bi3 News + Partner Updates
Calling Greater Cincinnati students:
Participate in World Teen Mental Wellness Day 2025
bi3, Hopeful Empowered Youth (HEY!), Interact for Heath and the Joe Burrow Foundation invite Greater Cincinnati students in grades 7-12 to develop and participate in activities commemorating World Teen Mental Wellness Day. This year, students will be awarded up to $1,000 per school to plan, create and lead activities that engage their fellow students. While the Global Day will be held on Sunday, March 2, students will be encouraged to plan activities on Monday, March 3, while schools are in session.
This is the third year local students have had the opportunity to receive funding to support activities. In the inaugural year, funding supported 11 high schools. Last year, more than 50 schools participated!
bi3 and Interact for Health receive Philanthropy Innovation Award
bi3 and Interact for Health received the 2024 Innovation Award at Philanthropy Ohio’s Philanthropy Forward ’24 conference. Presented annually, the award recognizes a funder who has moved philanthropy forward through an implemented idea or innovation that led to positive change in how the sector operates, thinks or impacts communities.
bi3 and Interact for Health were recognized for their efforts in convening over 200 organizations across sectors, including 13 funders, to launch Hopeful Empowered Youth (HEY!). The collaborative’s 10-year vision is to build a community where every young person in Greater Cincinnati enjoys optimal mental health, is free of stigma, and is empowered to realize their fullest potential—now and into the future. This is the second time in five years bi3 has been awarded the Innovation Award.
bi3 team leads multiple sessions at the Philanthropy Forward ’24 Conference
Also, during the three-day Philanthropy Forward conference, bi3 led or served on the panel of five sessions, including Build Trust and Equitable Grantmaking in Any Role, Turning Trust into Impact, Tackling Your Community’s ‘Wicked’ Problems, Centering Youth to Tackle the Mental Health Crisis, and Centering Equity in Capacity Building.
Groundwork Ohio’s infant mortality report highlighted on NPR
Thanks to the work of our trusted partner Cradle Cincinnati and other community collaborators, infant mortality rates in Hamilton County recently fell to a rate of 5.5 deaths per 1,000 births. However, rates remain higher across Ohio, according to a report from Groundwork Ohio, citing that seven of every 1,000 babies born in Ohio still die before their first birthday.
NPR affiliate WOSU, recently invited Groundwork President & CEO Lynanne Gutierrez, to discuss the 10-year report on Infant Mortality in Ohio and opportunities to reduce infant death in the future. During the feature, she highlighted Hamilton County’s success in reducing infant mortality to indicate that change is possible.
Grantee Partner Spotlight
TriHealth Center for Health Equity
Fueled by a $4.5 million bi3 grant, the TriHealth Center for Health Equity launched last year to organize efforts and resources to proactively address social determinants of health and identify health disparities within TriHealth.
Since then, the Center has continued to build its internal team and launched efforts to address infant mortality, uncontrolled diabetes, and uncontrolled blood pressure that data shows have historically disproportionately affected socio-economically challenged communities and people of color. Each project lasts 12 weeks to test small interventions that could potentially be brought to scale.
For more updates on the work of bi3 and our funded partners, be sure to follow us on social media!
