About Us
Since the Northern Virginia Health Foundation’s inception in 2005, we have held to a clear mission: to improve the health and health care of residents of Northern Virginia, with a particular emphasis on the health needs of the uninsured.
We focus our investments and partnerships on strengthening the region’s health safety net and addressing the conditions that shape residents’ health outcomes in order to build a healthier, stronger Northern Virginia.
Over the past two decades, the Foundation has awarded more than $24 million in grants to organizations that:
Increase access to primary care, mental health, oral/dental health, and/or specialty care for low-income uninsured or underinsured residents of Northern Virginia
Respond to emerging community needs
Address the social determinants of health
The Foundation at a Glance
Vision
To build the capacity of the Northern
Virginia community to be and stay
healthy.
Mission
To improve the health of Northern
Virginians, with an emphasis on the
health and health care of low-income,
uninsured, or underinsured persons.
Values
Several important values will guide the
Foundation’s work:
- Stewardship
- Health Equity
- Systems-Level Change
- Organizational Effectiveness
- Information-Driven Decision Making
Board Members and Staff
Our History
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2005By order of the Alexandria Circuit Court as part of the resolution of litigation following the closure of Jefferson Memorial Hospital, the Northern Virginia Health Foundation is established to improve health and health care for the region, especially for residents who are uninsured or face barriers to care.
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2007From Herndon to Bailey’s Crossroads to Arlington County, NVHF issues its first round of grants, helping clinics and health organizations expand hours, add services, and reach more residents in need.
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2008As the Great Recession strains local communities, NVHF strategically further refines its grantmaking to focus on strengthening Northern Virginia’s health care safety net, ensuring access remains steady for those who need it most.
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2010NVHF awards its $5 millionth dollar of grant funds since its inception in 2005. The Foundation also unveils the Northern Virginia Health and Wellness Directory, a key resource designed to help residents, providers, and community leaders better understand the services available across the region.
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2011NVHF releases the region’s first comprehensive survey data on adult oral health needs, helping to shape conversations and inform local strategies around equitable care.
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2013NVHF convenes the first-ever Northern Virginia Health Summit and releases “How Healthy Is Northern Virginia?,” a comprehensive look at health and well-being across the region.
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2015NVHF begins funding upstream interventions, efforts that focus on systems change and addressing social factors that affect health.
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2016-2023In partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University’s Center on Society and Health, NVHF releases a groundbreaking series of reports revealing Northern Virginia’s “Islands of Disadvantage” and equipping leaders with data to drive change.
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2024NVHF expands its grantmaking to strengthen social connectedness and capacity building, recognizing that resilient relationships and strong organizations are key to lasting community health.
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2025As NVHF marks 20 years of impact, the Foundation launches its first multi-year grants: a $2.6 million investment, its largest to date, supporting seven safety-net partners dedicated to improving health care across Northern Virginia.
Message from the CEO
Welcome to the Northern Virginia Health Foundation’s website. We are pleased to provide you with information about the Foundation’s activities and resources that can help inform you about issues affecting Northern Virginia related to health and health care.
We were created in 2005 and made our first grants in 2007. We are proud of our accomplishments but we are aware that the challenge of improving the health and health care of Northern Virginians is not ours alone. That is why we will continue to be engaged in efforts that are “beyond grantmaking,” believing that collaborations and partnerships often create far greater positive change than can be accomplished by a single grant. And we will strive to embed the issue of health equity in all of our work, recognizing that health disparities often are the result of policy and environmental factors that can affect health and are preventable.
As a result, the Foundation focuses its work on:
Stabilizing and strengthening the safety net, including primary care, oral health and behavioral health;
Encouraging and supporting collaborations that seek to improve health outcomes that by addressing social conditions that adversely affect their communities.
Commissioning research on health data, social conditions and trends.
This website will give you insights into our work and will provide resources that you can use in yours. We look forward to continuing our work with current grantees and partners, and to developing new relationships that will help us improve the health and health care of residents of Northern Virginia — particularly those who who have low incomes, are underinsured or uninsured.