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How We Work
Committing our resources to remove barriers and improve systems and conditions for a healthier community.
Advancing Health Equity Through Investment and Action
Through a unique partnership with St. David’s HealthCare, we strategically reinvest proceeds from the hospital system back into the community, with a goal of advancing health equity and improving the health and well-being of our most underserved Central Texas neighbors. Beyond our grantmaking work, we operate the largest mobile dental program in the country providing charity care and offer the largest healthcare scholarship program in Texas, the St. David’s Neal Kocurek Program.
Through investment and action, we are committed to centering health equity in all that we do so that all Central Texans have a fair chance to achieve optimal health with no avoidable, unjust, or systematically caused differences in health status due to ethnicity, race, age, ability, or geography. Put simply: we support individuals and families in our community who face barriers to flourishing. We are committed to and will evolve towards upstream and transformational work to improve systems and conditions for a healthier community.
Strategic Plan 2024—2030
Pathways to Health Equity
Addressing Needs Today and Building a Healthier Tomorrow
Poverty, structural racism, and discrimination unfairly constrain the chances and choices of too many people to be healthy based on their ethnicity, race, age, ability, and geography. In early 2024, St. David’s Foundation introduced a strategic plan, Pathways to Health Equity, that reflects the Foundation’s evolving understanding of health over three decades of work. Through this evolution, our view of health has broadened our focus on healthcare to the more expansive mission of advancing health equity. As we seek to create sustainable change, we acknowledge that systems and conditions either hold disparities in place or help to advance health equity.
Given our growth as a Foundation over nearly three decades, we are now able to support immediate health needs today as well as invest in improved health tomorrow for generations to come.
Our Goals for
Central Texas
Our goals were informed by discussions with staff, our Board, and the community; external research; and the findings of the most recent Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA), through which we more deeply understand our region’s true health needs – particularly those faced by historically underserved community members.
We center our work on addressing individual and systemic barriers to health for individuals whose income falls below the minimum level necessary for survival for a household with an intentional focus on historically marginalized identity groups (e.g., Black, Hispanic, women, members of the LGBTQ community, refugees, and undocumented immigrants).
Goal 1
Increase access to quality care designed to advance health equity
Access to timely, responsive care remains out of reach for many Central Texans affecting their ability to address health concerns when they arise. Cost remains a main barrier to care along with lack of culturally competent quality care across the region. Nearly half of Texans report that it is somewhat or very difficult for them to afford health care (48%).
Objectives for Improved Community Health:
- Supporting access to primary, dental, perinatal, and behavioral health services while increasing and diversifying the healthcare workforce to meet the growing demand.
- Building the capacity of healthcare infrastructure (including clinics) to provide high quality and culturally responsive care.
- Leveraging evidence to expand the number of individuals covered by insurance, the medical and non-medical benefits covered by insurance, and the ability to access the benefits to which they are currently entitled.
Goal 2
Remove economic barriers to improve health outcomes
Today, roughly one-in-three of our Central Texas neighbors are not able to earn enough to meet their basic needs. Economic stability has an outsized impact on health and life expectancy. As our five-county region experiences rapid population growth, and the corresponding cost of living and housing rises, there is an increasing number of people who cannot make ends meet.
Objectives for Improved Community Health:
- Advancing safe, healthy, and affordable housing as a platform for health and stable income creation.
- Supporting collaborative, region-wide efforts to create pathways to employment opportunities in the healthcare sector that foster economic stability for those struggling to make ends meet.
- Supporting the navigation and coordination of services addressing the economic barriers to affect health and well-being.
Goal 3
Equip communities to achieve their health priorities
Current day inequities are rooted in a history of marginalization and perpetuate disparities in health outcomes. Addressing social and environmental conditions for generational change in our communities will require initiatives to equip and mobilize those closest to the problem.
Objectives for Improved Community Health:
- Building the capacity of organizations, including our own, and systems to engage community members in decision making and leadership to foster healthier communities.
- Investing in networks and social infrastructure in historically marginalized communities to foster health and wellness.
- Supporting community-directed giving through initiatives and institutions to advance health equity.
Goal 4
Establish organizational excellence to be more effective and realize greater impact throughout Central Texas
Intentionally harnesses the collective power of all Foundation resources that directly impact our community as we work cross-team, in alignment to advance healthy equity.
We also are eager to collaborate by partnering with nonprofits, peer funders, government agencies, elected officials, the public, and private sector so that, together, we can move the needle in health and wellness in a meaningful way.
How We’re Reaching Our Goals
Guided by a shared vision, we will harness all Foundation resources as we work to advance health equity.
Grantmaking
Investing nearly $80M annually to support community health and wellbeing.
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Given our growth as a Foundation over nearly three decades, we are now in a position to support immediate health needs today as well as invest in improved health tomorrow. This evolution allowed us to broaden our focus on healthcare to the more expansive mission of advancing health equity.
Scholarship Program
Easing the financial burden for students pursuing health studies and supporting student success.
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The St. David’s Neal Kocurek Scholarship is the largest healthcare scholarship program in the state of Texas. High school seniors from Bastrop, Caldwell, Hays, Travis, and Williamson counties who want to pursue careers in healthcare and plan to attend college in Texas are eligible to apply for up to $60,000 in financial aid over the course of their higher education.
Communications
Sharing what we are learning to create a community-wide understanding of health equity.
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Informing, amplifying, and activating the Foundation’s mission, strategy, and impact throughout the Central Texas community and the field of philanthropy to educate and inspire further progress.
Mobile Dental Program
Providing highly accessible, evidence-based oral care for disadvantaged children in Central Texas.
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St. David’s Foundation’s Mobile Dental Program offers 100% free dental care to students at high-need elementary schools in six Central Texas school districts. When school is not in session, our vans partner with area social service agencies to serve adults and families. This is the largest mobile charity dental program in the country.
Learning & Evaluation
Using data and research to bring diverse stakeholders into a shared conversation to realize deeper insights.
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Learning from and alongside our community is at the core of everything we do. We are dedicated to ensuring that data, research, and learning drive the evolution of our strategy, support sound funding decisions, and inspire action to advance health equity in Central Texas.
Health equity continues to be our north star. In shifting from a focus on health to one of health equity, we reorient our strategy from just funding services for the most vulnerable to also working to eliminate systemic and cultural barriers preventing healthy outcomes from the outset for generations to come.
