Community Initiated Solutions Grant

The Community-Initiated Solutions Grant by The Colorado Health Foundation aims to empower communities to address their own health challenges by funding projects led by community members. This initiative prioritizes health equity, particularly for communities of color, and encourages collaborative solutions that leverage local resources and strengths. The Foundation seeks proposals that clearly define health issues and demonstrate community-driven decision-making, ensuring that the solutions are actionable and sustainable.

When community members themselves identify the issue and then work to generate and implement the solutions, they are able to raise their collective voice and strengthen their own power. The resulting community-initiated solutions are more likely to serve the needs of the specific community and demonstrate more long-term impact.
However, community change efforts are too often carried out by organizations whose work is done “to” or “for” community members, rather than in partnership “with” them or “by” the community members themselves.
With this funding opportunity, the Foundation is reaching out to community members directly and the organizations that support their actions through partnerships. Given the Foundation’s intent to advance health equity, proposals that center on communities of color shall receive priority consideration. We want to fund ideas that increase health equity and lead to healthier communities by implementing solutions where community members drive the decision-making. The Foundation is not determining which health focus/challenge will be chosen, or suggesting the approach to solving it.
Thus, applications may request funding to support a range of programs and/or projects identified by community members as necessary to address their own health challenges. As part of these proposed programs and/or projects identified, we require that organizations collaboratively work with community members to:

• Address a health challenge Develop and implement a solution
• Leverage existing strengths and resources
• Improve health equity

Proposed programs and/or projects must reflect the Foundation’s cornerstones. These outline who we serve, how our work is informed and our intent to create health equity.

Eligibility

Examples of organizations considered for funding:Community-based groups or nonprofit organizations (at this time, community groups or community based organizations without 501(c)(3) nonprofit status will need to partner with a fiscal sponsor).Other applicants that can demonstrate a substantial commitment to community-identified and community-led efforts to address complex health-related issues and/or challenges.To be considered for funding, organizations must meet the following criteria:Aligns with our cornerstones.Clarify the specific issue/challenge and how it impacts health.Illustrate that the health challenge was identified and the proposed solution were developed by community members.Articulate how the implementation of the program/project and who is leading the effort are community members.Explain how the proposed solution is not only actionable but within the existing capacity of the community.Demonstrate how the solution will improve health equity