Explore Health Equity and Social Justice Topics

Latest Resources

Cross-Sector Collaboration to Expand Early Access to Whole-Person, Supportive Cancer Care

For many common cancers, the rates of incidence are on the rise. In 2024, first-time new cases of cancer in the United States are expected to reach two million, or almost 5,500 cancer diagnoses a day, with Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities experiencing a higher incidence. Within the health care system, there are multiple challenges to equitable care related to gaps in health insurance, access to care and culturally relevant care models, and discrimination and bias in care and treatment.

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Reports

The Commonwealth Fund: May 2024

The Commonwealth Fund recently released its 2024 State Health Disparities Report underscoring the racial and ethnic health disparities that persist across the United States. The report also outlines policy recommendations to make U.S. health care more equitable.

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Exploring the Tides Foundation’s Efforts to Support Civic Engagement and Protect Reproductive Health

Funders can play a major role in promoting a healthy democracy, and increasingly, grantmakers like the Tides Foundation are investing in civic engagement. To learn more about Tides’ work in this area, along with their support of ballot initiatives on reproductive health, Grantmakers In Health’s Miranda Wesley spoke with the Tides Foundation’s Program Officer of Civic Engagement and Democracy, Beth Huang.

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Addressing the Heart of Inequity: Tackling Cardiovascular Disease in Underserved Communities

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death globally and in the United States, with a disproportionate impact on underserved communities. To discuss the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation’s focused strategy on addressing these disparities and driving equitable access to cardiology care, Grantmaker In Health’s Miranda Wesley spoke with the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation’s Senior Program Director, Adrienne Gonzalez.

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Reports

Montana Healthcare Foundation: April 2024

The Montana Healthcare Foundation released its latest issue brief, The Critical Role of Primary Care in Supporting Montanans with Behavioral Health Needs. The report outlines how the Medicaid population in Montana receives behavioral health care from primary care providers and what primary care providers need to effectively address mental health issues.

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Leading Boldly, Building Trust: Lessons from a Community-Driven Strategic Planning Process

The Horizon Foundation of Howard County, Maryland believes that everyone in our community deserves to live abundant and healthy lives. But there are barriers standing in the way of some of our residents—particularly people of color—from achieving that vision. We know that for too long, inequitable laws, policies, and practices have held back many of our neighbors. The Foundation recently completed a 14-month long strategic planning process to figure out how to address these systemic barriers in a way that centers the voices of our community members who are most impacted. We realized that our work—what we focus on, who we engage with, and how we make decisions—needed to fundamentally change.

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Reports and Publications

GIH Bulletin: January/February 2026

One year ago, as we were just one month into the new administration, I wrote that “At a moment when so much has been described as ‘unprecedented,’ and so much of what we value is being attacked, we need to ask ourselves as individuals, organizations, and a field, what do we stand for? What values do we hold, and what will we do and say to defend them?” Today, the answers to these questions are needed more urgently than ever.

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GIH Bulletin: November/December 2025

GIH President and CEO, Cara V. James, delivered these remarks on Protecting the Freedom to Give at the closing of the 2025 Health Policy Exchange, in Arlington, Virginia.

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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.  

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