BCBSRI seeks applications for 2025 BlueAngel Community Health Grants

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (July 1, 2024) - Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island (BCBSRI) is now accepting applications for 2025 BlueAngel Community Health Grantswith a continued focus on funding initiatives supporting access to healthy and affordable housing.

Applications must be submitted by July 31, 2024 at http://www.bcbsri.com/about/blueangel.

Through the 2025 BlueAngel Community Health Grant program, BCBSRI aims to:

• Fund organizations and programs that will result in more Rhode Islanders being able to afford safe, healthy and stable housing.

• Increase awareness about safe, affordable housing as a shared public concern, underscoring why housing matters and its connection to overall health.

• Highlight solutions and amplify effective models to support access to safe and affordable housing by funding proven and replicable local- and state-level initiatives, with an emphasis on collaborations across different sectors.

BCBSRI first began dedicating BlueAngel Community Health Grants to support housing initiatives in 2020. In the past five years, it has awarded more than $2.7 million in grants to 23 organizations, bringing BCBSRI's total investment in affordable housing to $8.5 million since 2019.

"Rhode Islanders continue to struggle with access to safe, stable, and affordable housing," said Carolyn Belisle, BCBSRI's vice president of corporate social responsibility. "Persistent inflation, high interest rates, and other economic factors have only exacerbated what has been a deteriorating situation for decades, despite the longstanding efforts of so many dedicated organizations and leaders. At Blue Cross, we're committed to leveraging our BlueAngel Community Health Grants to support community partners as they continue to address the root causes of our housing crisis and develop smart solutions for our state."

The BlueAngel Community Health Grant program is an annual competitive grant program that allows BCBSRI to further its vision to improve health and well-being by leading access to high quality, affordable, and equitable care, in partnership with community-based agencies. The program, established more than two decades ago, is the cornerstone of BCBSRI's community-investment activities, having contributed more than $6.9 million in funding to Rhode Island-based nonprofits since its inception.

BlueAngel grantees represent a myriad of services and resources, including housing navigation, legal protections and counsel, advocacy and policy work, new development, housing for special populations, landlord outreach and education, and transitional housing and supportive services.

The BlueAngel Community Health Grant program is one of the tools BCBSRI optimizes to address the findings of the annual RI Life Index, a partnership of BCBSRI and the Brown University School of Public Health. The Index is a data resource focused on social factors, such as access to nutritious food, quality education, and human services that have an outsize influence on health and well-being. Now in its sixth year, the Index consistently finds availability of, and access to, safe and affordable housing a significant concern and challenge for many Rhode Islanders. Investing in access to safe and affordable housing is an important step in BCBSRI's strategy to address health equity in Rhode Island.