Giving Compass' Take:

· Grantmakers In Health take a look at mixed-income communities and share their findings for health funders to achieve equity and inclusion in care.

· What opportunities do mixed-income communities hold? What does the report show funders can do to achieve equity? 

· Here's how philanthropy innovates health equity.

The negative effects on health of housing instability, growing income inequality, concentrated poverty, and racial segregation are undeniable. In fact, the health inequities resulting from these challenges are getting worse, exacerbated by market forces, policy gridlock, and increased political polarization. At the same time, these challenges have also galvanized various cross-sector leaders concerned about housing and health. Health funders have been among those stakeholders who are exploring the synergies between health and housing, only to realize that each policy domain presents a complicated world to navigate. Amidst that complexity and often through the lens of revitalizing neighborhoods in their targeted geographies, funders are recognizing that mixed-income communities have the power and potential to be a solution for a diversifying and polarizing America, offering opportunities to bridge the social divide, change mental models about the “other,” and demonstrate the economic and social vitality of equitable, inclusive, mixed-income communities.

In 2017, the Mixed-Income Strategic Alliance—a partnership of the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) based in Washington, D.C.; the National Initiative on Mixed-Income Communities (NIMC) based in Cleveland, OH; and, Urban Strategies, Inc. (USI) based in St. Louis, MO—started a learning exploration in partnership with, and supported by, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to unpack the intersection of housing and health. The goal was to build knowledge and advance the mixed-income field toward greater inclusion and equity.

Read the full article about mixed-income communities and health by Salin Geevarghese, Joni Hirsch, Mark Joseph, and Emily Miller at Grantmakers In Health.