Creatively meeting urgent needs in health care, financial services and education

The Haitian newspaper Le Nouvelliste described the extraordinary work of WKKF partners in an article titled “Mirebalais University Hospital treats more than a million patients a year.” The 320-bed hospital in Mirebalais, Haiti, was constructed in 2012 by grantee Build Health International for grantee Partners in Health (PIH) and the Haitian Ministry of Public Health. PIH provides a wide range of free medical services, including an integrated community and hospital maternal and child health care program funded by WKKF. 

In Mississippi, our grantee Sostento is working to ensure families living below the poverty line can access health care by expanding free clinics across the state. They also are paying ride-share costs to ensure families can get to the clinics.

A new community development financial institution focusing on small businesses owned by Black, Indigenous and communities of color formally launched in New Mexico. One Hope Financial Institution, L3C (OHFI) and the non-profit OHFI Foundation will offer financial services including loans, technical assistance and networking opportunities to entrepreneurs who have been historically overlooked and excluded from traditional lending and banking services. The OHFI loan fund will focus on character-based lending, a model that considers the applicant’s character as opposed to just their financial status.

WKKF Michigan-based grantee Grand Rapids African American Health Institute (GRAAHI) hosted a blood drive on Jan. 21 to honor two great Black leaders, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Dr. Charles Richard Drew, the first African American blood specialist. The event also ensures that people of color in the city have access to a diverse blood supply. Blood type is inherited, and compatible donors are often from the same ethnic and racial background as those requiring blood.

A tragic case in Massachusetts in which a young mother awaiting mental health services took the lives of her three young children and attempted suicide has put a spotlight on postpartum psychosis. Adrienne Griffen, executive director of the Maternal Mental Health Leadership Alliance, a WKKF grantee, spoke to NPR’s Here and Now about the issues surrounding maternal mental health care and offered tips on how mothers facing a mental health crisis can get help.

Educators nationwide are working diligently to address learning loss K-12 students have experienced as a result of the pandemic. To accelerate student learning and close opportunity gaps that students of color and those from low-income or immigrant families routinely face, school systems need high-quality and culturally relevant instructional materials. Maycomb Capital, a WKKF investee, elevates their Educational Resources Impact Fund (ERIF) as an emerging solution to build the capacity of nonprofits that are expanding access to these materials – and to teacher supports that promote their effective implementation – across the country. A recent article in Impact Alpha captures a conversation between members of Maycomb Capital and WKKF’s team as they share insights and perspectives on the fund.