The American Heart Association (AHA) has launched the EmPOWERED Innovation Academy, designed to offer mentoring, funding and training opportunities to health equity-focused startups, non-profits, and digital and health tech firms. The program focuses on refining, testing, and improving solutions for social determinants of health, such as disparities in healthcare that exist today, and participants gain skills to become influencers in the health sector. Access to training and grant opportunities, such as the EmPOWERED to Serve Business Accelerator fund and the Social Impact Fund, will also be offered to participants.
The American Heart Association (AHA) has recently launched the EmPOWERED Innovation Academy, a program designed to provide support to health equity innovators who are working to address social determinants of health (SDOH) issues in both urban and rural communities. The program will offer training, mentoring, and funding opportunities to startups, non-profits, digital and health tech companies that are focused on health equity.
The EmPOWERED Innovation Academy is aimed at helping innovators refine, test, and improve their solutions, and to develop skills to become influencers in their market. The program will use design thinking methodologies, prototyping, customer design, and brand storytelling to help participants develop their ideas and grow their businesses.
One of the key features of the EmPOWERED Innovation Academy is its focus on health justice and social and systemic determinants of health, irrespective of race, ethnicity, gender, and socio-economic status. This focus on health equity is intended to help address some of the disparities that exist in healthcare today.
Participants in the EmPOWERED Innovation Academy will have access to a range of resources and support, including training and grant opportunities such as the EmPOWERED to Serve Business Accelerator fund and the Social Impact Fund. These resources are designed to help innovators grow and scale their businesses, and to make a meaningful impact in their communities.
The EmPOWERED to Serve Business Accelerator is another program offered by the AHA that provides business training, grants, and support to organizations that are focused on health equity. Since its inception, the program has awarded grants worth over $1.1 million.
The nationwide application period for the EmPOWERED to Serve Business Accelerator is expected to be released in May 2023. The AHA is looking to engage social/health justice-focused entrepreneurs, businesses, and non-profits, as well as digital/health-focused innovators and entrepreneurs. The EmPOWERED Innovation Academy aims to help these entrepreneurs grow and scale the impact of their work, meeting the needs of their communities in addressing social and health justice.
The AHA believes that providing training is crucial to developing the skills and knowledge needed to succeed in the competitive healthcare industry. By offering a range of resources and support, the AHA hopes to create a more equitable and accessible healthcare system. The EmPOWERED Innovation Academy is just one of the many initiatives the AHA is undertaking to help address the disparities that exist in healthcare today.
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