The Rockefeller Foundation, through its public charity, RF Catalytic Capital (RFCC), has announced the expansion of an initiative to provide free at-home COVID-19 tests directly to at-risk communities across the United States.

With an initial $7.45 million commitment earlier this year, the foundation piloted Project Access Covid Tests (Project ACT) with health departments in six states to deliver an initial one million tests. In the second phase of Project ACT, RFCC will open up the program to all U.S. states and territories. RFCC serves as the cost aggregator and enables state governments and others to pool resources, providing an “all-in” price that drives down the costs of tests, logistics, and distribution. State and territory health departments will determine how many tests to purchase to ensure access is available in target communities, where the risk of contracting COVID-19 has been higher due to geographic challenges as well as structural and racial inequities.

“If there’s one thing the last two years have taught us, it’s that prioritizing those with the least access to public health has enormous positive effects,” said Andrew Sweet, vice president of global COVID-19 response and recovery at the Rockefeller Foundation. “Project ACT has successfully demonstrated this type of collaborative effort in action. It has been a textbook example of how philanthropic seed funding can partner with the sector toward a greater good, so we highly encourage health departments to begin the process as soon as possible, ahead of the August 31 enrollment deadline.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Daisy-Daisy)