Co-Impact announces inaugural five grants including two that will support GDI’s incubated initiatives

Co-Impact, a new philanthropic collaborative for systems change, announced this week its first round of grants totaling $80 million that will support five initiatives improving education, health, and economic opportunity across Africa, South Asia, and Latin America.

We are thrilled to share that two initiatives incubated at GDI – citiesRISE and the Partnership for Economic Inclusion’s graduation approach – are part of Co-Impact’s first set of grants:

citiesRISE: Co-Impact will support citiesRISE’s effort to create a global network of “Mental Health Friendly Cities” – starting with Nairobi, Chennai, Bogota, Sacramento and Seattle and scaling systemic solutions by leveraging the energy and creativity of youth, the speed and reach of technology, and the power of cross-sectoral collective action.

Partnership for Economic Inclusion (PEI): Co-Impact will support PEI’s efforts along with program partners Jeevika, Bihar, and Fundación Capital to expand the graduation approach – one of the most effective economic inclusion interventions to help the world’s poorest people lift themselves out of poverty. PEI is now housed at the World Bank and brings together deep expertise and serves as a practical global resource for those wanting to expand social and economic inclusion programs of this type.

These two initiatives were selected along with three others as part of a rigorous assessment from an initial pool of more than 250 initiatives. PEI and the graduation approach will receive a Co-Impact systems change grant over five years, and citiesRISE will receive a two-year venture grant.