State Emergency Management Systems Authority (EMSA) or the
public at large, in order to support the integration, spread, and sustainability of innovations
achieved, reinforced by policy or regulatory changes.
Geographic Focus Area
These grants are available for work at the city, county, or LEMSA area within California. At least one
collaborative member must be physically located in the geographic area of focus.
Reporting Requirements
CARESTAR is interested in learning alongside collaborative partners, as well as elevating and amplifying
successes and challenges along the way. As such, we would like to meet regularly with collaboratives
individually (preferably with multiple collaborative representatives), as well as bring together several
collaboratives a few times a year, to share updates, brainstorm ideas, provide feedback to each other, and
to identify any milestones reached. Progress report meetings with CARESTAR will be held approximately
every six months, and larger gatherings with other grantees will occur 1-2x per year.
Evaluation
CARESTAR is still considering an overarching evaluation for this body of work and will provide an update to
grantees as soon as possible. Most-likely there will be a self-report questionnaire each collaborative will
be asked to complete at regular intervals, and possibly another method of capturing progress and impact.
Please know that CARESTAR deeply respects grant partners’ time and will aim to minimize the burden of
evaluation on participating collaboratives.
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APPLICATION PROCESS
Applicant
To apply for a TII grant, a lead organization will need to be identified and serve as the primary contact
for the grant. This lead organization must be a non-profit organization or public entity. Preferably the
lead organization is based in the area where the project will occur. In the application there are also
questions asking for basic information on existing collaborative members, or ideas for members if the
collaborative is not yet formed.
Process & Timing
The TII application process is an approximately four-month journey starting with a Letter of Intent (LOI)
through grant award and funding.
The application stages and timing are as follows:
Step 1: Letter of Interest (LOI)
• LOIs are accepted an ongoing basis throughout the year.
• The online LOI can be accessed here.
• We cannot accept LOIs sent via email.
• LOIs will ask for a lead organization. Collaboration with others is possible online.
• LOIs will be reviewed within 2-3 weeks of submission.
Step 2: Full Application
• LOIs that meet the criteria and goals will be invited to submit a full application.
• The full application can be submitted whenever the lead organization and collaborative
are ready.
• Full applications will be reviewed within 4-6 weeks of submission.
Step 3: Interview
• Applicants that advance will be invited to meet with CARESTAR (online or in-person).
• Supplemental information or materials may be requested at this time.
Step 4: Award Notification
• Applicants will be notified about award status within 2-3 weeks of the interview.
• Grant details will be outlined in the final award letter and grant agreement.
To begin the application process, please visit our website
www.carestarfoundation.org
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REVIEW CRITERIA
Review Process
Applications will be reviewed by CARESTAR staff and outside experts including current CARESTAR grant
recipients. All applications will be assessed on their own merit and considering the attributes listed below.
Criteria
CARESTAR acknowledges that communities are starting from various stages of development and
collaborative formation, so criteria listed below will be considered related to current status, and/or the
potential/ability to address during the grant period.
• Problem Identification
Understanding of racial disparities and changes needed in local emergency and prehospital care or
how to gather, assess and prioritize information.
• Project & Vision of Success
Potential to "transform'" one or more aspects of local emergency & prehospital care.
• Population Served
Focus on and support for residents who identify as Indigenous, Black, Latinx, Asian or another
racialized group, as well as communities that have historically been under-resourced.
• Community Involvement
Inclusion of community and people with lived experience to identify problem, ideas for solutions,
planning, feedback.
• Use of Data
Grounded in local quantitative and/or qualitative data that also examines racial disparities.
• Potential for Systems Change
Potential to scale, disseminate, influence, or lead to policy or regulatory change.
• Strength and diversity of the lead agency/applicant
Legacy, reputation, diversity, ability to lead the work and gather stakeholders.
• Strength and diversity of the collaborative
Multi-sector, EMS participation, community participation, other important stakeholders, reflects
the community served.
QUESTIONS?
Please reach out if you have any questions about the initiative overall, or the application process.
Emails can be sent to: grants@carestarfoundation.org
Examples of Past Grantees
Please refer to our website www.carestarfoundation.org for brief descriptions of past grantees in this
initiative, and other general grants.
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