FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Recently, VOA Futures Fund began a partnership with globally ranked social impact incubator and nonprofit SEED SPOT to bring its powerful mentorship and piloting capabilities to six community health ventures. The six were selected from more than 117 for-profit and non-profit organization’s applications after a rigorous process.
The selected applicants have been awarded $25,000 in grants and are receiving 12 weeks of training from SEED SPOT, mentorship with industry experts, and collaboration opportunities that leverage Volunteers of America’s extensive portfolio of assets. Upon completion of the program, ventures are considered for larger capital investments up to $200K.
The six selected are all working on health equity solutions such as access to housing, proper nutrition, parenting support and more. Kwame Terra, MPH, is founder and CEO of bEHR Health Systems, Inc. a digital health company with a vision to “make health part of the Black culture.” bEHR provides medical, lifestyle and social solutions for healthy aging Black people.
Joi Chevalier is the founder and president of Cook’s Nook providing “food as medicine” to organizations addressing the health needs of tens of millions of Americans who suffer from diet-related disease but lack the means to access healthy food, by providing cost-effective, culturally relevant, prepared meals.
Mika Eddy is the co-founder and CEO of Malama Health. She was the director of clinical product innovation at UnitedHealthcare. Malama Health develops tech-enabled care to improve pregnancy related outcomes. The solution focuses on improving management of diabetes during pregnancy and tailored postpartum care.
Jonathan Kumar has created Samaritan, a support platform to help Americans improve their circumstances. Samaritan is a support platform that mobilizes the public to help unhoused or vulnerable Americans improve their access to care, critical utilities and housing.
Melanie Richardson, MSW, LMSW is co-founder and executive director of TrainingGrounds. TrainingGrounds’ free center and resource HUB are welcoming drop-in environments where parents and children engage in brain-building activities that promote social and cognitive skills. Families also receive coordinated support services and resources to improve their children’s health and educational outcomes.
Dr. Steven C. Moyo is CEO and founder of Welfie. He founded the company after seeing Black and immigrant people die preventable deaths. Welfie is a “Wellness Selfie” providing users a regular snapshot of their health so they can see the big picture of their wellness journey. Welfie puts community health workers in schools to deliver health education and care coordination to families on Medicaid.
To learn more about the six ventures, visit https://www.voa.org/community-health-incubator/. On August 8, at 9 a.m. PDT, the six entrepreneurs will present and discuss their concept via Zoom. Entrepreneurs, investors, ecosystem partners, media and community health leaders from across the country are welcome to attend and hear how these six innovative founders are working to close health equity gaps and learn how you might support their work. To register for the free event, go to https://DemoDayCommunityHealthIncubator.eventbrite.com.
Launched in 2018, VOA’s Futures Fund supports the development and expansion of high impact health, housing and social service models and enterprises within VOA and as joint-venture partnerships with external community health entrepreneurs. In 2022 and sponsored by the Humana Foundation, the Futures Fund launched its Community Health Incubator to accelerate and support entrepreneurs in health-equity fields, especially those addressing high-risk communities. Through this incubator, entrepreneurs receive access to VOA’s extensive portfolio of assets including over 15,000 frontline practitioners, nearly 22,000 units of affordable housing, over 15 senior healthcare facilities, and hundreds of programs and service models across 400 US communities and Puerto Rico that serve approximately 1.5 million children and adults each year.
VOA’s Vice-President of Innovation & Impact Investing, Stephen Samuels, understands that the best solutions can come from companies founded by leaders with diverse lived experiences close to the problems they are trying to solve. “Because of VOA’s breadth of experience, portfolio of housing and services, and our credibility in over 400 communities across the country, VOA is ideally positioned to collaborate with early-stage entrepreneurs who are intimately familiar with their target users, to scale up innovative solutions that improve the trajectory of families we serve.”
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About Volunteers of America
Volunteers of America is a non-profit housing, health and human services organization committed to serving people in need, strengthening families, and building communities. Volunteers of America was founded in 1896 on a core belief in the potential of every person no matter the circumstance. Its extensive portfolio of services support and empower America’s most vulnerable groups, including veterans, seniors, people with disabilities, at- risk youth, men and women returning from prison, homeless individuals and families, those recovering from addictions and many others. Volunteers of America helps more than 1.5 million people in over 400 communities. For more information about Volunteers of America, visit www.VolunteersofAmerica.org.
About SEED SPOT
In 2019, SEED SPOT was ranked as a top 5 private business accelerator and most promising for social impact by UBI Global at the World Incubation Summit in Doha, Qatar. SEED SPOT supports entrepreneurs through programs, such as webinars, 2-Day Launch Camps, Pivot Camps, and the Impact Accelerator. SEED SPOT has served 1848 entrepreneurs since 2012 who have raised $79.2M in capital, generated $161.8M in revenue, created 3,217 new jobs, and impacted the lives of 10.2M people with their products, services, and technologies. For more information, visit: www.seedspot.org.
