Exploring Flexibility in Philanthropic Funding for Place-Based Efforts to Improve Community Health: Reflections on a New York State Multisite Initiative.

This article shares insights and reflections from an experience funding and evaluating the Healthy Neighborhoods Initiative, a $22 million, six-year, place-based effort by two grantmaking foundations across nine diverse communities in New York state. An external, mixed methods evaluation provided feedback to the funders on achievements, challenges, and learnings. Local partnership structures building on existing relationships and those that had or could quickly build trust of key actors and community residents were more effective at sustaining strategic activities and engagement. While working at the community level had many benefits, it was difficult to leverage strategies to create policy changes at the city or state level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]