Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg and Orlando Health Bayfront Hospital Launch New Grant

Awarding up to 4 grants of $250,000 each for a total of $1 million in funding

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., April 25, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg and Orlando Health Bayfront Hospital have joined forces to launch a new grant opportunity focused on south St. Petersburg. Healthy People 2025 will award a total of $1 million to fund up to four multi-sector collaborations working on systems-level change in the social determinants of health.

While much progress has been made to improve community health in recent years, inequalities remain. The Foundation's recent South St. Pete Health Equity Profile revealed significant disparities for South St. Petersburg compared to Pinellas County as a whole in the areas of chronic disease, neighborhood safety, and maternal-infant health.

"To most effectively improve the lives and health of people in our community, we must collaborate, across sectors, with not-for-profits that deliver care and services, government, our local business community, faith-based groups, and community organizations, as well," said Dr. Kanika Tomalin, President and CEO of the Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg. "We are excited to introduce this opportunity to collaborate in our community. Working systemically to address the root causes of problems while we continue to address the challenges and deficits they create will move us closer to creating a community in which good health enables all people to thrive."

Organizations interested in applying for funding must submit letters-of-interest outlining their proposal and their confirmed partners by 5 PM on May 27, 2025. Collaborations invited to submit a full grant application will be informed the week of June 23, 2025. Final award notifications will be made the week of October 6, 2025.

Definitions of key concepts relevant to the grant are provided below:

Social Determinants of Health: More than access to medical care alone, our health is shaped by the conditions and environments in which we live, work, learn, and play. It's shaped by the neighborhoods we live in, the quality of the jobs and educational opportunities we have access to, the strength of our social networks and supports, and so much more. Together, these factors are known as the social determinants of health - and they can be responsible for up to 80% of our health outcomes down the road.

Systems Change: Social Innovation Generation defines systems change as "shifting the conditions that are holding the problem in place." Have you ever bumped up against a persistent problem in your work or life and thought, hmm… things would be better if we had this policy or practice in place… or if people valued this concept differently… or if these people had a greater voice in a process. Each of those ideas could be considered examples of potential interventions that could help change systems - and that's what this funding opportunity is about. Systems change involves identifying a need or problem, figuring out the root cause of why it exists, and working to address that root cause in order to solve the problem.

Multi-Sector Collaborations: A multi-sector collaboration is a partnership made up of government; non-profit, private, and public organizations; community groups; and/or individual community members working together to solve problems that affect the whole community. At least two different sectors must be represented in each collaboration. Research shows that multi-sector collaborations are more effective and resilient when it comes to creating meaningful change. Basically, no one can change systems in isolation. We need partners to do this work, both in our sector and beyond.

More information, including the request for letters of interest, is available on the Foundation's Healthy People 2025 web page.

About the Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg

The Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg is a private foundation formed in 2013 following the sale of the nonprofit Bayfront Health St. Petersburg. As the steward of an endowment to support health equity in Pinellas County, the Foundation leads, funds, advocates, and partners to create a community in which all people can lead healthy lives. The Foundation advances racially equitable health outcomes by improving the systems and conditions that shape them. It opened its Center for Health Equity in 2019. To learn more, visit https://healthystpete.foundation/

About Orlando Health

Orlando Health is a private not-for-profit, integrated academic healthcare system with $12 billion of assets under management, that serves the southeastern United States – including Florida and Alabama – and Puerto Rico. With corporate offices in Orlando, Florida the system provides a complete continuum of care across a network of medical centers and institutes, community and specialty hospitals, physician practices, urgent care facilities, skilled nursing facilities, home healthcare, and long-term and behavioral health care services. Founded more than 100 years ago, Orlando Health's mission is to improve the health and the quality of life of the individuals and communities we serve. The system provided nearly $1.7 billion in community impact in the form of community benefit programs and services, Medicare shortfalls, bad debt, community-building activities and capital investments in FY 23, the most recent period for which the information is available. For more information, visit orlandohealth.com, or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Xhttps://x.com/orlandohealth (formerly Twitter.)

Contact: Barbara Green
barbara@healthystpete.foundation
(727) 440-7963

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SOURCE Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg