Partnerships for Breakthoughs

As with all of Vitalyst’s work, collaboration and growth are hallmarks when it comes to fostering transformative new approaches. In FY19, funder collaborations, innovative grantees, thoughtful evaluation and the adoption of two new platforms fueled that focus. Among the highlights, Vitalyst:

• Completed its sixth year of Innovation Grants. In partnership with the Arizona Community Foundation, the Community Foundation of Southern Arizona and the NARBHA Institute, four Innovation Grants were awarded for $564,700, along with programmatic grants.
  • Each of the Innovation Grants was the subject of a Vitalyst Spark podcast episode. Get the scoop, straight from our funded partners’ perspectives. Click the links to hear from: Flowers and Bullets Collective, Ndee Bikiyaa (the People’s Farm), Demand to Learn and Sonoran Prevention Works.
• Partnered with the Maricopa Association of Governments and the Federal Highway Administration to produce a “sold-out” conference at the intersection of aging, transportation and health.
• Partnered with the Arizona Partnership for Healthy Communities to produce the highly-attended sixth annual Arizona Healthy Communities Conference.
• Adopted its first-ever grants management system, designed to improve applicant ease of use as well as Vitalyst’s capacity to serve communities.
• Joined with county health departments and other entities in adopting a new data visualization and analysis platform to better tell the geographic and data-based story of the root causes of health and well-being.
• Contributed to completion of the Arizona Diabetes Action Plan, while continuing support for a number of ongoing coalitions such as the Arizona Dementia Caregivers Alliance, The Arizona Age Friendly Network, the Arizona Community Health Workers Association, and the Arizona Early Childhood Funders Collaborative.

Our collaborations continued to grow in FY2019, at the municipal, county and state levels. To twist the African proverb, it’s not about going fast alone, but about going far together.