Our mission
bi3 is Bethesda Inc.’s philanthropic initiative to transform the health and well-being of all people in Greater Cincinnati. Our purpose is to lead the way to a day when every person has a fair and just opportunity to be as healthy as possible; when a person’s health can no longer be predicted by race, ethnicity, ability or zip code. We invest in new ideas and approaches with the potential to spark and scale health innovation and share what we learn with our private and public partners.
We are advocates
bi3 deploys a multi-dimensional approach to create systemic change in long-term community health issues. Because government is a critical decision-maker and a major funder of health care and related human services, we are increasingly using our relationships and influence to communicate what we learn from our investments and partnerships to the public sector.
We will challenge our elected and appointed officials to think differently about health and health care and provide them with the data and information they need to make positive decisions. Whether with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, our federal and state elected officials, state and local health departments or other governmental bodies, what we learn provides valuable information for the improvement of health and health care.
As we increase our public sector advocacy, we will be nonpartisan and positive in our relationships and associations; focused on what we learn from our research, partnerships and investments; supportive of our organizational priorities and focused on our key investment areas.
How we advocate
bi3 will thoughtfully engage in a range of advocacy activities including:
- Establish an agenda of public policy issues related to health and the social determinants of health on which bi3 will advocate
- Fund organizations that do health-related policy analysis, education and advocacy
- Educate elected officials (local, state and federal) about our investments and what we learned from them
- Educate Bethesda, Inc and TriHealth stakeholders about our policy positions
- Provide support of policy change through sign-on letters, group endorsements and other targeted communications strategies with our stakeholders, government leaders and the public
Both the advocacy agenda and proposals to fund policy advocacy will be reviewed by the bi3 staff and presented to the bi3 Committee and the Bethesda Inc. Board of Trustees and Bethesda Hospital Inc. Board of Trustees for approval. Review will include an analysis of priority to achieving success in bi3’s key funding areas, the ability of the organization to influence what may happen, and the potential risk related to the proposed advocacy.
We will focus on advocacy that builds the capacity of our grantees and community partners to act collectively toward a shared goal. We will be positive and respect different perspectives and we will embrace the courage it takes to advocate for meaningful change in public policies affecting health and health care.