GIH Bulletin

Long-term poverty is the norm in many rural areas of the United States. Coupled with slow (or nonexistent) job growth, limited numbers of health care providers, and other access issues, the result is significant physical, oral, and behavioral health problems.

GIH has many conversations with health foundations and corporate giving programs across the country, helping us gauge the areas in which grantmakers are active. We have identified eight priorities, illustrating the breadth of funder interests.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of National Negro Health Week and the 30th anniversary of the Heckler Report. Both were milestones in the quest for reducing racial and ethnic disparities in health and health care.

This year’s annual conference in Austin, Texas, was a multidimensional exploration of the theme Pathways to Health. Dynamic plenary speakers set the tone, beginning with Patrick Kennedy (The Kennedy Forum)

This January, members of GIH’s board and senior staff visited Havana, Cuba, with MEDICC, an organization licensed by the U.S. Department of the Treasury to conduct people-to-people trips to Cuba.

At a recent conference on the science of dissemination and implementation, sponsored by AcademyHealth and the National Institutes of Health, I participated in a panel on the contributions of research to achieving progress in health equity.

You may have noticed that next year’s gathering in Austin is called the GIH annual conference, not the annual meeting. The difference is more than semantic.

Over the past year, GIH board members have sponsored receptions in their home communities, a wonderful opportunity to meet grantmakers across the country.

Austin-Bailey Health and Wellness Foundation (Canton, OH) awarded grants totaling $179,952 to 16 nonprofit organizations located in the four-county area of Holmes, Stark, Tuscarawas, and Wayne in Ohio.