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Investing in Healthier Communities

We’re leveraging the knowledge, experience and talents of community organizations and partners to address social and economic factors that influence health in our communities.

With our Blue Impact℠ major grant program and other community-based efforts, we're focused on social and economic drivers of health in five key areas:

• Optimal health outcomes
• Locally defined health solutions
• Economic opportunity and stability
• Nutrición
• Vecindario y entorno de construcción

As a health insurer, we recognize the importance of closing gaps in preventive care to help people achieve their best health. 

This extends beyond our members and into our communities with programs and investments focusing on immunizations, diabetes care, cardiovascular care, early detection cancer screenings, behavioral health, and maternal and infant health.  

Through the Blue Impact major grant program, we invested in many organizations working to close these gaps. For example, St. Vincent de Paul Charitable Pharmacy of North Texas is providing prescription medications - primarily antibiotics and treatments for diabetes, heart disease and mental health conditions - to thousands of low-income clients.

BCBSTX administers the Caring Foundation of Texas as an in-kind donation, which operates the Care Van^® mobile health program.  

The Care Van program works with public health departments and others to bring no-cost immunizations and other preventive health services to communities across Texas. In 2024, the program held more than 980 events, reaching more than 70,000 Texans. 

The Caring Foundation of Texas also operates the CareVan@School program, which makes immunizations available right where families enroll kids for school.

Organizations embedded in our communities are often best able to meet the diverse health and human service needs of the people who live there. 

Our 2024 Blue Impact community partners include El Paso Children's Hospital Foundation, which is bridging diabetes care gaps by offering essential medical nutrition therapy and diabetes self-management education to patients with Type 1 and Type 2 and their families. Its Empower Clinic, dedicated to children with prediabetes and Type 2 diabetes, has extended the hospital's reach to include more patients.

Another grant is helping Family Houston expand a program that provides counseling to children, adults and couples in English, Spanish, Bengali, Vietnamese and Khmer to improve access to mental health services in underserved communities in the greater Houston area. 

Access to jobs. Opportunities to grow. A stable income. Meeting these essential needs provides a foundation for health and well-being.

With the Blue Impact major grant program, we’re helping community organizations provide the stability and opportunities that allow people to thrive.  

That includes helping people like Rio Grande Valley resident Vivian Solis pursue her dream of becoming a nurse and providing more for her family. With help from the Valley Initiative for Development and Advancement or VIDA, Solis received financial assistance for books and tuition to pursue her degree.

"I'm happy and blessed for this program," Solis said about her experience with VIDA. "This career is not only for myself and my family but also to help the community."

VIDA helps more than 600 students each year, providing financial aid for childcare and transportation, and career coaching and case management for adults seeking better-paying jobs and long-term stability.

We’re investing in efforts to connect people to affordable healthy housing, transportation and physical activity.

We’ve continued our collaboration with National Fitness Campaign to help bring outdoor Fitness Courts^® to Texas communities. Fifteen new courts built in 2024 are within a 10-minute walk for more than 42,000 people. 

The Blue Impact major grant program is funding other community-based efforts to strengthen neighborhood assets. 

With an investment in Frazier Healthy Homes, we’re helping homeowners with renovations and providing support with estate planning, property taxes, budgeting and other tools and resources.   

Other grants are supporting services and stable housing for people who are homeless or housing insecure. Another is helping install outdoor learning spaces for more than 6,000 students at high-poverty elementary schools

With grants, community outreach, volunteer events and other avenues, we’re collaborating with community-based partners to reduce hunger and improve access to nutritional food. 

Many organizations receiving Blue Impact major grant funding in 2024 are expanding access to nutritious food in ways that meet the needs of their local communities. 

One grant is helping Ascension Seton Medical Center in Austin improve health outcomes for moms and babies with the Food is the Best Medicine program.  

In collaboration with other Austin organizations, the program provides home deliveries of nutritious meal kits, produce and pantry items to women who give birth at the hospital and are identified as being food insecure.   

Another Blue Impact partner is Brazos Valley Food Bank, which is working with local schools to provide school-based food pantries, improving attendance rates and nutrition for thousands of children.