Our Story.

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, our co-founders, with backgrounds in public health and technology, noticed something significant: the already known barriers of connecting low-income and disadvantaged communities to vital programs and services became even more apparent and devastatingly deadly. Rather than reinventing the wheel, a small group of friends & colleagues got together to brainstorm viable solutions to this ever-growing problem.

The social services & resources available in these communities, such as food subsidies and health care, are often underutilized due to the growing government-citizen disconnect and limited capacity to identify and apply for them.

Additional contributing factors to these issues include: a lack of understanding of what these programs and services are, communications are being ignored from untrusted sources, difficulty or unclear enrollment instructions deter the end-user from enrolling in programs or receiving services, distrust of program administration and implementation providers, affordability, eligibility, and other questions come up with no resources to get answers, and physical & environmental barriers such as a lack of transportation, technologies, or disabilities deter individuals from receiving the support they need.

In addition, there is also an unfortunate growing concern that local nonprofits do not have effective program models, are not focused on systemic solutions, and lack data orientation and clear strategies to address these factors. Through research and lived experiences, the team learned this is often the result of limited resources & capacity.

To address this, the OI core team combined its experience to build a durable community-based solution and technology platform to support community resources from within the community to deliver program success.

Thus, Outward Impact was formed in Los Angeles, California.

To learn more about our fiscal sponsor, click here.