RFP: Charlotte Health Zones Grant

The CVS Health Foundation is launching the Charlotte Health Zones Grant, aimed at improving health outcomes in underserved neighborhoods in Charlotte. This initiative supports collaborations among nonprofit organizations to enhance health care access and social services coordination. Eligible projects will focus on reducing barriers to care, enhancing service access, and improving healthcare quality, with funding of up to $2.24 million available over three years. Applicants are encouraged to engage in comprehensive evaluations to measure their impact.

Introduction
A variety of factors influence a person’s health, including access to health care services, healthy food, and transportation. To tackle these challenges and improve health outcomes, we are collaborating with local organizations with a deep understanding of the community through our Health Zones initiative.
The CVS Health Foundation (“the Foundation”) currently supports four active Health Zones in Atlanta, Fresno, Phoenix, and Hartford. This RFP will provide a three-year grant of up to $2.24 million to a cohort of nonprofit organizations that can support our Theory of Change. The goal is to implement strategies that improve health outcomes for residents living in under-resourced neighborhoods in Charlotte.
Our Theory of Change
The Foundation has identified one specific long-term outcome that it believes can be accomplished through collective, sustained action at the local level. All funding recipients will be expected to achieve this outcome by the end of the three-year grant period:

• Improved health outcomes of program participants with chronic conditions living within the Health Zone
• In addition, applicants must commit to use project funds to deliver at least two of these additional interim outcomes:

Increased connectivity and care coordination between health care and social service systems Reduction in barriers for patients accessing healthcare services(e.g. culturally relevant care, transportation, etc.)Improving access to services that address health-related social needs (i.e., food security, workforce development, housing)Improved quality of healthcare services
The Foundation will provide a three-year grant and non-financial support to 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations working together to address health access within a community. Projects should aim to achieve the outcomes listed above through the implementation of collaborative, coordinated strategies among cross-sector partners.
Applicants must engage in robust, candid, and comprehensive evaluation of their efforts. The Foundation and its collaborators will provide technical assistance in the development and ongoing refinement of measurement plans that include details about key metrics, data sources, and data collection and analysis frequency.
Applicants will work on addressing specific community health issues and providing interventions with a collaborative approach, working together to provide a continuum of care and services to the communities within the city of Charlotte.

Eligibility

Eligible Geographies and Populations ServedThrough this initiative, the Foundation intends to fund projects serving residents of the city of Charlotte.The Foundation intends to fund projects that primarily focus on underserved patient populations.(e.g., those living at or below the Federal Poverty Level, those who are under- or uninsured).Award StructureApplicants must designate a lead agency that will submit the application on behalf of the cross-sector collaboration. This lead agency will serve as the fiscal agent, act as the main point of contact for all program, operations, communications and evaluation-related components of the grant, and receive and distribute the funds in the event of an award.Applicants should include funding needed for lead agency activities in their project budget if applicable. This partner must have 501(c)(3) status with the Internal Revenue Service.Grantees with active Foundation or CVS Health grants may be included as a lead or supporting agency in an application for this program. Up to 15% of the $2.24M budget can support indirect costs, which we define as overhead expenses that relate to the overall operations of your organization or are shared among projects or functions. Indirect costs include accounting, insurance, legal services, and utilities.

Ineligibility

Projects and partnerships that are not serving participants directly in the city of Charlotte, North Carolina are not eligible to apply for this grant. The Foundation generally will not fund:Endowments or capital campaignsCapital expenses, construction projects, and purchases of large equipmentDirect delivery of reimbursable healthcare servicesBasic biomedical researchAdvocacy, political causes, or eventsSacramental or theological functions of religious organizationsExisting deficits or retroactive fundingEvent sponsorships