Introducing New Profit’s First Health Equity Cohort
New Profit and the Deloitte Health Equity Institute are pleased to announce the ten entrepreneurial leaders representing eight organizations that comprise our first Health Equity Cohort. This group of early-stage systems-change leaders is working to shift the underlying conditions—within and beyond the field of healthcare—that create health inequities across generations. Many in the cohort are addressing root causes of health inequity such as housing or healthy food access, racism and bias, and structural flaws in the healthcare system.
“Health Equity is a historically underfunded space filled with dedicated leaders pushing the cutting-edge on innovative solutions to address inequities facing underserved communities. The Deloitte Health Equity Institute is thrilled to be supporting a selection of these entrepreneurs as part of Deloitte’s integrated strategy to advance health equity as an outcome,” said Jay Bhatt, Executive Director of DHEI and Deloitte Center for Health Solutions. “We know that each of these leaders has the potential to drive catalytic change. We cannot wait to learn from each of them as we work to advance DHEI’s overall vision to achieve health equity as an outcome.”
For this investment cycle, New Profit prioritized investing in racially and ethnically diverse leaders, with an emphasis on Black, Latina/o/x, and Indigenous leaders. Seven of the ten entrepreneurs in the Health Equity Cohort identify as individuals of color. Seventy-five percent (75%) of the cohort organizations are led or co-led by women.
The 2022 Health Equity Cohort includes:
About Fresh, Josh Trautwein: The mission of About Fresh is to make sure all people have access to the food that keeps them feeling their best as they build toward a future food system that delivers on a promise of health, hope, happiness, climate resilience, and economic justice. The Fresh Connect payment platform makes it possible for health plans and providers to cover the cost of food for people struggling with food insecurity across all grocers and online delivery platforms. The Fresh Connect analytic engine is being used to build the case for long-term healthcare investment into food equity.
The Farmlink Project, Ben Collier: The Farmlink Project delivers surplus farm produce to food banks, providing millions of meals to families in need while reducing carbon emissions from wasted food. Founded amid the pandemic by students from Stanford and Brown, the team has been able to efficiently scale the operation to rescue over 60 million pounds of produce through the work of hundreds of dedicated student volunteers. Now also supported by a small full-time team, Farmlink is working to scale its food rescue operations while building programs to provide lasting impact. These projects range from food rescue carbon offsets to a farmer benefit tax program to food bank infrastructure investments. Farmlink’s long-term goal is to ensure access to fresh and healthy produce for all who need it with choice, dignity, and respect. 
HealthTech4Medicaid (HT4M), Adimika Arthur: HT4M is dedicated to supporting innovation in Medicaid. Their purpose is to further improve quality, equity and access to care for Medicaid recipients, their families and communities. HT4M a mission-based market enabler that facilitates cross-sectoral, collaborative partnerships in health technology nationwide. They radically change the pace of innovation in Medicaid through innovative program service delivery, infrastructure/ecosystem development and issue/policy advocacy to facilitate cutting-edge forums and partnerships for entrepreneurs, payers, providers, policymakers, advocates, investors and the Medicaid community.
Illinois Contraceptive Access Now (ICAN!), Kai Tao & Katie Thiede: Illinois Contraceptive Access Now (ICAN!) is a five-year initiative to advance reproductive equity in Illinois by improving the quality and coverage of contraceptive care. They envision an Illinois where every person can decide if, when, and under what circumstances to become pregnant and parent. Their goals are to:
- Establish screening for contraceptive needs and desires as a routine and essential component of preventive and primary care.
- Decrease the number of people without health coverage for contraceptive care.
- Expand points of access to contraceptive care and education.
Narrative Nation, Kimberly Seals Allers: NYC-based Narrative Nation Inc., creates multimedia and digital platforms to address racial disparities in maternal and infant health. Its signature project, Irth (as in Birth but without the B for bias), is a first-of-its-kind review and recommendation engine for Black and Brown women and birthing people to find and leave reviews of OB/GYNs, birthing hospitals and pediatricians. On the back end, Irth turns its robust Black patient experience database into data to help health systems, providers and payors provide more respectful and equitable care. Narrative Nation also produces Birthright, a podcast about joy in Black birth which features positive Black birthing stories as a direct counter to the doom and gloom narrative of Black maternal health in mainstream media.
Parity, Bree Jones: Parity is an equitable development company building social movements to revitalize neighborhoods—experiencing hyper-vacancy and abandonment—through a community ownership model and holistic support. Through blight removal, affordable homeownership creation, aging-in-place repairs for elders, and environmental resiliency, Parity is connecting the social determinants of health to improve the outcomes for communities.
Rural Opportunity Institute (ROI), Vichi Jagannathan & Seth Saeugling: ROI supports youth, organizations, and communities in rural North Carolina to help them interrupt the cycle of generational trauma and design innovative solutions for healing and resilience. ROI builds new tools and is open-source, freely sharing what works. ROI works to turn wisdom and the newest science into common practice. 
Washington Housing Conservancy (WHC), Kimberly Driggins: WHC preserves affordable housing, avoids displacement, and promotes economic mobility, particularly for moderate- to low-income African Americans and other residents of color in the Washington, D.C. region. They provide rent stability and open opportunities to thrive and build wealth. They also challenge the cycles of displacement that entrench barriers to diversity and inclusivity and help residents focus on their future, instead of the uncertainty of escalating rents.
The Health Equity Cohort convened virtually for the first time this week to begin collaborating with New Profit staff and with one another. Over the course of the week, the cohort explored topics such as telling their “stories of impact,” assessing areas for organizational growth, and mapping the health equity space to set the tone for the duration of the cohort investment cycle.
Over the next year, each social entrepreneur in the cohort will receive leadership and strategic coaching to help them build organizational capacity and take aim at changing the broader systems in which they operate, as well as $100,000 in unrestricted funding. Members of the cohort will continue to engage in regular convenings and benefit from their peer learning community. Learn more about why health equity is a key investment area for Deloitte and New Profit.
New Profit is grateful to the contributions of the 2022 Health Equity Investment Advisory Committee* members:
- Kayla Green, SSTAR Care Community Partners
- Rubeen Guardado, Tufts Medical Center
- Tanairi Gymiski-Sorrentini, Peer Health Exchange
- Tené Hamilton Franklin, Health Leads
- Maria G. Hernandez, PhD, Impact4Health, LLC
- Deonta Wortham, RockHealth.org
*organization names added for identification purposes only
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About New Profit
New Profit is a venture philanthropy organization that backs social entrepreneurs who are advancing equity and opportunity in America. New Profit exists to build a bridge between these leaders and a community of philanthropists who are committed to catalyzing their impact. New Profit provides unrestricted grants and strategic support to a portfolio of organizations led by visionary social entrepreneurs to increase their impact, scale, and sustainability. It also partners with social entrepreneurs and other cross-sector leaders to shift how government and philanthropy pursue social change to ensure that all people can thrive. Since its founding in 1998, New Profit has invested over $350M in 130+ organizations and, through the America Forward Coalition’s collective advocacy efforts, has unlocked over $1.7B in government funding for social innovation.
About the Deloitte Health Equity Institute
Recognizing the imperative for immediate and sustained effort, and grounded in Deloitte’s acknowledgment of racism as a public health crisis, Deloitte established the Deloitte Health Equity Institute (DHEI) in Spring 2021. DHEI’s mission is to advance health equity and make an impact that matters by creating cross-sector collaborations that can create exponential change. Each of DHEI’s initiatives aims to help create a world in which health isn’t determined by race, gender, ability status, or zip code – a world in which everyone has the fair and just opportunity to achieve their full potential in all aspects of health and well-being.
Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of their legal structure.
