Conducting a final evaluation of RWJF's Invest Health initiative and supporting Healthy Communities' work with small and midsize cities

This grant supports finalization of the evaluation for the Invest Health initiative. The grant also supports the organization of existing programs at RWJF focusing on small and midsize cities and the implementation of equitable community development projects into a portfolio and will create an evaluation framework for the portfolio. The project will help advance lessons on determinants of financial institution development in small and midsize cities as well as on factors influencing capital attraction in cities. It will provide additional lessons on how the bundled programs in an equitable-development portfolio for small and midsize cities can be assessed and evaluated for impact over the long term. Deliverables will include a final, externally facing report on the Invest Health initiative; three white papers on select findings from the evaluation and on implications for practitioners working in fields related to equitable development; presentations of evaluation findings to RWJF staff and external audiences; a landscape analysis of Healthy Communities programs related to small and midsize cities; strategic memos for organizing and understanding the work with small and midsize cities; and a long-term evaluation plan for the portfolio for small and midsize cities.