2022 Scorecard
Health equity is everyone's responsibility at Neighborhood, and we remain laser-focused on creating Equity4All.
Neighborhood is so excited to introduce its commitment to creating equity within the organization and in the communities we serve. We have consciously created guiding equity principles and commitments that influence and drive our daily work. These Neighborhood4Equity principles are intended to create an inclusive environment for our employees and equitable access to quality and cost-effective health care for everyone that calls Rhode Island home. Our four commitments illustrate how Neighborhood puts its principles into action.
While our 4Report outlines our Equity4People|People4Equity vision and strategies, this companion document, 4Report Scorecard, establishes incremental metrics to track progress on individual projects. It’s our hope that this scorecard will capture results of our endeavors for each of the Neighborhood4Equity Principles and associated commitments.
Neighborhood4Equity Principles
Within our organization: Equity4People
We will empower our workforce and sustain our purpose-driven culture. Our goal is to ensure our workplace is always welcoming, there is a sense of shared purpose, and equal opportunity prevails for all.
Within our community: Equity4People
We will collaborate with our Community Health Center founders and network of medical, behavioral health, social service, and public health professionals and policymakers to eliminate barriers to quality care and advocate for improved health outcomes for all.
Our Commitments
- Build a stronger workforce by broadening our diverse and inclusive environment.
- Ensure everyone has a seat and a voice at the table.
- Use data to advocate for equity and achieve measurable impact.
- Accelerate health equity by supporting and working in underserved communities.
We are proud to share with you our achievements and what we are aiming to measure for the next three years. We also invite you to follow our ever-evolving journey at www.nhpri.org.
Within the Workforce:Equity 
People
People
We will empower our workforce and sustain our purpose-driven culture. Our goal is to ensure our workplace is always welcoming, there is a sense of shared purpose, and equal opportunity prevails for all.
Commitment 1: Build a stronger workforce by broadening our diverse and inclusive environment.
2022 Accomplishments
Hired Chief Diversity Officer, created Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
With the support of Neighborhood’s board of directors, established an executive level position and the Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI), with the executive level Chief Diversity Officer (CDO) reporting directly to the President and CEO.
Established People Division
One bold step in this journey, was to structure Neighborhood’s Office of DEI and its Human Resources department to both report to the CDO to create a new organizational structure known as the “People Division.” This organizational design lends itself to looking at all people-related functions through an equity lens.
Restructured hiring teams
Neighborhood’s hiring teams are now consciously organized to consist of a female and/or a person of color. For director level positions and above, two executive team members and People Division representatives actively participate in the interview process.
Reviewed policies and procedures
Neighborhood set the stage and took steps to proactively conduct a solid review of company policies, procedures, and age-old structures that were standing in the way of our goal to create a workplace of inclusion where all employees feel welcomed and ready to contribute.
Updated job descriptions
Neighborhood began introducing technology to screen job descriptions for inclusive language with the goal of identifying and course correcting the lack of diversity in written job descriptions. These tools also helped reduce unconscious bias from our recruitment process.
Areas of Focus for Next Three Years
2023
Employee Experience
- Establish an Employee Experience Workgroup to help improve overall workplace engagement and improve key performance indicators for all employees, using the results of the 2024 employee opinion survey.
- Finalize and officially launch the organization’s mentoring program, with 50 participants actively enrolled.
- Evaluate and tally all employee training hours to create a baseline and set incremental increases to promote a culture of learning and encourage development as a pathway to career progression.
Workforce Diversity
- Conduct analysis on the organization’s job descriptions and career postings to identify inequities, and address them as warranted (e.g., credentials, educational background, experiential learning).
2024
Workforce Diversity
- Finalize and implement Neighborhood’s Supplier Diversity program.
Employee Experience
- Implement a pilot cross training program among staff department roles in the People Division to create opportunities to increase talent bench strength and succession planning.
- Increase learning hours by 5% from the 2025 baseline.
2025
Employee Experience
- Formally expand and launch the cross-training program noted in 2026 to include all six of the organizational divisions.
- Increase learning hours by 5% from the baseline identified in the year of 2026.
- Grow employee participation as it relates to Neighborhood’s tuition reimbursement program by 20% compared to that of 2024.
Commitment 2: Ensure everyone has a seat and a voice at the table.
2022 Accomplishments
Launched eight Employee Resource Groups (ERG)
ERGs—ADHD & Neurodiversity in the Workplace; Afro Centric; Asian Committee; Latin X/Hispanic; PRIDE; Military;
Women’s ERG; and Working Parents – help create inclusive work environment and assess equity in the workplace.
Evaluated inclusive sentiment
Leaders worked to better understand the baseline metric of 72% inclusivity score based on responses to the 2024 Employee Engagement Survey and started building a plan to increase this sentiment.
Conducted pay equity analysis
The compensation team took a deep dive assessment of pay equity, determining necessary adjustments. Human Resources made a commitment to annually assess, and address, pay equity moving forward.
Revamped health care premiums
In January 2024, Neighborhood also took a step related to compensation by introducing a new model for Neighborhood’s employer share of health insurance premium dollars based on income and will review and share findings as they become available.
Changed tuition reimbursement
This year, Neighborhood also found ways to create opportunities for continuous learning. Our benefits team revised the Tuition Reimbursement Policy to reimburse employees up front, versus after course completion. Employee participation in 2024 doubled compared to 2020.
Expanded diversity training
More than 600 employees took part in cross functional diversity training, amounting to 1,800 hours of diversity, equity, and inclusion education.
Areas of Focus for Next Three Years
2023
Workforce Diversity
- Increase diversity at the director and above level.
Employee Inclusivity
- Maintain between 20-25% employee participation in Employee Resource Group membership during the year.
2024
Employee Experience
- Maintain or increase the baseline of Neighborhood’s 72% inclusivity score based on the Employee Engagement Survey.
Employee Equity
- Perform policy audit to ensure inclusivity for all organizational policies and procedures.
2025
Employee Equity
- Identify and implement educational offerings in two or more languages through asynchronous learning tools, enabling employees to learn on their own schedule within a certain timeframe.
Within our Community:People Equity
Equity
We will collaborate with our Community Health Center founders and network of medical, behavioral health, social service, and public health professionals and policymakers to eliminate barriers to quality care and advocate for improved health outcomes for all.
Commitment 3: Use data to advocate for equity and achieve measurable impact.
2022 Accomplishments
Created broader accessibility to race and ethnicity data analysis
Race and ethnicity data, provided by the analytics team and accessible to all departments, is being used to better understand health disparities to create more accurate member personas.
Reconstructed data measures
The team’s analysis of the data covered 54 measures grouped into five component categories – access and utilization; prevention and screening; treatment, behavioral health, and overuse and appropriateness of care.
Shared key findings for action
The high-level data findings reveal inequities in care – given and received – among various ethnic groups.
Selected three primary areas of focus
Based on data analysis, Neighborhood’s Health Equity Committee selected three areas of focus to create innovative solutions to address: maternal health, behavioral health, and childhood obesity.
Areas of Focus for Next Three Years
2023
Health Equity Accreditation
- Develop and begin to execute initial steps of its National Committee of Quality Assurance (NCQA) Health Equity Accreditation plan.
Health Equity Committee
- Present project proposal recommendations to Neighborhood’s Executive Leadership Team with specific measurable goals and objectives to help address sustainable change in the areas of maternal health, childhood obesity, and behavioral health.
2024
Health Equity Accreditation
- Begin year two of NCQA Health Equity Accreditation work by developing and procuring documentation.
2025
Health Equity Accreditation
- Successfully achieve NCQA Health Equity Accreditation.
Health Equity Committee
- Begin to execute approved and resourced proposal focused on maternal health, childhood obesity, and behavioral health.
Commitment 4: Accelerate health equity by supporting and working in underserved communities.
2022 Accomplishments
Improved immunization rates
Leveraged our partnership with Rhode Island Department of Health, the state’s managed care organizations, and community health centers to coordinate outreach and messaging strategies to improve immunization rates within ethnic and low-income communities. This is a strong example of our making an impact with Neighborhood ranked nationally in the “top ten” for eight childhood combination immunizations among Medicaid Plans.
Continued to create synergies with community partners
Neighborhood supported more than 100 organizations that address social determinants of health.
Areas of Focus for Next Three Years
2023
Community Partnerships
- Evaluate what current community partnerships in place are aligned with the health equity focus areas defined in Commitment #3: Maternal health, behavioral health, and childhood obesity.
2024
Community Partnerships
- Determine the way in which Neighborhood’s resources (time, talent and financial) in the community are affecting childhood obesity, racial disparities, in maternal health and behavioral health.
- Develop a program designation for community partners, members and vendors that highlights them as supporters of Neighborhood in its quest to ensure there is health equity in Rhode Island.
2025
Community Partnerships
- Audit organizational investments in the community (time, talent, and finances) and ensure that each aligns with Neighborhoods’ health equity objectives to ensure value and drive results.
- Recognize the first group of health equity partners program.
