2021 was another challenging year, filled with new obstacles. Yet, sprinkled among the challenges were moments of hope, growth and opportunity.
Hope for Moms and Babies
Following a decade of work and commitment, we saw a record-low infant mortality rate in Hamilton County and eliminated the disparity between White and Black extreme preterm births in the 12 neighborhoods using the care model bi3 helped fund in 2013. We also partnered with Groundwork Ohio and joined the effort that paved the way for Medicaid to extend coverage to Ohio mothers for an entire year after giving birth, a critical step in improving the health of moms and their babies.
Growth in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)
We helped accelerate DEI efforts at TriHealth, which recently received a Top Diversity Award from Modern Healthcare. We are most proud of the role we played in assisting TriHealth to establish and endow their School to Work Program that will continue to change students’ lives and create a more diverse healthcare workforce for years to come.
Growth of our small and mighty team
This year, we welcomed the talented Kiana Trabue, VP, Strategic Partnerships, and Erin McDermott, Executive Assistant. Additional capacity has allowed us to grow our Trust-Based Philanthropy Approach and expand our ability to support and strengthen local nonprofits committed to health equity. Below we share the impact of our capacity-building grants, which focused on increasing community access to health and social services and our team’s commitment to sharing our time and talents.
Opportunity to lead in health equity
In the coming weeks, we will be armed with new information from our region’s fourth Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA), led by The Health Collaborative. The CHNA collects data directly from those with lived experience, identifying our region’s most pressing health needs, including gaps in services and health inequities. Now, our challenge is to come together as a community and act. It’s time to collaborate and align resources to reduce health disparities. Through our upcoming Building Health Equity request for proposals, bi3 plans to invest in that commitment, awarding new funding to address our community’s top health needs. Look for details on the RFP early next year!
In the meantime, I wish everyone a happy and healthy holiday season and hope you enjoy time with friends and family!
Jill Miller
President, Bethesda Inc.
bi3 AND BETHESDA INC. HIGHLIGHTS
bi3 named finalist for Gen-H population health award
We’re proud to have been selected as a finalist for The Health Collaborative’s 2021 Gen-H Inspire Award! The Gen-H Award recognizes an individual, team, or organization that has demonstrated progress on three key goals to create a region that is healthy by design:
1. Addressing social determinants of health.
2. Designing healthcare that is more accessible, coordinated, continuous, and comprehensive.
3. Empowering community-based health and wellness initiatives.
The bi3 nomination highlighted our work to fuel health transformation and equity through strategic partnerships and our Trust-Based Philanthropy approach.
We congratulate our partners for winning The Health Collaborative’s 2021 Inspire Awards:
The Council on Aging for winning the Gen-H award for their Discharge to Home program
Santa Maria Community Services for winning the Diversity and Inclusion Award
TriHealth’s Good Samaritan Hospital Obstetrics Team for receiving the Quality Improvement Award
bi3 shares best practices at Modern Healthcare‘s Social Determinants of Health forum
Jill Miller recently had the honor of presenting at Modern Healthcare’s second annual Social Determinants of Health Symposium. The one-day virtual conference featured speakers who have initiated significant change.
The event brought together all entities along the continuum of care to address the most critical and actionable factors in addressing health outcomes—particularly for marginalized populations. During her segment, Jill shared a toolkit for attendees to address inequities in their communities.
Welcome Erin McDermott to the bi3 team
bi3 welcomes Erin McDermott as our new Executive Assistant! Erin has more than 20 years of experience providing executive-level support, including 10 years at TriHealth, most recently spent with the TriHealth Cancer Institute.
Erin is excited to use her skills to help bi3 on our mission to transform health. At home, Erin is a devoted mother and grandmother and a proud resident of Mariemont, Ohio.
PARTNER UPDATES
TriHealth’s School-to-Work program secures endowment
One of our most significant initiatives, School-to-Work, has its future secured. In 2019, bi3 provided $1 million to pilot and scale this program at Trihealth. Most recently, TriHealth leveraged bi3’s $6 million investment to obtain an additional $6 million investment from TriHealth co-sponsor CommonSpirit Health to complete the endowment.
The School-to-Work program gives Cincinnati Public School students real-world working experience and mentorship in the healthcare field while earning a paycheck. Earlier this year, the program’s entire inaugural class graduated from high school and went on to either college, trade school, or enlisted in the military.
Thanks to this new investment and the generous donations from Bethesda Inc. Board members, this program will continue to improve students’ lives and diversify our healthcare workforce for decades to come.
bi3 team volunteers at Sweet Cheeks Diaper Bank
In honor of Giving Tuesday, the bi3 team helped Sweet Cheeks Diaper Bank in Lower Price Hill bundle diapers for community distribution. The organization partners with local social service agencies to provide free diapers to low-income families while raising awareness of the primary health need for diapers.
Sweet Cheeks is working to eliminate diaper needs in our area so that ALL babies have a chance to be healthy, happy, and safe. Our team agrees this experience was good for the heart and a great team-bonding experience!
bi3 GRANTEE SPOTLIGHT
Local partners share impact of bi3 funding amid the pandemic challenges
This time last year, bi3 awarded $1.59 million to 37 area nonprofit organizations to help them adapt to the challenges created by the pandemic. The grants helped build and improve organizations’ infrastructure to ensure they could continue to provide services in the new virtual environment and position them for the future. Our partners used the funds to invest in technology, tools, and training that increased community access to health and social services and strengthened operations now and into the future.
Now, a year later, hear directly from our grant partners about the advances they have made.
For more updates on the work of bi3 and our funded partners, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter!
