Transforming the Marketplace

Trinity Health

2018 Progress Report

Year Committed: 2016

Length of Commitment:

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Committed to implement a new Transforming Communities Initiative that will provide grants for communities to reduce tobacco use, lower childhood obesity rates, support early childhood health and wellness and improve access to nutrition and physical activity opportunities.

Verified Results

Implementation Date
May 2021
Reporting Date
July 2018

Commitment Element
Provide six identified communities up to $500,000 annually for up to 5 years to work with community partners to reduce tobacco use and lower obesity rates.
Progress To Date

Eight organizations that received four-year grants in 2016 totaling $2.9 million continued to work on projects in 2018 to improve community health and lower obesity rates. Projects included connecting schools to Food to Share programs, implementing active recess at schools, developing community schools that provide needed services to low-income communities, passing breastfeeding supportive legislation, opening a greenhouse that grows produce for the community and provides job training, and working to increase healthy food options at corner stores.
Implementation Date
May 2021
Reporting Date
July 2018

Commitment Element
Make $40 million available in Socially Responsible Investments in housing, early childhood health and wellness, and food access issues.
Progress To Date

Trinity Health committed to providing a loan of $1.5 million to support construction of the Healthy Hartford Hub, an approximately $36 million mixed-used development project designed to address Hartford, Connecticut's lack of access to healthy, affordable foods. The hub is expected to include a supermarket, teaching kitchen, clinic, and pharmacy. Trinity Health's loan would support the construction of a full-service supermarket.
Implementation Date
May 2021
Reporting Date
July 2018

Commitment Element
Maximize the impact of these investments by assisting communities with identifying and securing up to $22.5 million in cash match awards.
Progress To Date

In 2018, the eight organizations that received grant awards to improve community health and lower obesity rates identified and secured $1,438,500 in cash match. Total cash match secured to date is $2,838,500, 13% of the cash match goal.

Partner Statement

“Trinity Health launched Transforming Communities Initiatives (TCI) in 2016, as an innovative funding model emphasizing policy, system and environmental (PSE) change strategies as key drivers to reduce tobacco use and childhood obesity, as well as address social influencers of health.

"TCI includes eight awarded sites: Fresno, CA; Hartford, CT; Boise, ID; Silver Spring, MD; Trenton, NJ; Maywood, IL; Springfield, MA; and Syracuse, NY.

"Tobacco 21 policies were passed impacting two communities: state-wide in Massachusetts and Hartford, CT. To date, seven state, county and/or local Tobacco 21 policies have passed impacting more than 2.2M youth through TCI efforts.

"In New Jersey, legislation was passed defining breastfeeding as a civil right and requires that employers make reasonable accommodations within workplace settings for mothers to express milk. Ancillary pieces of legislation exempted breast pumps and equipment from sales tax and set standards for breast milk banks.

"In Idaho, legislation passed to protect breastfeeding mothers from indecent exposure and obscenity laws. Idaho is the final state in the U.S. to protect women breastfeeding publicly.

"PSE work within specific schools has impacted close to 22,000 students at 41 schools. PSE work at the district level strengthened or implemented wellness policies with the potential impact of approximately 260,000 students in 391 schools across 8 districts.

"Lastly, seven TCI communities continued and/or expanded their work to address community food access using community based strategies to increase the availability of healthy produce and raise awareness about how to acquire, prepare, and consume healthy foods. Examples include farm stands or farmers’ markets, community gardens/urban agriculture, healthy corner stores and food recovery gleaning from local farms.

"Overall, sites made progress in carrying out their action plans. Trinity Health and technical assistance continue to provide individualized support.”