Impact Strategist - Place

OVERVIEW
“Every day, we work to support and build inclusive, powerful, and healthy communities characterized by racial equity and economically just systems.”
 
With this as our purpose and reason for being, Health Forward Foundation is building the future of our region by grasping the issues that cause health injustice at their roots.
 
Health Forward’s mission is to achieve health equity and secure a fair and just region through leadership, advocacy, and resources. We support direct services and systems change for healthy people, community power, and equitable and just places. We support and partner with community-based and cross-sector organizations to improve health on all fronts through our purpose plan. Our work includes providing vital health services; working to advance safe and affordable housing and broadband access; amplifying the power that exists in our communities through civic engagement; and supporting small community-based nonprofits. We also support organizations in their race equity journeys, changing narratives and amplifying personal experiences.
 
Health Forward was created in 2003 from the sale of Health Midwest, a nonprofit hospital system, to Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), a for-profit hospital management company. Health Forward’s service area encompasses Kansas City, Missouri, and Jackson, Cass, and Lafayette counties in Missouri, and Johnson, Wyandotte, and Allen counties in Kansas. The foundation is governed by a 21-member board of directors and is managed by a professional staff of around 35 employees.
 
Health Forward is driven by the data evidencing health disparities and is committed to the process and the outcome of equity, inclusion, and anti-racism in its investments in services and systems change, employment practices, talent management, investments, vendor selection, and governance. Health Forward views equity as a fundamental element of social justice and integral in our purpose and to our mission.
 
 
Impact Strategist- Place
This position is a strategic integrator in the Place purpose area engaging with community partners and investments to drive toward systems-level change resulting in greater affordable homeownership opportunities, as well as digital equity. This person should possess a commitment to our prioritized communities of focus in the areas of digital equity and housing/homeownership. The position will require the ability to work collaboratively with internal teams, external partners, and diverse communities.
 
RESPONSIBILITIES

• In partnership with the Principal Impact Strategist – Place this individual will develop and recommend strategies to achieve impact in the Place purpose area to foundation leadership and take action to implement them leveraging the full use of Health Forward’s key levers — leadership, advocacy, and resources.
  • Management of the funding process. This consists of funding opportunity development, engagement with partners in consultations and capacity building opportunities, application review, funding recommendations, funding outcome assessments, and impact investment vetting and approaches.
  • Advocacy responsibilities include legislation awareness, lobbying activity, and engaging in partner and policy maker relationship building and education for the focus area.
  • Leadership responsibilities include participating in speaking engagements, community outreach, convenings, and other communication.
• Leads and participates in Health Forward’s funding, including the solicitation, assessment, design, review, financial and risk analysis, and learning and assessment processes.
• Develop and maintain relationships with a portfolio of funded partners.
• Establish close and integrative partnership with Health Forward’s Impact Administration, Impact Learning and Evaluation, Communications, and Policy and Advocacy teams, as well as community partners to usher innovative solutions across all aspects of digital equity and housing/homeownership.
• Builds and maintains strong trust-based relationships with key external stakeholders (e.g., community, funded and non-funded partners, foundations, governments, civic organizations, businesses)
• Communicates with internal and external stakeholders about activities and progress on a regular basis.
• Expands individual and organizational knowledge about race equity, economic inclusion, the social and political drivers of health, and trust-based philanthropy.
• Embodies Health Forward’s values and commitment to learning and evolving according to these values.

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience and a minimum of five years of relevant experience in philanthropy, grantmaking, nonprofit, housing/homeownership, digital equity, financial-real estate, social work, or a related field.
• Subject matter expertise in housing/homeownership and/or digital equity.
• Knowledge of race equity, economic inclusion, and the social and political drivers of health.
• Experience working within and/or leading cross-sector collaborations and partnerships between health care, housing, digital equity, and community-based organizations using a trust-based approach preferred.
• Nexus to Health Forward’s service area and prioritized communities of focus preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to build relationships and connect stakeholders.
• Strong interpersonal, communication and facilitation skills and the ability to work successfully in matrixed structures and on cross-functional internal and external teams.
• Excellent research, analytical, writing, and presentation skills. Comfortable and confident in public speaking.
• Experience managing projects from inception to completion with attentiveness to relationships, timeline, process, budget, and assigning responsibilities across multiple parties.