Share ThisHighmark Bright Blue Futures is the organization’s charitable giving and community involvement program. This series provides in-depth articles on its work, community partners, and leaders as they advance their goals around Community Health and Community and Economic Resilience. In this article, we learn about the Highmark Bright Blue Futures Awards Program from the leaders who created it.
Highmark Bright Blue Futures focuses corporate giving and community engagement on improving equitable access to care, quality of life and economic resilience in the communities served by Highmark’s health plans. In 2023, the program extended its work to the Highmark Bright Blue Futures Awards, made possible by the Highmark Foundation. The awards include grants, but the deeper purpose is to recognize organizations and programs that are moving the needle on health equity and provide models worth emulating.
In 2024, the program culminated with an awards ceremony on September 23 and a thought leadership forum on September 24. (See the full list of awardees and Rising Stars in the sidebar to the right, or at the end of the article on mobile devices.)
To learn more about Highmark Bright Blue Futures Awards, we turned to the two leaders who created it: Kenya T. Boswell, senior vice president, Community Affairs, Highmark Health and Yvonne Cook, president, Highmark Foundation.
Don Bertschman: How did the Highmark Bright Blue Futures Awards program begin?
Kenya T. Boswell: We are very intentional with Highmark Bright Blue Futures — we make sure everything aligns with our framework and strategy, and the awards program clearly does. The program began with an idea from Yvonne.
Yvonne Cook: After the Highmark Bright Blue Futures program was launched and starting to get people engaged, I kept thinking, how can the Highmark Foundation participate? As president of the Highmark Foundation, I’ve always felt it was important to recognize and honor the best, most impactful nonprofit organizations. I shared the idea of collaborating on an awards program with Kenya, and then we developed it around the Highmark Bright Blue Futures strategic framework with the Highmark Foundation as the sponsor.
Kenya T. Boswell: It was perfect timing. We had created the Highmark Bright Blue Futures framework, and we knew the focus areas we would support in community health. The Highmark Foundation was an early adopter of the CDC Healthy People 2030 strategy, which also shaped our focus areas. The idea of an awards program also aligned with our emphasis on measuring success. Our criteria is not just doing good work, we want to shine light on organizations that can measurably demonstrate their impact. The Highmark Bright Blue Futures Awards program was a way to celebrate those organizations, create a signature initiative, and reinforce our commitment to health equity.
Don Bertschman: Can you talk more about the program criteria and application process?
Yvonne Cook: For any given year, application details are online. Last year, our theme was “A Look at Health Equity, Social Determinants of Health and Philanthropy to Advance Community Health.”
Kenya T. Boswell: The focus last year had a nice connection to the work of Nebeyou Abebe and his Social Determinants of Health team.
Yvonne Cook: This year we simplified it to health equity — we awarded organizations based on how they are improving health equity.
We received 186 applications in 2023 and more than 240 applications in 2024 from nonprofits throughout Pennsylvania, Delaware, West Virginia, and New York. Our review committee assessed each organization and identified five signature awardees and 10 rising stars. The selection process is highly competitive — when organizations apply, we really take a close look at what they are achieving.
Kenya T. Boswell: Initially, the Rising Stars category did not exist. As Yvonne said, our process is highly competitive, and the criteria is demanding. When we saw the strong caliber of applications last year, we realized that a significant number of organizations were on the right path, and we decided to expand recognition to include smaller grant awards. Again, it is not about the financial award — it is about recognizing their impact and giving them an opportunity to be there with the main awardees that have reached that next level.
Don Bertschman: There are great articles about last year’s awardees in your 2023 Community Report, on your website, and in this magazine’s Highmark Bright Blue Futures series. Did the awards program bring new organizations to your attention or give you a different perspective on organizations you already knew about?
Yvonne Cook: Mon Health’s P3 Program is one I was not familiar with before the 2023 awards process. In this case, the Enterprise Equitable Health Institute had been involved with them for their work on First Steps and Beyond, a maternal health program, so they had a deep appreciation of what P3 has done to help thousands of expecting mothers.
The Highmark Foundation has been focused on Pennsylvania and West Virginia, so it has been exciting for my team to learn more about organizations in New York and Delaware. The more we learn and understand, the better we can engage with all our nonprofit organizations.
Kenya T. Boswell: Even with organizations we know about, we can always learn more. That is one reason we do the award ceremony, and this year we are adding a thought leadership forum. We want to bring people together to learn more.
The first year’s award ceremony was incredibly energizing, and so many connections were happening organically, including leaders throughout our enterprise engaging with community leaders. As one example, American Red Cross of Western New York was there as one of our Rising Star awardees, and they had an opportunity to engage with team members from our New York market. Now, all of us in our respective footprints may already work with these national organizations, but because they were in that room and had the space to have a true conversation, they ended up partnering to create a sickle cell disease panel and blood drive at the Buffalo headquarters.
That kind of connection was happening last year even though time was tight. To build on that, we decided that this year we would be intentional and dedicate time for those connections and learnings to happen. That is what inspired the thought leadership forum.
Yvonne Cook: The thought leadership forum will bring together previous awardees, new awardees, people from our organization and the community, and everyone can learn from each other. People can network, share best practices, get to know each other better, and maybe find synergy to collaborate in the future. I am excited about this, because the Highmark Foundation’s practice has always been around thought leadership and education. How can we communicate and share knowledge and best practices learned from the field across the country?
One way we look at thought leadership is uniqueness. For example, the Highmark Foundation funded the AHN Center for Inclusion Health’s post-incarceration clinic. When someone is released from jail — where everything is structured, everything is on site, including health care — how do you make sure they get access to what they need once released? Their clinic, Rethinking Incarceration and Empowering Recovery (RIvER), steps into that gap and provides wraparound services. Do you need housing? Do you need health insurance? What other resources will help you? Only a handful of organizations in the country do this. The approach was unique, smart and it addressed a myriad of needs.
We want the learning from this type of work to be shared throughout the U.S. — we want to tell their story to other organizations.
Kenya T. Boswell: We are also excited to have Ryan Leak as keynote speaker at our 2024 awards ceremony. We saw him speak at another event and he was very inspirational. People in nonprofits face many challenges, and it can be hard. You need those moments and experiences that help you re-energize and get excited about your work, and Ryan Leak is just a great motivational speaker.
Yvonne Cook, President Highmark Foundation and Kenya T. Boswell, senior vice president, Community Affairs, Highmark Health
Don Bertschman: How do you see Highmark Bright Blue Futures Awards evolving in the future?
Yvonne Cook: I would like the awards program to be right up there with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Culture of Health Prize and other national awards. We want organizations to actively pursue a Highmark Bright Blue Futures Award, because of our program’s depth and how the award showcases and highlights excellent work.
Kenya T. Boswell: Related to that, from the start, it was clear to us that our intent was to create an awards program — which distinguishes it from opportunities to apply for support through grants. We wanted to be even more clear about that in the second year. Community organizations have limited resources, their time is valuable, so we don’t want them going through a whole application process without understanding that it is a competitive award and recognition program focused on measurable impact.
We clarified the application and criteria and language, especially around the program’s focus on impact, and we thought that might mean fewer applications. Instead, the number of applications we received this year went up significantly! That is a testament to the quality of work community organizations are doing. Also, to Yvonne’s point, it shows that when organizations are hearing about the program, they see the value and want to strive for a Highmark Bright Blue Futures Award.
Don Bertschman: The awards recognize impact and excellence. Are there certain qualities that help a community organization go “from good to great”?
Yvonne Cook: Yes, but first it is important to recognize that nonprofits often face complex challenges yet are still able to provide important services and programs to the community. However, moving from good to great requires a willingness to change direction, having well-developed, agreed upon measures of success and a focus on what your organization does best.
Now, something that elevates one organization’s impact might not be as important for another. But keeping it more general, excellent organizations have talent in their area of expertise and in their operations. Their board is strong. They set clear goals but also are able to grow and take on new things. They are at the forefront of understanding what people need and what they can deliver. They are thoughtful, strategic — they know how to partner and are good at collaborating. Those qualities will help an organization take on any challenges that arise and keep advancing forward.
Kenya T. Boswell: I agree. When you look at going from good to great with community organizations, we can’t just say, Organization A needs to figure out how to do everything that Organization B does. It is not that easy. A Highmark Bright Blue Futures Award is not saying, here is the only way to achieve measurable impact. Every community is different, so what has an impact will be different as well.
Yvonne Cook: We are cheering for excellence, but I will go back to what Kenya said about creating the Rising Stars category. It is really important for us to help organizations move forward in their journeys. For example, one program nominated by a philanthropic organization last year did not get an award, but we saw such potential during the application process that the Highmark Foundation decided to fund them separately. They help the Hispanic population get access to care — what they do is unique and needed. They may not quite be at the award level, but we want to help advance their work.
Kenya T. Boswell: What I personally hope to see with our program is our Rising Stars and members of other community organizations looking at our top awardees and getting some insight about how they can improve their own programs. Someone might go back to their organization and say, we have a good model, but through this awards program I learned about an organization doing something we haven’t thought about before. What if we adapted this for our model? If something like that happens, and it helps take good work to great work, that is what we deem success.
Don Bertschman: It is not just about the top awardees — you are lifting up some organizations as exemplars, but the payoff is the learnings that benefit many other organizations.
Yvonne Cook: And that brings us back to why we came up with the thought leadership forum, and inviting local nonprofits to be part of the conversation.
Kenya, myself, our teams across the organization’s footprint — we are all just trying to make life a little better in the communities where we live and work. We can't fund everything. We have limited resources, too. But we think strategically about how we can have an impact. In the past, you might see our giving and volunteerism mostly in terms of one-off projects or events or grants. Now, when you say Highmark Bright Blue Futures, it includes all of that, but you help people see how it is all connected — how we are making a difference in our strategic focus areas.
Kenya T. Boswell is the senior vice president of Community Affairs for Highmark Health, a $27.1 billion national, blended health organization that includes one of America’s largest Blue Cross Blue Shield insurers and a growing regional hospital and physician network.
Boswell brings over 20 years of leading community affairs, philanthropic and nonprofit management to the enterprise. Her role at Highmark Health involves overseeing community affairs for all markets in Pennsylvania, Delaware, West Virginia, and New York. This includes the work of the Highmark Foundation, Highmark Inc. and its Blue-branded affiliates’ Highmark Bright Blue Futures charitable giving and community involvement program, and Allegheny Health Network’s community giving and support of the Community Health Needs Assessments.
Before joining Highmark Health, Boswell served as the director of global impact citizenship at BNY Mellon, as well as president for BNY Mellon Foundation of Southwestern PA. During her tenure at BNY Mellon, she created a social innovation challenge that had a great impact on marginalized communities known as UpPrize. Her creation of UpPrize exceeded $2.5 million in investments, grants and technical assistance to social entrepreneurs and tech startups.
Boswell also worked at Duquesne Light Company as a senior community relations representative prior to joining BNY Mellon. She developed the Power of Warmth project and incorporated changes to the employee volunteer program, which led to achievement in employee participation and engagement.
Boswell obtained her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Pittsburgh and her master’s in nonprofit management from Robert Morris University. She also participated in the Leadership and Negotiation Academy for Women along with Leading Innovation: Creating a Dynamic Organization, both at Carnegie Mellon University. Boswell was named a Woman of Influence by the Pittsburgh Business Times in 2020 and 20 People to Know in Healthcare by the Pittsburgh Business Times in 2022.
Yvonne Cook has served as the Highmark Foundation's president since 2003, and has managed more than $225 million in giving through the foundation. As president, Cook is responsible for the management, vision and thought leadership in the foundation’s focus area of health; fiscal and program success of foundation goals; and evaluation of grantmaking. She makes decisions about priorities and strategies; works collaboratively with other private and/or public funders and grantees for greater social impact; and develops strategies for shaping agendas and decision-making of other external stakeholders.
As vice president for Community Health and Programs, Cook also oversees the development, implementation, administration and evaluation of innovative and effective community and health initiative activities, as well as the exploration and evaluation of marketplace needs.
Highmark Health and its subsidiaries and affiliates comprise a national blended health organization that employs more than 42,000 people and serves millions of Americans across the country.
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