REACH Healthcare

Rooted in community.
Steadfast in mission.

REACH is staying the course. Our refreshed strategic direction sustains what communities have affirmed remains imperative to health equity, while deepening our commitments, advocacy, and investment in community-led solutions.

2027-2029 Strategic Plan
What this means for partners

PLACEHOLDER — BRENDA & CARLA FILM (~1:30)

Read the transcript / video summary
01
The Process

Why we’re staying the course

The Foundation’s strategic planning began with a responsibility to listen, reflect, and determine how it can remain accountable to the people and places it serves.

Community voice shaped the path forward.

Through site visits, interviews, focus groups, and working sessions, partners and local leaders helped identify what is working, what is changing, and where continued commitment is needed.

The landscape has changed.

Communities are navigating uncertainty, political shifts, reduced public investment, and increasing threats to healthcare access, coverage, and equity. Nonprofits and advocates are feeling the strain and need our allyship.

Stability matters most now.

Partners told us the work is not finished. Our mission and purpose are spot-on. Continuing this direction helps organizations plan, adapt, advocate, and lead with greater confidence.

Our decision reflects a community-centered engagement process, not a default choice. The path forward was shaped by those closest to the work.

The Full Story of the Process

Beginning in 2020, REACH invested in the community through three outcome investment areas focused on health access and equity.

2025 Strategic Planning

Through listening and learning sessions led by Community Wealth Partners, REACH engaged more than 85 regional voices across its six-county service area, including grantee partners, community stakeholders, health leaders, public policy experts, local leaders, peer funders, consultants, staff, and board members.

“At Community Wealth Partners, what we bring to strategic planning processes like this is the process. We don’t bring the answer. In partnering with REACH, we came in to learn more about the foundation, to really understand its strategy and make sure we have a strong grasp of the organization, its history and its mandate. We went on to engage the foundation’s stakeholders, community members, grantees, health experts, and peers in the field. This process is based on a fundamental belief that we hold: those who are closest to the issues also are closest to the solutions.”

— Amy Celep, CEO, Community Wealth Partners

“REACH Healthcare Foundation’s strategic planning process wasn’t about chasing the next big idea—it was about listening, learning, and having the discipline to focus on the work that creates lasting impact. I appreciated REACH’s willingness to ask hard questions, challenge assumptions, and stay rooted in its mission while recognizing that the world around us continues to change. That balance of humility, courage, and strategic focus is exactly what communities need from philanthropy right now.”

— Lisse Regehr, President & CEO, Thrive Allen County and REACH Strategic Planning Steering Committee Member

What we heard

Partners affirmed that REACH’s Community Investment Framework continues to address the critical conditions shaping health access and equity.

“In uncertain times, communities don’t just need more programs—they need stronger organizations. REACH understands that by investing in capacity, leadership, and long-term resilience, they’re creating the conditions where better health and stronger communities can flourish for years to come.”

— Grantee Partner

“It’s encouraging to see REACH staying the course of trust-based philanthropy while recognizing that this moment requires us to think differently about how we support communities. Capacity building isn’t an extra, it’s what allows organizations to respond to uncertainty, strengthen partnerships, and create lasting systems change. REACH’s continued investment demonstrates an understanding that healthier communities require healthy organizations and strong ecosystems. That kind of long-term partnership is exactly what’s needed to meet today’s challenges while building a healthier future for our region.”

— Grantee Partner

2027–2029 direction

REACH will provide steady partnership, flexible resources, continued advocacy, and be a proponent of health and racial equity.

“Staying the course for REACH is bold and strategic because it allows REACH to live its values. In the strategic planning process, REACH asked its grantees, community, peers and stakeholders what they thought and they said ‘Stay the course.’ One of the tenets of trust-based philanthropy is honoring the knowledge and experience of those closest to the issues — and that’s what REACH is going to do.”

— Amy Celep, CEO, Community Wealth Partners

Staying the course is distinctive from maintaining the status quo.

It is an intentional act of trust-based philanthropy: providing continuity in a destabilizing environment, moving resources closer to the work, and standing firm in values when many are stepping away from equity.

“Funders are leaning into trust, being more intentional, and genuinely listening to communities. We have the ability to change the story we’ve been told, and the philanthropic sector has the opportunity—and the responsibility—to change course. To fund differently, to listen differently, to lead differently. That’s where the real work begins.”

— REACH Grantee Partner
02
Strategic Plan

Our commitments

REACH’s commitment is grounded in the realities communities face every day and guided by a clear strategic direction. The Community Investment Framework focuses our work where it can have the greatest impact: strengthening the conditions that shape health access and equity, and advancing the areas where REACH can make a meaningful and lasting contribution.

Outcome Investment Area

Strengthen the Safety Net

Helping trusted partners remain steady, responsive, and accessible.

Strengthen the Safety Net

REACH will continue investing in organizations and systems that ensure people can access care, coverage, and essential services, especially as demand grows and public resources become more uncertain.

  • Support core operating partners that provide local healthcare access.
  • Maintain a consistent focus on health and racial equity.
  • Strengthen partners facing risk from reduced public investment.
  • Support policy advocacy that protects access and the safety net.
Safety Net Stories

OUTCOME INVESTMENT AREA

Close the Health Equity Gap

Keeping racial and health equity at the center.

Close the Health Equity Gap

REACH will continue supporting work that names and addresses racial, economic, geographic, and structural inequities that shape health outcomes.

  • Invest in Black-led, Black-serving, Latino, immigrant and refugee, rural, and other historically under-resourced partners.
  • Use REACH’s voice and resources when others cannot.
  • Advance a healthy, inclusive, and welcoming region.
  • Support systems change rooted in community leadership.
Equity Stories

OUTCOME INVESTMENT AREA

Bridge the Coverage Divide

Helping people understand, access, and maintain coverage.

Bridge the Coverage Divide

As health policies and public benefit programs undergo major reform, REACH will support strategies that help communities navigate uncertainty and speak to the real-life impact of coverage gaps.

  • Support navigation and enrollment assistance.
  • Engage policymakers and media with community-grounded evidence.
  • Protect gains in healthcare access and equity.
  • Advance sound fiscal and public policies.
Coverage Stories

Where our commitments continue

REACH will continue supporting communities and leaders most affected by inequity, because their knowledge and relationships are essential to a healthier region.

Care connectors

Care connectors

Trusted navigators and community-based organizations help people understand options, access care, maintain benefits, and connect to essential services.

Care Connector Stories
Rural communities

Rural communities

REACH will continue investing in rural partners addressing geographic barriers, local access gaps, and underinvestment in community health infrastructure.

Rural Stories
Immigrants and refugees

Immigrants and refugees

REACH will support partners building welcoming, culturally responsive pathways to care, coverage, language access, and trusted community support.

Immigrant and Refugee Stories
Racial equity, policy & advocacy

Racial equity, policy & advocacy

REACH will remain clear about its values, using its voice and resources to advance health equity, racial equity, civic participation, and public policies that protect access.

Advocacy Stories
03
The Impact

What this means for partners

REACH’s direction is designed to reduce disruption, strengthen trust, and support the people and organizations advancing health equity every day.

Steady partnership

Continuity helps partners plan, adapt, advocate, and lead with greater confidence in a changing landscape.

Flexible resources

REACH will continue moving resources closer to the work, expanding partner supports and streamlining our grantmaking processes so organizations can respond to urgent community needs.

Clear advocacy

REACH will use its voice to support healthcare access, health and racial equity, civic participation, and inclusive public systems.

Contact the Program Team to Learn More
Explore the Current Outcome Investment Framework

Frequently asked questions

Is REACH simply continuing the same work?

Continuing the work with a sharpened Community Investment Framework goes beyond the status quo. The Foundation views strategic steadiness as an important form of trust-based philanthropy, and an intentional decision to deepen its approach, strengthen community-led solutions and respond more intentionally to a changing funding and policy environment. 

Our communities have told us stability matters. In a destabilizing environment, continuing the current Community Investment Framework is a trust-based approach that will help our partners to plan, adapt, and lead.

REACH will continue to focus on the current three outcome investment ares of Strengthening the Safety Net, Closing the Health Equity Gap, and Bridging the Coverage Divide through 2029.

Yes, REACH will continue investing in Black, indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities, immigrant and refugee communities, rural communities, and other partners closest to people most affected by health inequities.

REACH will continue advocating for policies that strengthen and protect public health, social justice, healthcare access, coverage, and an inclusive democracy.

The 2027-2029 Strategic Plan will take effect January 1, 2027, which means that current funding for the 2026 year will remain as is. If you have any questions about your organization’s eligibility for funding in 2027, please reach out to REACH’s program team members by contacting grants@reachhealth.org.

Review REACH’s community investment framework to see where your work aligns, then reach out to the REACH program team members for a more detailed exploration of alignment with funding priorities.

Rooted in community.
Steadfast in mission.

Health equity is built by many hands. Whether you fund, partner, advocate, or build — there is a place for you in this work. Here is how you can help REACH stay steadfast in the mission.

01

Stay Informed

Follow local nonprofit journalists and support public media outlets. Follow us on your favorite social platforms to stay up on the latest.

Follow REACH
02

Support a Nonprofit

Volunteer your time, expertise and financial resources with one of the hundreds of incredible organizations serving our region, like those supported by REACH.

See our grantee partners
03

Advocate for Policy

Legislators and advocates shape the systems behind every story. Follow our policy work and stand for coverage that lasts. Be an informed voter and vote in every race in every election.

See policy updates
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Transcript & video summary

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At REACH Healthcare Foundation, our 2027 to 2029

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strategic plan is grounded in the voices of the communities we serve.

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Through a year-long process of listening and learning, community leaders,

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nonprofit partners, healthcare advocates, and stakeholders shared a clear

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message: the work of advancing health equity remains urgent, and

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sustained investment is needed now more than ever.

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In response, REACH is continuing its community investment

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framework through 2029, with a focus on strengthening the

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safety net, closing the health equity gap, and bridging the coverage

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divide. This is not about maintaining the status

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quo. It is a deliberate commitment to stability,

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trust, and community-led change during a time of growing

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uncertainty.

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When we began this strategic planning process, we didn’t start by

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asking what REACH wanted to do next.

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We started by listening. Across our region, we heard from nonprofit

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partners, healthcare leaders, community advocates, and

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residents, and one message came through consistently: the

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work is not finished. Communities continue to face barriers to

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healthcare, persistent inequities, and growing uncertainty.

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Our partners told us they needed stability, not

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disruption.

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As we know, one of the tenets of trust-based

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philanthropy and those deep relationships that are emblematic of trust-based

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philanthropy

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is really honoring the knowledge and experience of those who are closest to

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the issues. What we heard from stakeholders was

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that these three pillars that are part of the strategic framework of

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REACH are broad enough to allow for some flexibility.

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Staying the course for REACH is bold and strategic, number one, because

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it will allow REACH to live its values.

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This

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foundation clearly values

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deep relationships with its grantees, the expertise and knowledge of its

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grantees, deep partnership. It is courageous

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for REACH to stay the course because, in some ways, you

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are going against the grain, perhaps, and going

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against what I think can be a tendency

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in philanthropy to chase the shiny, new thing.

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And to me, courage is about putting aside fear.

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By staying rooted in community, investing in trusted partners, and

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advocating for equitable systems and policies, REACH will

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continue working toward a healthier, more inclusive region where

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everyone has the opportunity to thrive.


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