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.
The Voters Health Care Reaches
August marks Civic Health Month, a time to showcase the link between voting and health. It arrives this year against a difficult backdrop. The enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies that helped millions afford coverage expired at the end of 2025, and federal cuts to Medicaid are reshaping who can get care and how. The ACA was among the hardest-won health equity victories in a century, and its erosion is a reminder that policy gains are never permanent. They are defended, or lost, depending on who shows up to vote.
Elevating Community Priorities to Shape Georgia’s Health Policy Agenda
Georgia stands at a pivotal moment that will shape the direction of health policy in our state. With an open governor’s race in 2026, along with other open seats, we’re on the cusp of significant political transition. While new leadership introduces uncertainty, it also creates opportunity. This moment opens the door for nonpartisan, nonprofit, private foundations like our team at Georgia Health Initiative to play a constructive role in elevating community priorities to shape a health policy agenda designed to work for all Georgians.
Strengthening Health Care Access for People with Disabilities: Lessons for Philanthropy
In July, we recognize Disability Pride Month, marking the anniversary of the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and celebrating the contributions and diverse identities of people with disabilities. While the ADA prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability and establishes protections and requirements for employers, state, and local governments, and other areas of public life, many people with disabilities still face barriers.
Taking the Risk to Shift Our Focus Upstream
For nearly three decades, we at the New Hampshire Children’s Health Foundation have operated with a clear and compassionate mission: to improve the health and well-being of vulnerable children from birth to five years old and their families throughout New Hampshire. Yet after 28 years, we have made a deliberate and strategic decision to evolve our approach—shifting our focus “upstream” to address poverty as a root cause of the challenges we have long sought to mitigate.
Surplus-to-Care: A Systems Approach to Expanding Insulin and Diabetes Supplies Access
Grantmakers In Health’s Maya Schane spoke with Svetlana Hutfles of Insulin for Life USA (IFL USA) about the organization’s model to improve diabetes supplies access across the country, and how philanthropy can engage on this issue. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Cultivating Health Through Shared Prosperity and Street Food
A native of Fresno, I was raised in California’s Central Valley where I have now worked for a few decades. As a first-generation college student, my lived experience is very common for the children of farmworkers. My extended Mexican family was big, poor, uninsured, and suffered many losses from violence and preventable illnesses.