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.

Read More →

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.

Read More →

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.

Read More →

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.

Read More →

GIH Health Policy Update Newsletter

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.

From President Cara James

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Health

GIH President and CEO Cara V. James offers reflections on the theme for the 2026 Annual Conference

Read More →

Grantmakers In Health Announces 2026 Award Winners

Grantmakers In Health is pleased to announce Mark Constantine, Senior Vice President of Community Investment at the Dogwood Health Trust in North Carolina, as the 2026 recipient of the Terrance Keenan Leadership Award in Health, and Gladys Vega, President and CEO of La Colaborativa in Massachusetts, as the 2026 recipient of the Andy Hyman Award for Advocacy.

Read More →

Gladys Vega of La Colaborativa to Be Honored with the 2026 Andy Hyman Award for Advocacy

Gladys Vega, President and CEO of La Colaborativa in Massachusetts, will receive Grantmakers In Health’s 2026 Andy Hyman Award for Advocacy.

Read More →

Mark Constantine of the Dogwood Health Trust to be honored with the 2026 Terrance Keenan Leadership Award

Mark Constantine, Senior Vice President of Community Investment at Dogwood Health Trust in North Carolina, will receive Grantmakers In Health’s 2026 Terrance Keenan Leadership Award.

Read More →

GIH Joins Amicus Brief Opposing New Citizenship Verification Requirements

GIH joined organizations filing an amicus brief for the case brought by NY and other states seeking to stop the administration’s attempt to expand citizenship verification requirements under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 for programs administered by the Departments of Health and Human Services, Agriculture, Education, Housing and Urban Development, Labor, and Justice.

Read More →

Remembering Patricia Mathews, Founding President and CEO of Northern Virginia Health Foundation

Grantmakers In Health (GIH) is saddened to learn of the recent passing of Patricia Mathews, a longtime fixture in health philanthropy and a former member of the GIH board of directors. Please join us in celebrating Patricia Mathews’ memory, as well as her many contributions to the field of health philanthropy and GIH.

Read More →