Award will focus on building healthier, stronger communities throughout Texas
This week, Lyda Hill Philanthropies and Lever for Change announced that The Lone Star Depression Challenge, led by the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute in partnership with UT Southwestern Center for Depression Research and Clinical Center, and the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine Harvard Medical School, will advance to the next stage of the Lone Star Prize, a Texas-based competition launched in early 2020 to improve the lives of Texans and their communities. The $10 million Prize, sponsored by Lyda Hill Philanthropies, is a statewide competition designed to find and fund bold solutions focused on building healthier, stronger communities. Five finalist teams were announced.
“The finalists for the Lone Star Prize are answering the call just when Texas needs them the most,” said Lyda Hill, founder of Lyda Hill Philanthropies. “Amid the devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic, finding long-term solutions to improve the lives of Texans is more critical than ever. Our communities need the vision of these hardworking teams who are committed to making a difference by improving health outcomes, boosting the workforce, and protecting the environment.”
Our team’s proposal scales three existing initiatives statewide: The Cloudbreak Initiative, to drive primary care-based clinical solutions across leading health systems; The Path Forward to help Texas businesses purchase better care; and EMPOWER to augment our workforce with culture-spanning community health workers. These strategies transformed care for heart disease and cancer over the last two decades, and they will save thousands of lives and improve health outcomes for hundreds of thousands of Texans.
More than 172 proposals were submitted. Applications were evaluated by more than 200 peer applicants, philanthropic and civic leaders, and subject matter experts. Applications were evaluated based on four criteria: whether they were transformative, scalable, feasible, and evidence-based.
The Award is being managed by Lever for Change, a nonprofit that helps donors to find and fund solutions to the world’s greatest challenges, including racial and gender equity, economic development and climate change.
“I am particularly excited to be involved at this historic moment, as Texas is my home and has always been for me a place of opportunity,” said Cecilia Conrad, CEO of Lever for Change. “So, it’s especially exciting to announce these outstanding finalists for the Lone Star Prize, who are all working on transformative solutions to cultivate strong, healthy, resilient families and communities.”
A final grant recipient will be announced in late spring 2021. View the Meadows Institute’s project video and the video presenting all five Lone Star Prize finalists to learn more.
