How Intermediary Organizations Help Communities & Funders Build Power & Health
Public Health Institute
PHI is dedicated to promoting health & equity for people throughout California, across the nation and around the world.
We Are All Public Health.
Each and every one of us plays an essential role in building a more just, healthy, and thriving world. Every day this week, PHI will be exploring how these interwoven roles make up the fabric of public health with insights from our 2022 Annual Report. Today, we focus on our organization, the Public Health Institute.
The Public Health Institute is Public Health.
For nearly 60 years, PHI and its programs have built more equitable health systems through policy and community change, and by amplifying the power and voices of communities. See how we helped our funders, partners and programs extend their reach, and advanced wellbeing and health equity with communities around the world. See examples of our impact and learn more below, or explore our annual report →
Intermediary Organizations are Public Health: How PHI’s subaward model shares power with/in communities
"By partnering with trust and appreciation for those who are the experts in their own communities, we can build a public health system that addresses the needs of all people and is prepared to handle any crisis." That's what Susan Watson, the director of PHI's Together Toward Health (TTH) initiative, said in the Chronicle of Philanthropy in April of 2022. In total, TTH partnered with government, philanthropy and hundreds of community groups, connecting 23 million people throughout California with vaccines and vital COVID resources rooted in how and where they live, organized by people they trust, and in more than 50 languages—while also bolstering local infrastructure to boost workforce development, sustainability and community resiliency. "We were able to identify leaders in our community and get them trained and certified as community health workers," said Isai Garnica-Palma, with TTH-funded CBO Valley Onward.
PHI’s fast, flexible funding model helped funders direct $90 million in awards to CBOs around the world in 2022 to address gender justice, COVID prevention, ACEs, substance use, and so much more. Many of these CBOs were too local, small or low-resourced to have been able to successfully apply for funding on their own. Many were community-trusted CBOs that PHI helped funders reach. As an intermediary, PHI provides technical assistance to support CBOs. We create networks that connect isolated communities—like Native American tribal regions, LGBTQ+, or Hmong speakers—so they can share resources and build power. PHI advances award money to minimize time delays in beginning life-saving work, and provides insurance, compliance and legal guardrails that keep funders and communities creative, supported and flexible.
Leveraging Micro-Investments into Large Awards
PHI’s Development Assistance Award initiative provides micro-grants, typically under $10k, to PHI programs to support our program community in growing innovative ideas into competitive grant awards. Sediq Hazratzai, MD, MPH, of PHI’s Sehat initiative, which focuses on community-rooted support to improve refugee health and wellbeing, was awarded $7,500. He used the micro-grant to serve as crucial seed funding for the Afghan Refugee Health Initiative. He was able to establish a virtual space, form collaborations, develop a proposal, and create a new and larger initiative/center. The seed grant helped lead to the successful award of $4 million for the Refugee Health Promotion Project and Special Immigrant Visa Mental Health initiative with the California Department of Public Health Office of Refugee Health, to build capacity in California to respond to the mental health needs of refugee and Afghan populations. Altogether in 2022, the $30k in PHI Development Assistance support invested in our programs resulted in $5.2 million in awards (and counting).
Recommended by LinkedIn
See How We Can Work Together
Fiscal Sponsor
PHI leads and manages public health projects as a fiscal sponsor. We provide operational infrastructure and administrative support—human resources, grant development and support, compliance, staffing—that allow programs to focus on what they do best: making an impact. PHI helps public health professionals launch, scale and grow and develops the next generation of public health leaders and advocates. Bring your work to PHI →
Thought Leader & Catalyst
PHI advocates for policies and legislative solutions. We develop new research and work with communities, policy-makers, and legislators to enact policies and influence practices that promote equitable health outcomes. We identify emerging issues and speed staffing and resources where they can quickly make an impact. We bring the right people to the table. We influence and shape how public health issues are understood, sharing evidence for action. See PHI resources →
Partner
PHI works with funders, the private sector, government and other agencies to strengthen and implement their vision. Our multi-disciplinary team provides specialized expertise—all based on best practices and rooted in equity. We bring a broad network, nimble infrastructure and a roster of proven interventions. This allows us to launch new projects quickly and bring effective work to scale. Partner with us →
Help spread the word