We seek to promote the physical health and well-being of low-income and vulnerable populations by improving the environmental and social conditions affecting them and their communities. We also work to increase both access and quality of their health-care services, and advance the field through new knowledge and promising practices.

In response to the economic crisis, we are making available a new grant opportunity – the Health Clinic Opportunity Fund, which is designed to bridge, build, and sustain the operations of high-performing community health centers serving diverse and vulnerable populations.

Our programmatic approach

The Health Team funds evidence-based work and innovation developed at the local, state, or national levels in the following three areas:

• Healthy Environments: Supporting efforts that create healthy and safe spaces for children and families
• Caring Communities: Strengthening partnerships and practices to achieve better health-care outcomes
• Emerging and Promising Practices in Health: Stimulating innovative connections across sectors to improve the well-being of vulnerable populations. (See Glossary of Terms, located in the Resources box in the upper-right-hand corner of this page for Kresge's definition of "vulnerable populations" and other relevant terms.)

Healthy Environments supports strategies that engage communities in the promotion of healthy surroundings for children and families. Support is directed to issues such as air quality, safety, and eliminating exposure to hazardous environmental conditions in homes, schools and neighborhoods. Work is concentrated in three areas:

• Protecting children from exposure to air pollution and other environmental hazards
• Promoting healthy homes, schools, and neighborhoods, including the Kresge Foundation's Getting the Lead Out Initiative, a two-year, national effort to advance the elimination of lead poisoning among vulnerable children
• Making outdoor places safe for children through support of collaborative efforts to protect children from violence or fear of violence.

For more information and to apply online with a letter of inquiry, visit the Healthy Environments page.

Caring Communities supports safety-net institutions and those providing health services to underserved populations in high-need rural and urban settings. The three grant opportunities in this area are:

• Health Clinic Opportunity Fund – a national grant program developed in response to the economic crisis to help charitably funded clinics, public health clinics, and those designated federally qualified health center look-alikes sustain or increase their capacity to meet growing demand for their services. Application deadlines for the Health Clinic Opportunity Fund are September 4, 2009 and March 1, 2010. Please note: Federally qualified health centers are not eligible to apply.
• Safety-net Enhancement Initiative attempts to strengthen cross-sector collaboration among community-based health-care agencies that provide primary-care services to low-income and vulnerable individuals. This grant opportunity has two parts: (1) a program planning and design phase and (2) a demonstration phase. It is designed to foster new models and approaches for health-care delivery that reduce health disparities and improve the health outcomes of adults and children living in underserved communities. We are requesting full proposals for phase one of the initiative, the program planning and design phase. The deadline for responses to our request for proposals is November 16, 2009.
• Safety-net Facility Improvement Fund supports new construction and renovation of clinics and other health care organizations so they may expand their facilities in order to increase access and enhance the quality of their services for underserved populations. Most grants are awarded in the form of a challenge grant during an organization's capital campaign.

For more information on the Health Clinic Opportunity Fund, the Safety-net Enhancement Initiative and the Safety-net Improvement Fund, and to apply online, visit the Caring Communities page.