“Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you help them to become what they are capable of being.”

Goethe

In the spring of 1999, the Board of Directors of Independence Foundation held a series of informative discussions with leaders in the health and human services field. The purpose of these sessions was to continue to refine the Foundation's HHS initiative. As a result, and in keeping with our mission to support organizations that provide direct services to people who do not ordinarily have access to them, Independence Foundation's current funding agenda focuses on programs that address the following areas:

• adequate food and food distribution
• affordable housing and access to shelter by homeless persons
• services which support independence for people living with disabilities

Independence Foundation supports programs that empower less advantaged residents of the Philadelphia area to achieve self-sufficiency by providing these most basic of needs.

In 1999, the awarding of multi-year general operating grants was initiated in the Health and Human Services category. The purpose of providing core operating support is to strengthen the administrative capacity and the direct service programs of those agencies that deliver critical assistance. These grants are made to organizations where our Board believes the mission matches the Foundation's interest, the leadership is both stable and capable, and the outcomes of the work are vital to the people being served.

Each year, a limited number of organizations are invited to apply for grants under our Health and Human Services initiative. Requests for proposals are distributed in the spring, with grant awards announced in the early summer. As with all of our initiatives, Independence Foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals.

All organizations not previously funded by the Independence Foundation should follow the guidelines for submitting Letters of Inquiry outlined on the Grant Application Procedure page.