Hitachi Foundation Feed

Faces of Energy: Andrew Butcher and GTECH

info@hitachifoundation.org (Hitachi Foundation) — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 20:17:37 +0000

2010 Yoshiyama Young Entrepreneur Andrew Butcher is featured in Pop City article.

Mental Health Weekly Highlights Workforce Needs

Wed, 11 May 2011 14:13:22 +0000

The April 11, 2011 edition of Mental Health Weekly highlights findings from a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s study about training low-wage workers. The report, “Improving Access and Quality: The Role of Frontline Staff at Behavioral and Mental Health Centers,” finds that mental healthcare facilities that train their frontline staff can benefit from reduced turnover as well as greater access to quality treatment and care. The study illustrates findings from the $15 million Jobs to Careers program that was supported by the Hitachi Foundation and the U.S. Department of Labor.

Aspen Institute Study Highlights Hospitals Gains By Investing in Workers

Fri, 06 May 2011 17:51:15 +0000

A study by the Aspen Institute, made possible in part by funding from the Hitachi Foundation, details financial and other gains made by the Temple University Hospital-Episcopal Campus in Philadelphia through its work-based learning program for mental health workers. Read more about the Aspen Institute’s Workforce Strategies Initiative study here.

Good Samaritan Hospital, Johns Hopkins Hospital Support Entry-Level Worker Investment in Modern Healthcare Magazine

Mon, 02 May 2011 18:41:07 +0000

Good Samaritan Hospital of Maryland's Larry Beck and Johns Hopkins Hospital's Pamela Paulk are featured in April 2011's Modern Healthcare magazine's on training entry-level healthcare workers to improve the bottom line. Beck and Paulk's joint commentary is available here (pdf).

Youth Entrepreneurship Programs: A Landscape

jharms@hitachifoundation.org (Jenny) — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 15:37:02 +0000

The Hitachi Foundation shares Youth Entrepreneuership Programs: A Landscape.

Yoshiyama Entrepreneur Jessamyn Waldman featured in NYT

info@hitachifoundation.org (Hitachi Foundation) — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 22:46:27 +0000

2010 Yoshiyama Entrepreneur Jessamyn Waldman of Hot Bread Kitchen was featured in this weekend's New York Times in an article called "Holiday Gifts That Give Back." View the full article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/08/dining/08charity.html?_r=2. (December 15, 2010)

Opportunity Knocks with Jobs to Careers

info@hitachifoundation.org (Hitachi Foundation) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 15:37:56 +0000

Philadelphia Inquirer article "Opportunity Knocks with Jobs to Careers" looks at how health care employers in Philadelphia are working with the District 1199C Training and Upgrading Fund to identify frontline workers who have leadership potential and invest in building their skills. The result is a more skilled workforce and opportunities for advancement for employees like Terrant Morrison, who used to commute from his home in Delaware to a day job and move on to work a second shift at The Bridge, a residential facility for troubled adolescent boys. Now, Terrant is a residential coordinator supervising 25 employees and overseeing day-to-day activities and scheduling. Morrison's training goes on. His previous work put him on track for a Bachelor's degree in behavioral health, which he now is pursuing at Philadelphia University.

Are you an MBA student or faculty member?

info@hitachifoundation.org (Hitachi Foundation) — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 21:16:07 +0000

Are you an MBA student or faculty member? Videos from The Hitachi Foundation and Net Impact's Pioneer Employer Case Competition explore best practices for driving curriculum change as well as lessons students can learn from inner city business owner Al Fuller of Integrated Packaging Corporation (IPC).

New: Employer Perspectives Series: Assisted Living in Portland, OR

info@hitachifoundation.org (Hitachi Foundation) — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 19:19:53 +0000

New: Employer Perspectives Series: Assisted Living in Portland, OR. One of the best ways to increase market share is to do a better job training frontline caregivers. That’s what David Kohnstamm, Administrator of the Rose Schnitzer Manor assisted living facility in Portland, Oregon, and his colleagues figured out. Read more in the latest installment of The Hitachi Foundation's Employer Perspectives Series.
November 9, 2010

University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business Team Wins Pioneer Employer Case Competition

info@hitachifoundation.org (Hitachi Foundation) — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 22:19:43 +0000

The Hitachi Foundation and Net Impact announced the winners of the 2010 Pioneer Employer Case Competition: “Raising Wages, Increasing Profits,” which culminated at the 2010 Net Impact Conference at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor’s Stephen M. Ross School of Business on Saturday, October 30, 2010. The winning MBA student team included Sean Elder, Bill Grau, Hans Strommen, and Kelsey Luers (pictured left to right in this photo) of the University of St. Thomas’ Opus College of Business in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Second-place winners were Tayo Akanni, Dale Prentiss, and Nick Theisen from the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona.

Rethinking Work

lfaulkner@hitachifoundation.org (Laura Faulkner) — Mon, 31 Aug 2015 19:58:26 +0000

The New York Times recently featured a piece called Rethinking Work by Swarthmore Professor Barry Schwartz. Schwartz is the author of the new book Why We Work. In his commentary, Schwartz examines the motivations that drive workers to excel. He notes that as employees, "we want work that is challenging and engaging, that enables us to exercise some discretion and control over what we do, and that provides us opportunities to learn and grow."

The Hitachi Foundation believes that business plays an essential role in creating opportunities for workers, from acquiring new skills to pay incentives. Smart employers, including those that we uncovered in our Doing Well & Doing Good report, believe that the ideal approach is a collaborative process where employees are encouraged to suggest improvements to the work process. Ultimately, Schwartz posits that an innate desire to contribute is what drives people to do good work.

Click HERE to read his full commentary.

Good Jobs at Work

lfaulkner@hitachifoundation.org (Laura Faulkner) — Fri, 28 Aug 2015 15:54:37 +0000

The topic of good jobs got national attention recently with MIT Sloan School of Management Professor Zeynep Ton being interviewed by CNN's Fareed Zakaria. In the segment, Dr. Ton explains her Good Jobs Strategy and how treating employees well can actually drive profits.

In other events, we recently traveled to MIT to co-host a session with leading voices on this same topic. Participants included F.B. Heron Foundation, Surdna Foundation, B-Lab, Investors' Circle, Ford Foundation, Atlanta Federal Reserve, and the Great Game of Business, among others. Participants discussed their efforts to define good jobs, develop metrics to measure practices and impacts, and create recognition that investors and others can rely upon.

Looking ahead, there is interest in bringing together additional viewpoints (investors, business managers, and labor) to discuss and promote the cause of good companies that provide good jobs.

Last Week at The Hitachi Foundation

jwhite@hitachifoundation.org (Jeff White) — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 19:01:34 +0000

As part of the Health Care Team Redesign Initiative (CTRI), the Hitachi Foundation and University of California San Francisco’s (UCSF) Center for the Health Professions convened a workshop last week at the UCSF campus. The meeting focused on ways to develop training curricula for advanced medical assistants (MAs).

Attention Entrepreneurs: Apply for the 2015 Village Capital Health Cohort!

lfaulkner@hitachifoundation.org (Laura Faulkner) — Thu, 30 Jul 2015 20:20:53 +0000

Village Capital Health: US 2015, in partnership with The Hitachi Foundation

From the Village Capital Website

The U.S. spends roughly $2.8 trillion on healthcare each year. While most attention is placed on the healthcare costs that continue to exponentially increase, 40 percent of health outcomes are determined by social and economic factors. The social determinants of health run the demographic gambit and include factors such as where a person was born and where they work. Inevitably, these are largely shaped by an individual's and/or family's wealth; i.e., the less money a person has, the more likely they are to experience poor health. The San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank calls this correlation between low-wealth and poor health outcomes the "health-wealth gap".

Four Ventures Awarded Top Honors at Raleigh-Durham Health Pitchfest

lfaulkner@hitachifoundation.org (Laura Faulkner) — Tue, 23 Jun 2015 14:49:30 +0000

Selected by peer ventures and investors as top businesses that address health issues

RALEIGH-DURHAM, NC (June 23, 2015) – SOURCE: Solutions from Our Country's Entrepreneurs today announced that ARMR, Forecast Health, INRFOOD, and Lowcountry Street Grocery were named as the top ventures with business solutions that address health challenges faced by low-wealth individuals at the SOURCE Forum: Healthcare in Raleigh-Durham Pitchfest.

LIA Diagnostics and InnovaJoy Awarded Top Honors at Philadelphia Health Pitchfest

lfaulkner@hitachifoundation.org (Laura Faulkner) — Tue, 09 Jun 2015 19:39:11 +0000

Selected by peer ventures as top businesses that address systemic healthcare problems

PHILADELPHIA, PA (June 9, 2015) – SOURCE: Solutions from Our Country's Entrepreneurs today announced that LIA Diagnostics and InnovaJoy were named the top two health ventures with business solutions that address challenges faced by low-wealth individuals at the SOURCE Philadelphia Healthcare Pitchfest.

LIA Diagnostics was further recognized by Investors' Circle Philadelphia members as the most investment-ready company and by the Pitchfest audience as the venture with the highest social impact potential.

Philadelphia-based LIA Diagnostics introduced their flushable pregnancy test designed by women for women. The test will be easier to use than traditional pregnancy tests and is made from flushable materials that offer users greater privacy and sustainability at a lower cost. InnovaJoy, also from Philadelphia, showcased their mental health game platform for people with traumatic brain injuries. The product, in prototype stage, aims to improve patient mood and adherence while giving health providers data about each user. The platform will soon be piloted at three Philadelphia-area trauma centers.

The June 3rd event featured eight ventures (many from the greater Philadelphia/Pennsylvania area) that offer improved access to healthcare and treatment for low-wealth individuals. The entrepreneurs were selected from dozens of entries to showcase their businesses in front of an audience of impact investors including Investors' Circle Philadelphia members, venture capitalists, and healthcare leaders.

SOURCE is a first-of-its-kind collaboration between The Hitachi Foundation, Investors' Circle, and Village Capital that connects entrepreneurs with the investment capital, mentoring, and support needed to grow their businesses. The participating ventures focus on a range of healthcare challenges that disproportionately burden low-wealth Americans. The six other ventures that participated in the Pitchfest are:

BetweenMD – a clinically validated solution for chronic disease management in a PaaS model.

dbaza Health – a health IT company that combines chronic disease management, behavioral and learning sciences, and mobile technology to create digital therapies.

eCareDiary – an online resource that provides secure tools, content and social networks for family caregivers.

Klio Health – helps healthcare providers coordinate care for people with multiple chronic conditions by engaging patients through self-reporting and automated, personalized feedback.

NonnaTech – the first digital health solution that provides real-time data that shows changes in behavior (or the absence of behaviors) that signal physiological changes in patients.

Symple – an app that allows patients to understand the ebb and flow of their symptoms over time and to confidentially report them to their care team.

The next SOURCE Forum: Healthcare Pitchfest is June 18 in Raleigh/Durham where up to ten ventures will meet and pitch their businesses to impact investors from the Raleigh/Durham area.

About SOURCE
SOURCE is a partnership between The Hitachi Foundation, Investors' Circle, and Village Capital, with additional support from The Rockefeller Foundation and the Sorenson Global Impact Investing Center. SOURCE discovers entrepreneurs creating business solutions to social issues effecting low-wealth Americans and links them with the investment capital and mentoring needed to grow their businesses. All of the entrepreneurs in the cohort are also eligible to receive investment through the Investors' Circle network.

About The Hitachi Foundation
The Hitachi Foundation is an independent, philanthropic organization that seeks to discover, demonstrate and expand business practices that both measurably improve economic opportunities for low-wealth individuals in the U.S. and enhance long term business value.

About Investors' Circle
Investors' Circle (IC) is the largest early-stage impact investing network in the world. Together with hundreds of angels, venture capitalists, foundations and family offices, IC has propelled over $200 million into more than 300 enterprises dedicated to improving the environment, education, health, and community. A nonprofit organization, IC cultivates its impact investor network, provides opportunities for high-potential impact entrepreneurs to meet impact investors, and facilitates investment.

About Village Capital
Village Capital sources, trains and invests in early-stage entrepreneurs solving major problems in society through business solutions in the US and emerging markets. Village Capital puts the power of investment in the hands of the entrepreneurs with an award-winning peer-selected investment model, and supports entrepreneurs as a 501c (3) non-profit, as well as an affiliated for-profit investment fund. Program graduates have raised more than $100 million in follow-on capital, and 93% of alumni are still in business.

# # #

New Belgium Brewing Company

lfaulkner@hitachifoundation.org (Laura Faulkner) — Tue, 05 May 2015 14:01:28 +0000

Pioneer Employer Spotlight: New Belgium Brewing Company

Learn more about New Belgium's exemplary business practices by reading the case study.

"At New Belgium, we believe passionately that our culture and employees are our strategic differentiators.This is why we commit the amount of time and resources in remaining culturally connected as our company continues to prosper and grow in size and geography." - CEO Kim Jordan

New Belgium is a Hitachi Foundation Pioneer Employer.

Apply to the SOURCE Healthcare Venture Forums!

lfaulkner@hitachifoundation.org (Laura Faulkner) — Mon, 04 May 2015 19:45:26 +0000

SOURCE 2015 Forums: Healthcare in Philadelphia & Raleigh/Durham

SOURCE, a collaboration between The Hitachi Foundation, Village Capital, and Investors’ Circle, is excited to launch two pitchfest opportunities in Philadelphia and Durham aimed at uncovering entrepreneurial solutions that address the challenges low-wealth individuals encounter at the intersection of health and wealth. For example, low-income individuals are five times more likely to report being in poor health compared to those with higher incomes. We are especially interested in entrepreneurs with solutions that will increase and/or improve access to healthcare and treatment for low-wealth individuals.

We are seeking 12 to 15 innovative ventures to participate at each of the full-day events that will include a capital roundtable with local investors, a sample of Village Capital's curriculum, and one-on-one mentoring from investors.

Each forum will culminate in a pitchfest to leading investors in the two regions. Three $1,000 prizes will be awarded: one through a peer-selection process, one by Investors' Circle's local angel investors, and an audience vote that honors mission alignment.

The Philadelphia Forum will be held June 3rd and the Raleigh/Durham Forum held June 18th. The deadline to apply for the Philadelphia forum is May 14th and June 1st for the Raleigh/Durham forum.

To apply, click here: Healthcare in Philadelphia and Raleigh/Durham

To learn more about these upcoming forums, please contact Allyson Plosko at allyson.plosko@vilcap.com

Hitachi Foundation VP for Program Attends White House Upskill Summit

lfaulkner@hitachifoundation.org (Laura Faulkner) — Thu, 23 Apr 2015 15:44:33 +0000

On Friday, April 24th, Hitachi Foundation Vice President for Program Mark Popovich attended the White House Upskill Summit as a content expert on employer workforce development - joining 150 employers, labor leaders, foundations, non-profits, educators and tech innovators from across America who are answering the President's call to action and equipping workers of all ages with the skills they need to advance into better-paying jobs.

The White House will announce new commitments being made by public and private partners in response to a call to action launched by the President in January "to help workers of all ages earn a shot at better, higher-paying jobs, even if they don't have a higher education." At the summit, Mr. Popovich and other participants developed plans to work together to build on these commitments by promoting the adoption of skill training and career advancement strategies that improve workers' ability to earn more over time.

Additional information:

Photo credit: Energy Digital

The Hitachi Foundation Launches National Healthcare Team Redesign Initiative

jwhite@hitachifoundation.org (Jeff White) — Tue, 17 Mar 2015 20:00:22 +0000

March 17, 2015 - The Hitachi Foundation today announced the grantees for our new Care Team Redesign Initiative (CTRI) that aims to spark organizational change in the healthcare industry.

As part of a larger effort to improve patient access and quality care, CTRI will help healthcare organizations make changes to the roles and compensation of their medical assistants (MAs) and other care team members. The Hitachi Foundation chose to focus on MAs as they are often at the front-line of the patient experience.

The two-year initiative will work with four primary care centers to collectively train more than 400 MAs and create career paths for approximately 280 MAs.
The four sites selected to participate in the CTRI are:

·         Altamed Health Services in Los Angeles;

·         Anne Arundel Medical Center in Anne Arundel, Md.;

·         Billings Clinic in Billings, Mont.; and

·         Duke Primary Care in Durham, NC.

The Foundation committed $1.5 million to support site programs, technical assistance, and evaluation. The four selected sites will also contribute more than $1 million in matching funds.

“The growing pool of newly insured patients creates an imperative for healthcare providers to enhance the roles of frontline workers. In this new environment frontline workers will be key to ensuring quality, affordable patient-centered care,” said Barbara Dyer, President and CEO of The Hitachi Foundation. “We anticipate that the four health centers will increase MA wages while they also improve the health of patients.”

There are more than 570,000 medical assistants working in the U.S., and the profession is projected to see 29 percent growth rate through 2022. Research findings show that providers who train and use advanced MAs in team-based clinical settings see improvements in both patient care and workers’ job satisfaction.

The technical assistance providers selected for the initiative are the Center for the Health Professions and the Center for Excellence in Primary Care, at the University of California, San Francisco.

To evaluate the initiative, the Gerontology Institute at Georgia State University was selected to lead a quasi-experimental evaluation of the initiative’s clinical and workforce outcomes. Dr. Jennifer Craft Morgan will be the lead evaluator working in collaboration with Dr. Emmeline Chuang (University of California, Los Angeles), Dr. Janette Dill (University of Akron), and Dr. Chivon Mingo (Georgia State University).

To learn more, visit the Foundation’s Good Companies @ Work coverage of medical assistants and recent news about the initiative on the Health Affairs Grantwatch Blog.