Developing Federal Funding Navigators
Developing Federal Funding Navigators
Billions in federal COVID-19 relief and recovery funds represent unprecedented opportunities for cities, counties, and states to make equity-enhancing investments in community. This historic investment in public health can redress gaps and inequities highlighted by the global COVID-19 pandemic. There is great need to help states, local communities, and fiscal intermediaries prepare to leverage this influx of funds, in order to sustainably capitalize on this opportunity to address upstream drivers of inequities so that all can have the opportunity to achieve optimal health and well-being.
Funding navigation is a skillset that enables finding the money in a system or across disparate systems and leveraging existing funds to create new opportunities across sectors. Funding navigation includes applying a systems perspective; a willingness to innovate; and expertise to help local collaboratives and states conceptualize, design, and financially support equity-advancing, cross-sector initiatives.
With support from the Blue Shield of California Foundation, the Georgia Health Policy Center is developing and piloting a training program for government and nonprofit staff interested in securing and deploying federal grant funds offered through the American Rescue Plant Act to address the root causes of health equity or domestic violence. The funding navigator training curricula will help participants understand (1) the scale, scope, and distribution of federal COVID‐19 funding to local governments, (2) key principles for planning, and coordinating recovery investments, and (3) options to inform, influence, and facilitate forward‐thinking investment decisions.