Capital Access and Grant Funding

Committed to supporting communities, small businesses, social entrepreneurs, and innovators to reduce health disparities and create social change.

Meet the 2020 Empowered Scholars
Meet the 2021 Business Accelerator Candidates
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EmPowered to Serve Investments

The need to come together to find solutions for longer, healthier lives is more critical than ever.

Investing for Community Impact

The American Heart Association is committed to supporting communities, small businesses, social entrepreneurs and innovators who are working to reduce health disparities and create groundbreaking social change. 

Grants are a crucial part of this support as organizers of community health efforts struggle with fewer resources to address an increased demand for services. We provide communities with a bank of resources that help them quickly address barriers to health equity.
 
We also award grants supporting health equity initiatives, measure the results and share the outcomes with the world. 
Funding is critical in efforts to build economic stability in diverse and historically excluded communities, many of which haven’t had access to capital or have experienced disinvestment.

Read more about our first ever funding solution in Puerto Rico.

Opportunities to build wealth.

Those include paths to home ownership, fair lending practices, access to employer savings and retirement plans, non-regressive taxation structures and the allocation of public dollars for equitable economic development.

Opportunities to earn an equitable income. 

Those include appropriate wages for essential workers, a fair and living wage, universal basic income and universal basic health care.

Opportunities to access capital markets. 

Those include seed capital for innovative ideas and small business, access to investor markets, fair lending practices, economic development investments, independent banking options, cooperative networks and fair procurement practices.

Opportunities for well-paid employment. 

Those include non-discrimination practices, modification of the need to disclose incarceration, access to education, a fair and living wage and essential worker adjustments.

Fair employment practices. 

Those include paid sick leave, paid parental leave, safe working conditions, reasonable scheduling practices and freedom from threat or harassment. 
Brittany Young from B360

EmPOWERED to Serve Business Accelerator™

The EmPOWERED to Serve Business Accelerator™ is a free service that supports community entrepreneurs and organizations that are breaking down the social and economic barriers to health equity. Past Business Accelerator participants include:

Learn more about the National Business Accelerator

Business Accelerator Alumni

Jeremy Goss

Jeremy Goss
2019 Business Accelerator Grant Recipient
Access to Healthcare 

Sunny Williams
Tiny Docs
2018 Business Accelerator Candidate
Education
Leah Lizarondo

Leah Lizarondo
412 Food Rescue
2018 National Business Accelerator Grant Recipient
Food Access
Corrie Health

Dr. Francois Marvel
Corrie Health
2018 Grant Recipient
Health Care

Russell Fearon
2019 Business Accelerator Grant Recipient and Fan Favorite
Healthcare and Technology

 

Cecil Wilson
Goffers
2017 Business Accelerator Recipient
Transportation

EmPOWERED to Serve Scholars

Creating stronger communities by improving health equity and social justice.

Meet the 2020 Empowered Scholars

The EmPOWERED to Serve Scholars program supports college freshmen, sophomores and juniors who are working to improve health equity and social justice in their communities. Past scholars include a health policy and management student who encouraged corner groceries to sell fresh, healthy foods, and a biochemistry student who taught diabetes courses at a community health clinic.

Learn more about the 2020 Scholars program and the individual recipients. Students receive scholarships to help address health disparities (Official News Release)

Community Innovation Exchange

The EmPOWERED Community Innovation Exchange is a searchable, interactive digital hub that accelerates exploring and adopting new grassroots business models, municipal strategies, and community-led models for improving social determinants of health.

Access the Community Innovation Exchange

About Us

EmPOWERED to Serve accelerates innovative solutions to eliminate disparities in under-resourced communities caused by social determinants of health, also called structural determinants.

Read how our current impact is changing lives one community at a time.