Mid-Iowa Health Foundation Announces Inaugural Small Business Fellowship

Des Moines, IA (February 5, 2026) – Mid-Iowa Health Foundation (MIHF) is excited to announce a new opportunity to support local advocates addressing the social drivers of health. Building on the success of their nonprofit advocacy fellowship, MIHF has developed an advocacy fellowship focused on small business owners.

The MIHF Small Business Fellowship seeks to provide small business owners with resources including funding, capacity building, and networking opportunities as they identify and address social drivers of health issues impacting their businesses. The social drivers of health, also known as the social determinants of health, are the social, economic, and environmental policies, systems, and structures that impact a person’s health and well-being. Advocacy around the social drivers of health acknowledges that these conditions can be influenced to support positive health outcomes. 

MIHF has partnered with the Iowa Public Health Association (IPHA) to facilitate the fellowship opportunity. IPHA is a statewide leader in advocacy and civic engagement whose expertise provides great value to the fellowship.

The inaugural cohort of MIHF Small Business Fellows are:

• Amner Martinez, Infinite Resources and Amplified

• Breanne Ward, Forward Consulting

• Caryn Kelly & Cindy Torvik, Shine Housekeeping

• Drew Kelso, The Slow Down Coffee Co.

“Our organization believes in the community wealth model of public, private, nonprofit, and philanthropic partnership to address community health concerns,” states Dr. Nalo Johnson, MIHF President & CEO. “We believe the ability to bring our nonprofit fellows in conversation with our small business fellows will only strengthen the opportunity for solutions to come forward to improve our community’s health outcomes.”

To learn more about the Mid-Iowa Health Foundation Small Business Fellowship visit: https://www.midiowahealth.org/initiatives/small-business-fellowship.