CINCINNATI –  May 24, 2023  – The Community Builders (TCB) is pleased to announce that it has been selected to receive a BUILD Health Challenge® award. TCB will receive $300,000 in funding and additional resources to support the collaborative work of Building a Healthier Cincinnati (BHC), a multisector collaboration, created by The Community Builders, All-In Cincinnati Coalition, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, INNOVATIONS, the City of Cincinnati Health Department, Health Care Access Now and Urban League of Greater Southwestern Ohio.  Together with resident stakeholders, these organizations will work to dismantle racial inequity in Cincinnati by mobilizing Black women toward social and economic prosperity. The BHC collaboration partners will act over three years to:

• • Engage residents living in affordable housing and remove barriers to participation in policy and advocacy efforts.
  • Create a formal healthcare career pipeline to economically empower residents living in affordable housing.
  • Build a Center for Social Justice as a hub to advance bold community-led policy change.

Cincinnati, Ohio is honored to be selected as one of the 13 communities to receive recognition, funding, and support from BUILD in the 2023-2026 term. The Avondale community is Cincinnati’s largest Black neighborhood, with a rich cultural history and engaged residents. New investments have expanded housing and economic opportunity in the area. But, barriers remain for many longtime residents. BHC will foster a community that is healthy by design, engaging stakeholders in the healthcare, housing and racial justice ecosystem and centering residents who have historically been left out of the conversation.

“We are delighted to receive this BUILD Health award and are proud to part of an innovative collaboration to expand economic opportunity, advance policy change, and build career pipelines in healthcare,” said Jodi Cunningham, Ph.D., director of health and housing for TCB. “Building a Heathier Cincinnati dismantles barriers of racial inequality and places residents who are most impacted at the center of community-led solutions.”

The BUILD Health Challenge is a unique national program focusing on bold, upstream, integrated, local, and data-driven projects that can improve community health. The BUILD Health Challenge award provides funding, capacity building support, and participation in a national learning network to enhance our local collaborative partnership and address our community’s most pressing health challenges. Special thanks to the BUILD Health Challenge for its support of this initiative.

“It is an honor to be part of the national BUILD Health cohort, as we advance The Community Builders’ mission to build and sustain strong communities where all people can thrive,” said Elizabeth Gonzalez Suarez, TCB vice president of Community Life. “The BHC collaboration will create a healthier Cincinnati, with more equitable opportunities for residents to pursue their dreams.”

About The Community Builders

The Community Builders’ mission is to build and sustain strong communities where all people can thrive. Our mission-driven businesses work with partners to develop, finance and operate residential communities, neighborhood amenities and opportunity programs for families, seniors and adults with disabilities. Since 1964, we have advanced housing equity through award-winning affordable and mixed-income communities and our pioneering Community Life model for resident success. Today, our ownership and management portfolio include over 14,000 apartment homes. Anchored by offices in Boston, Chicago, Columbus, New York and Washington D.C., we operate across 15 states.

About the BUILD Health Challenge

The BUILD Health Challenge is made possible with the support of: Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation, Blue Shield of California Foundation, de Beaumont Foundation, Episcopal Health Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, Leonard Parker Pool Institute for Health, Methodist Healthcare Ministries, Missouri Foundation for Health, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Trinity Health, Vitalyst Health Foundation, and W.K. Kellogg Foundation.