Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/1526507
83 "When I met Dr. Jan Yost, I was amazed by her competence. She set out to do something that was missing in the community. e Health Foundation addressed pressing issues and filled a niche. e relationship between e Health Foundation and Greater Worcester Community Foundation (GWCF) complemented each other. GWCF funded several nonprofit organizations that would eventually apply to e Health Foundation for a larger grant. As a funder, I was impressed with e Health Foundation's discipline and creativity. We learned from each other. Our relationship helped to inform a stronger nonprofit community. e whole ecosystem of nonprofits helped strengthen other nonprofits and will have a lasting impact. e Health Foundation has had a tremendous positive impact on the community. Grant-funded programs, such as TFK and the Food Hub, helped improve lives. Organizations [that applied for grants] were able to go through the evaluation process and come out stronger on the other side. ey were better able to understand their own organizations." – Ann Lisi, Former President & CEO, Greater Worcester Community Foundation "e Foundation has been a partner with the Chamber of Commerce. In the last 25 years, they have created solutions and new pathways on a range of issues that oen don't get a lot of time, resources, and attention." – Timothy P. Murray, President & CEO, Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce "e Health Foundation has been an amazing partner. We have shared priorities, and we overlap in multiple ways. ey are more than a funder. ey endorse our political agenda and the way in which we are upliing the voice of those who experience the greatest health inequities. e Health Foundation focuses on the health care system and sees the root cause of health inequities, such as racial inequality, sexism, gender identity, and other forms of oppression. ey raise the profile of real health equity issues." – Carlene Pavlos, Executive Director, Massachusetts Public Health Association "Our initial board meetings were organizational and strategic and included a guest from the Public Charities Division of the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office. She was both astute and constructive and I was impressed that this oversight was being done. Some of us directors had led nonprofit organizations, as had I for example, but e Health Foundation was going to be a different enterprise altogether. Two grantmaking initiatives that stood out for me, and still do. One was pediatric dental care. Dr. Yost and others had noted an astonishing lack of good dental care in many rural areas around Worcester and the grants made by the Foundation really changed this, including raising awareness of the problem and assisting significantly in improvements. e other was our homelessness initiative, "Home Again." With a great deal of work, including the support of many advisers, we were able to release a compelling analysis and case study, including a video that was as moving as it was heartbreaking. I felt that this effort, over several years, was and is today, the most meaningful volunteer activity with which I have ever been associated." – Dr. oru Pederson, Former Director, Professor, UMass Chan Medical School