Beyond the Rankings: What Four Decades of KIDS COUNT Have Taught Me About Why Data Matter
For more than three decades, through the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s KIDS COUNT® project, decisionmakers and communities have had access to reliable national, state, and local data to improve outcomes for all children, young people, and families in this country. KIDS COUNT comprises the foundation’s national KIDS COUNT publications—the annual KIDS COUNT Data Book and periodic reports such as Race for Results; the KIDS COUNT Data Center, a resource for year-round national, state, and local data; and the KIDS COUNT Network of state-based partner organizations that help policymakers, advocates, journalists, and community leaders understand and use data to make informed decisions.
Opioid Use Disorder in Pregnancy: Countering Bias and Promoting Care
Most pregnancy-related deaths in North Carolina are preventable. Yet mental health conditions, including overdose and suicide, remain the leading cause of pregnancy-related death. For health care leaders, that reality demands a closer look at how we identify, treat, and support pregnant and postpartum patients with opioid use disorder.
Preventing Domestic Violence by Reaching People Who Cause Harm
The research involved a landscape scan of Cook County, Illinois’ policies, funding, and services for people who cause harm with a goal of engaging the stakeholders and providers doing this work as well as survivors and those who receive services to identify barriers, challenges, and strengths of domestic violence prevention programs. The research examined Partner Abuse Intervention Programs (PAIP) in particular, a standard intervention for people who cause harm that is overseen by the Illinois Department of Human Services.
Post-Overdose Response Teams: A Community-Based Approach to Public Safety
Recent changes in the federal policy landscape have created new questions for communities working to address substance use disorder (SUD), mental health needs, and housing instability. In this evolving environment, philanthropy, in collaboration with community-based organizations and local governments, has an important role to play in supporting evidence-based responses to overdose and mental health emergencies that improve access to care, strengthen community wellbeing, and uplift public health while avoiding unnecessary criminal legal outcomes.
GIH Health Policy Update Newsletter
The Latest
An Exclusive Resource for Funding Partners
The Health Policy Update is a newsletter produced in collaboration with Leavitt Partners and Trust for America’s Health. Drawing on GIH’s policy priorities outlined in our policy agenda and our strategic objective of increasing our policy and advocacy presence, the Health Policy Update provides GIH Funding Partners with a range of federal health policy news.
UniHealth Foundation: July 2026
UniHealth Foundation recently launched its Healthy Neighbors Small Grants Program. The new initiative will fund nonprofits focused on enhancing community health and wellness in Pasadena, Altadena, Sierra Madre, and South Pasadena, California. Grant awards will range from $5,000 to $10,000, with decisions announced in late fall 2026.
Morgan Stanley Alliance for Children’s Mental Health: July 2026
Applications for the Morgan Stanley Alliance for Children’s Mental Health 2027 Innovation Awards, including its Next Gen category, are open through July 24, 2026. As mental health issues continue to plague adolescents, the Innovation Awards seek to identify and advance new, impactful ways to help address these issues and support nonprofits making meaningful impacts at the local and national levels across the U.S.
Blue Cross Blue Shield Massachusetts Foundation: July 2026
A combination of longstanding systemic failures and recent federal policy changes threaten to exacerbate health care access challenges and unravel Massachusetts’ near universal health insurance coverage. In response to this crisis, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Massachusetts Foundation convened a work group of business and health leaders to align on the core health care system problems facing the state and to identify policy solution areas to address the identified system challenges.
Rx Foundation: July 2026
Rx Foundation released Signals from the Field, a new report that shares what the foundation learned from nearly 700 organizations that applied to its Building Capacity for Health Advocacy grant program in 2025. The response to this grant cycle was unprecedented, and it gave the foundation team a powerful view into what nonprofit organizations across the country are naming, building, and needing in this moment.
Michael Reese Health Trust: July 2026
Michael Reese Health Trust, in partnership with the VNA Foundation, conducted a landscape scan of domestic violence prevention efforts focused on people who cause harm. The resulting report, Reaching People Who Cause Harm: Policies, Funding, and Strategies in Cook County, identifies urgent challenges as well as new opportunities for how Cook County, Illinois supports survivors, interrupts cycles of harm, and keeps families safe.
Dogwood Health Trust: July 2026
Dogwood Health Trust shared a new disaster response playbook that captures lessons learned from its experience responding to Hurricane Helene in 2024. The playbook and downloadable readiness and response checklist offer practical guidance for how organizations can help stabilize communities in the immediate aftermath of a disaster and lay the groundwork for long-term recovery.