Explore Health Equity and Social Justice Topics

Latest Resources

Healthy and Safe Housing: A Foundation for Healthy Futures

The link between housing and health is well known and well established. Efforts to improve public health through housing improvements go back to the origins of the public health movement.

Read More →

Health Reform: Time for a Paradigm Shift

There is no question that health reform is crucial. To attain true health reform, however, we need to focus on keeping Americans healthier in the first place and not just treating them after they become sick. If we want to improve the health of the communities we serve, of an entire state, or of the entire nation, we need to act upon the fact that our health is shaped far more by the places we live, learn, work, and play than by what happens in clinics and hospitals (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation 2008).

Read More →

HIV/AIDS and Women of Color: Changing the Conversation

For the past decade, HIV/AIDS-related conditions have been the leading cause of death for African-American women ages 25-34 in the United States (CDC 1999). Over the past two decades, our local foundation has seen this national epidemic take root in our local community in Washington, DC, where we now have 10 times the rate of HIV/AIDS per capita compared to the rest of the country.

Read More →

We Must Promote Health Equity in Spite of Current Economic Challenges

When the Whitehall Studies were first published, they identified not only a social gradient that correlated the relationship between social status and life expectancy, but new variables to consider when predicting population health outcomes. These variables included the economic, social, and physical environments in which people live.

Read More →

Initiatives in Education, Economic Development Present Challenges, Yield Big Rewards

The Rapides Foundation is a health care legacy dating back to 1994. The foundation’s grantmaking focus has always addressed traditional health care and health promotion priorities. We have funded medical training and programs that help people get access to medication and launched programs that helped communities fund walking trails and playgrounds.

Read More →

Expanding the Circle of Allies

Many of us have been investigating and working to reduce health disparities for decades. And we have seen the trend lines like writing on the wall. An equation of the health decisions we each make, plus the environment in which we make them, has added up to a nation where we are not nearly as healthy as we could be.

Read More →

Reports and Publications

Behavioral Health Strategies

GIH conducted a survey in late 2024 on funder engagement in behavioral health. This fact sheet, based on a sample of 139 health funders, summarizes the current trends, gaps, successes and challenges for funders. It also highlights philanthropy’s continued commitment to behavioral health while also signaling concern about the upcoming funding environment.  

Read More →

2024 Health Equity Survey: Understanding the Changing Landscape

In 2024, Grantmakers In Health (GIH) surveyed its Funding Partners to understand how their health equity work has evolved. The survey consisted of 40 questions including demographic information, program focus areas, partner engagement, organizational strategy, priority population, successes, and challenges. This report summarizes findings from the Health Equity Survey titled, “Understanding the Changing Landscape.”

Read More →

2023 Survey Summary: Climate Change Strategies

This infographic summarizes the responses to a Grantmakers In Health funder survey, conducted in May and June 2023, on how philanthropy is addressing climate change, and the barriers and opportunities that exist to support climate-related efforts.

Read More →