From National Data to Local Action: Improving Youth Mental Health
Improving youth mental health starts with strong data, but not just clinical measures. Understanding how young people are feeling means capturing what matters most to them: belonging, agency, support, and resilience.
Join this webinar to explore how Surgo Health’s nationally recognized Youth Mental Health Tracker is generating new, equity-focused insights into youth well-being and how Interact for Health −in partnership with the coalition Hopeful Empowered Youth (HEY!) and local funders −adapted that research to center local voices across the Cincinnati region.
Speakers will discuss how this collaboration is filling critical data gaps by going beyond traditional mental health indicators to measure holistic well-being across diverse populations, including Black, Hispanic, LGBTQ+, and economically disadvantaged youth. Attendees will hear directly from HEY! coalition youth leaders who were involved at every stage of the data process to ensure concepts, language, and priorities reflect real youth experiences. Hey! coalition leaders will also share how results will be used to shape mental health efforts in their community.
Bridging the Gap: How the Collaborative Care Model is Transforming Maternal Mental Health in Los Angeles
In California, as in the rest of the United States, the statistics regarding maternal mental health are alarming. Approximately one in five mothers suffers from mood and anxiety disorders during the perinatal period, which extends from pregnancy through one year postpartum. Yet, despite this high prevalence, the overwhelming majority of these women do not receive treatment. The barriers are systemic and multifaceted, including but not limited to behavioral health workforce shortages; a lack of integration between primary, perinatal, and behavioral health care; inadequate training for maternity care providers; and stigma.
Funding Without Alignment Is Just Spending: Colorado’s Model for Alignment to Maximize Impacts on Youth Well-being
Public funding for youth well-being isn’t lacking in effort or investment. But when dollars move through disconnected systems, even the best intentions can fail to translate into meaningful outcomes. What if the challenge isn’t how much we fund, but how those investments work together? Colorado is testing a different approach: aligning funding, data, and strategy across agencies so that public dollars can operate as a more coordinated system rather than a collection of parallel but sometimes siloed efforts.
Strengthening Maternal Mental Health in Rural Communities
We explored how maternal mental health is showing up across rural communities, how states are engaging in this new initiative, and where philanthropic strategies can play a meaningful role to advance maternal mental health in rural communities. The conversation drew on perspectives from national rural health infrastructure, community-based organizations, and physician-led public health work across rural regions of the country. Speakers reflected on persistent gaps and promising approaches, and highlighted strategies funders can support to strengthen rural delivery systems and promote more accessible, culturally responsive care for mothers and families. The session concluded with time for funder discussion and questions.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts: October 2025
This new report “Behavioral Health Professional Licensure in Massachusetts: Existing Barriers and Opportunities to Advance Diversity in the Workforce” documents the licensing requirements for behavioral health providers in Massachusetts, describes the barriers to licensure for clinicians from underrepresented populations, and outlines potential solutions.
To Improve Youth Mental Health, Funders Must Center Youth Voices
As youth mental health challenges continue to grow nationwide, a new initiative in Greater Cincinnati believes transformational change begins when youth are empowered to lead.
Behavioral Health in the Balance: Navigating the Impact of the 2025 Budget Reconciliation Act
Medicaid is the single largest payer for behavioral health services and is increasingly responsible for substance use disorder reimbursements. In July 2025, H.R.1 was signed into law containing an estimated $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts over 10 years, resulting in almost 15 million people losing health coverage, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates. The pressure on states to cut spending is immense, and behavioral health services will not be immune. GIH discussed the behavioral health implications of H.R.1 and opportunities for funders to get involved now. Bill Smith and Angela Kimball from Inseparable summarized H.R.1 from a behavioral health perspective. Neel Harja and Sarah Wasil from Michigan Health Endowment Fund and Itai Dinour and Hazel Guzman from Carmel Hill Fund provided examples of how funders are responding to this challenging situation. Funders left the webinar with actionable ideas to protect access to behavioral health services in their states.
Maternal Mental Health and Immigrant and Refugee Women, Parents and Communities
Pregnant and parenting immigrant, migrant, and refugee women are navigating a landscape marked by uncertainty, fear, and systemic exclusion—conditions that profoundly affect their physical and mental health during the perinatal and postpartum periods and throughout their lifespan. Amid increasingly punitive immigration policies, including family separation, detention, and deportation without due process, these women and their families face extraordinary challenges that endanger their mental health and wellbeing and that of their children. Compounding these harms are policy barriers such as the public charge rule, attacks on birthright citizenship, and exclusion from health coverage and other vital services. These stressors contribute to a growing but under-recognized crisis in maternal mental health, with long-term consequences for families and communities.
Georgia Health Initiative: September 2025
A new report, “Progress Towards Vitality: A 10-Year Retrospective Analysis of Systems Focused Efforts to Improve Maternal Health in Georgia,” analyzes a subset of recommendations put forward by the Georgia Maternal Mortality Review Committee (MMRC) and the Georgia House Study Committee on Maternal Mortality to improve maternal mental health in the state.