Humana Foundation Advances Equity Through Community-Engaged Research Practices

Grantmakers In Health’s Maya Schane spoke with Heather Hyden and Soojin Conover of the Humana Foundation about the Foundation’s recently published report, Strengthening Science and Community Impact Through Equitable Research Practices. The report examines innovative research methods adopted by the Foundation’s partners to promote health equity in public health research through community-engaged research practices.

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Collaborating for Impact: Providing Trust-Based Grantmaking and Technical Assistance to Support Local Resilience to Extreme Weather Events

In the last few years, there has been an increased number of extreme weather events, including wildfires, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods and heatwaves in the United States. In 2023, the United States experienced 28 disasters that cost at least $1 billion, the largest number of billion-dollar disasters in a single year on record (Smith 2024). While some areas of the country are more susceptible to these threats, there are no regions immune to disasters. According to a recent Gallup poll, 37 percent of adults in the United States report they have been personally impacted by at least one extreme weather event in the last two years, which is higher than the 2022/2023 survey result at 33 percent.

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Working Through Challenges to Sharing Power With Community: Highlights from a session at Grantmakers in Health’s Annual Conference

The people closest to the issue best know the solutions. For health funders, sharing power with community could mean giving residents a voice in shaping your grantmaking priorities or where grant dollars are spent. Many funders understand that solutions are more likely to be successful when the people who are most affected have a voice in shaping them. But when it comes to including that voice, the work often stalls before it starts.

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Remembering Leila May Polintan (Bugno)

GIH Board and staff mourn the death of Leila Polintan, our communications director. Leila’s courage and grace in the face of her battle with cancer were an example for all of us. We will miss her smiling face, infectious laugh, and vibrant spirit.

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Adaptive Leadership: The Next Requirement for Sustainable Community Health Improvements?

Funders have an obligation to go beyond providing programmatic or operational funding. They must play a larger role if they are to contribute to meaningful and sustained change and responsibly steward the resources in their trust.

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Better Health Through Better Philanthropy - Grantmakers in Health

A Healthy Public Needs More Than Public Health: Lessons for Addressing Substance Use

The longstanding invisibility of substance use disorders simply cannot continue if we truly want to improve communities. We have a window of opportunity to make great strides if physical and behavioral health policymakers, advocates, and foundations work together.

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In Memory of Andy Hyman

The field of health philanthropy lost one of its greatest champions when Andy Hyman of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation passed away on February 25, 2015.

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Is the Energy Boom in Your Backyard? Oil and Gas Extraction Threatens Health and Communities Across the United States

The increasing use of a process called hydraulic fracturing–commonly called fracking–is transforming not only the nation’s energy supply, but also its landscape.

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Better Health Through Better Philanthropy - Grantmakers in Health

The Health Care Neighborhood: Philanthropy’s Role in Aging Well

Many primary care physicians do not feel confident in their capacity to meet their patients’ social needs, and they believe this impedes their ability to provide quality care. Despite evidence that social determinants such as education, employment, and economics can influence health outcomes, a service coordination gap remains.

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