This year, FLOURISH St. Louis has transitioned to a model that is community-led. This means that we are looking to the community to identify the priority issues impacting Black moms and babies in the St. Louis region and decide how FLOURISH invests in strategies to address these issues.
The Community Mobilization and Innovation (CMI) fund is designed to foster innovation in St. Louis neighborhoods most impacted by infant mortality. This grant opportunity will invest in grassroots, neighborhood projects to promote maternal and infant vitality, provide social support and healing and build community. A non-traditional grantmaking opportunity, the CMI fund will support groups that aren’t typically eligible to receive grant funds.
Potential applicants for CMI funds are the clients you serve, residents in the communities where you work and the people who live in neighborhoods where infant mortality is at its highest.
We are anticipating that some applicants will be well on their way to addressing maternal and infant vitality in their neighborhoods, but some may need additional support. We’ve asked that applicants establish a relationship with a fiscal sponsor if they do not have a designation as a 501(c)(3) organization. We would ask that your organization consider serving as a fiscal sponsor for applicants who may be your client or program participant. We would be happy to have further conversation about what that role entails and the expectation for your organization, if you served as a fiscal sponsor.
Attached you will find a flyer promoting the CMI funding opportunity and a copy of the application.
FLOURISH has additional funding opportunities that will be launched later this summer and into the fall. The Aligned Activities fund will support organizations engaged in addressing maternal and infant vitality through policy and systems change. The Racial Equity Capacity Building fund will support FLOURISH partners in developing their organizational capacity to advance racial equity. Information about FLOURISH funding opportunities are available at https://www.flourishstlouis.org/how-you-can-help/funding/.
For any questions you can reach out to Brian Washington at (314) 880-5706 or bwashington@generatehealthstl.org.