Health Program
Kresge’s Health Program seeks to help
communities overcome the economic and
social disadvantages that contribute to poor
health so that all Americans have the chance
to enjoy productive, self-determined lives.
Our premise
The opportunity to pursue an education, achieve economic
security and participate as a productive member of society
depends on sound health. Health, in turn, is strongly
influenced by opportunities and conditions in the places
people live. Too often, the deck is stacked against people
in low-income neighborhoods: They are disproportionately
affected by polluting industries, violence and inadequate
housing; their neighborhoods are underinvested.
Everyone should have access to resources that support
health – things like safe, affordable housing and
neighborhoods, fresh food and economic opportunities.
We believe the United States should shift its emphasis
toward health by addressing conditions that affect not just
individuals, but whole communities. The U.S. spends nearly
$3 trillion a year on health care, devoting an unsustainable
level of resources to medical care and only the most limited
funding to improving health at the community level.
Developing healthy places
The places where we live shape our health. Unfortunately,
many people live in neighborhoods that have limited access
to affordable fresh food, safe places for recreation, highquality education and living-wage jobs. They may be exposed
to environmental hazards due to substandard housing and
the proximity of polluting industries. Some 70 percent of
a population’s health is determined by the physical, social
and economic environments and their influence on health
behaviors. Addressing these conditions begins to promote
health equity among people in low-income neighborhoods
and foster improved health for entire communities.
Our support is focused on three key determinants of health.
• Our healthy housing and neighborhoods work invests
in activities that speed the adoption of policies and
practices that promote safe, stable housing for vulnerable
people. We also support partnerships with the community
development and affordable housing sectors to increase
investments that foster health and connect low-income
residents to opportunity.
• In the healthy food systems area, we work with partners
to improve local food systems in ways that benefit both
health and economic development. We encourage new
practices that increase access to affordable, healthy food
and bolster the growth of food systems in low-income
communities, where residents too often face limited
access to fresh, healthy food. We are especially interested
in the economic impact local food systems can have in
these communities.
• Our equitable transportation and land-use funding
supports activities that expand and strengthen community
The Kresge Foundation
3215 W. Big Beaver Road, Troy, Mich. 48084
+1-248-643-9630
Health Program Officers
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David D. Fukuzawa
kresge.org
Stacey Barbas
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Managing Director
Senior Program Officer
Chris M. Kabel
Senior Program Officer
Phyllis D. Meadows
Senior Fellow
Other Team Members
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Joyce Holliman
Grants Management
Laura Lamberti
Program Team Assistant
efforts to influence policies that improve health and
safety. We know that the way we design and construct
our physical environments, landscapes and streetscapes
influences health, shapes the level of people’s physical
activity and affects the air they breathe, the water they
drink and their physical safety. We fund efforts that
advance urban and transit planning in ways that will
improve community health.
Accelerating community-centered approaches in health
We take a holistic view of health, and when we talk about the
health system we use the term in a broad, comprehensive way.
We believe all organizations and disciplines within the health
system have roles to play in fostering community health.
Hospitals, clinics, providers, insurers, public health officers
and others are key to addressing the social and physical
conditions that affect health.
The health system has, in fact, begun to recognize the need
to focus on these underlying concerns. Hospitals, local health
departments and organizations from other sectors have
created regional partnerships to improve community health
and reduce health disparities.
However, much can still be done. More diverse sectors
need to play significant roles in promoting the social and
environmental conditions that promote community health.
To advance these changes, we invest in:
• Community-based collaborations developed and
implemented by partners from different sectors able to
advance community-driven strategies to improve health.
Typically such efforts are multidimensional and address the
interconnected challenges that present obstacles to health.
• Leadership development, so that professionals working
in public health can help transform local public health
organizations, playing the new role open to them through
the Affordable Care Act and serving as a resource in the
community health system.
• Innovative population health programs and policies that
contribute to improving health at the community level,
including new financial models to achieve cost-effective
solutions. These activities spread prevention-oriented
models that improve the health of low-income people and
help create a comprehensive system that improves health
outcomes, promotes health equity and reduces per-capita
health costs.
Our approach
We believe community engagement and leadership are
essential to sustainable efforts to build healthy communities.
We know the challenges of improving health are best
met through multisector or interdisciplinary approaches,
understanding that many factors influence health and narrow
efforts necessarily exclude valuable perspectives and leave
core issues unaddressed.
We know that different tools are appropriate to various
situations. We collaborate with Kresge’s Social Investment
Practice to use loans and other forms of capital in situations
where traditional grantmaking may be less appropriate or
effective.
The Kresge Foundation is a $3.5 billion private, national foundation that
works to expand opportunities in America’s cities through grantmaking
and investing in arts and culture, education, environment, health, human
services, and community development in Detroit.
In 2014, the Board of Trustees approved 408 awards totaling $242.5
million. That included a $100 million award to the Foundation for Detroit’s
Future, a fund created to soften the impact of the city’s bankruptcy on
pensioners and safeguard cultural assets at the Detroit Institute of Arts.
A total of $138.1 million was paid out to grantees over the course of the
year. In addition, our Social Investment Practice made commitments
totaling $20.4 million in 2014.