The formation of EHF created a significant new source of health funding in the region, but it is still just a drop in the bucket when considering the resources necessary to move the health dials in our counties.  One of the design questions that the EHF team has been asking:  how can EHF most effectively build relationships with public agencies to increase the impact that we are all trying to achieve?

In exploring the answer to that question, EHF has been investing time to work with Public Health agencies at both the state and local level.  EHF recently awarded a $30,000 grant to the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) to build grant writing capacity in the department to more effectively pursue national funding opportunities created by the Affordable Care Act.  The award was made possible in large part by a matching grant from Grantmakers in Health in sponsorship by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.  EHF and DOH collaborated on preparing the matching grant proposal, and the team looks forward to learning how to be an effective partner in public / private partnerships.  

One of the first opportunities may be to integrate this work with our $35,000 in seed funding and regional capacity building towards the Community Transformation Grants.  The EHF team has been collaborating with the pubic health districts from all seven counties the past 9 months to prepare for the 5/13/11 release of the guidelines. We look forward to WA state and our region submitting competitive proposals.