Explore Health Equity and Social Justice Topics

Latest Resources

Reports

Funders Together for Housing Justice: March 2026

A new publication has been released: Caring Collectively: How Health Funders Can Step into the Movement for Housing Justice to End Homelessness. It is designed to support how health-focused foundations can engage in housing justice work in ways that align with their existing priorities.

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39 Funders Collaborate on Comment Letter in Support of Health Professionals

The U.S. Department of Education recently published a proposed rule that would narrow the definition of which graduate programs qualify as “professional degrees” for federal student loan purposes, affecting how much students in certain health fields may borrow. Finalizing this rule will result in reduced access to care (especially in rural and other underserved communities), by making graduate education less affordable, disrupting health workforce pipelines, and creating obstacles for students to enter essential health and human-services professions.

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What Do We Stand For?

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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Medicaid and Community Violence: Pathways to Sustainable Care

American cities are witnessing historic declines in gun violence. In recent years, cities like Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Chicago have all seen precipitous drops in homicides, with some reaching multi-decade record lows (Washington Post 2025). While there are many causes of this decline, experts in the field point to community violence intervention as driving the trend.

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Reports

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation: January 2026

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation released a chart pack which provides an overview of the public coverage programs in Massachusetts, explains the key Medicaid and Marketplace provisions in H.R.1, and elevates what is known about how these provisions will impact the coverage landscape and the health care delivery system in Massachusetts.

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Practicing What We Preach: Three Tips for Putting Equity at the Heart of a Successful Application Process

Every step of the grant application process
— from initial outreach to final award notification — provides opportunities for funders to either reinforce inequities or dismantle them. The grant application process is often the first barrier that organizations encounter when seeking funding. If designed without an intentional focus on equity, the application process can advantage well-resourced organizations, while disadvantaging equally or better qualified organizations that have fewer resources.

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Reports and Publications

Start Smart: Healthy Weight in Early Childhood

In October 2012 GIH convened a group of grantmakers, researchers, and practitioners for the Issue Dialogue Start Smart: Healthy Weight in Early Childhood. This Issue Brief synthesizes key points from the day’s discussion with a background paper previously prepared for Issue Dialogue participants.

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Using Media to Fight Obesity

Efforts to market foods of minimal nutritional value are believed to have significantly exacerbated the obesity epidemic. This Issue Focus describes research regarding anti-obesity media messaging and provides examples of campaigns that are providing reliable, healthful information to counteract such marketing.

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