Building a Better Bridge Between Funders and Communities
We are experiencing a watershed moment for philanthropy-funded social change efforts in the United States. The partnerships, knowledge, and resources that funders leverage have never been more important in contributing to the conditions that communities need for everyone to thrive, without exceptions. With such a rapid pace of change happening all around us, how can funders make the most of their role in supporting and advancing large-scale, transformative impact? The answer is to look forward with the benefit of hindsight and with partners who understand where and how to take those next steps.
Reducing Pollution: Critical Pathway for Cancer Prevention
Health professionals and health advocacy groups are learning how they can elevate environmental chemicals as an important element of cancer prevention, including in research design, clinical practice, policy advocacy, and in cancer initiatives such as the Beau Biden Moonshot and states’ 5-year cancer prevention and control plans. When health leaders are given the opportunity to examine barriers to cancer prevention, including those they may contribute to, they gain confidence in their ability—and responsibility—to use their power as trusted messengers to call for dramatic reductions in carcinogens.
Now More than Ever We Need Philanthropy to Prioritize Health Equity
April marks National Minority Health Month. It is a time for us to educate ourselves on the health challenges facing communities of color and other vulnerable populations, and to reflect on the progress we have made towards advancing health equity and what more we must do…
Incarceration and Public Health: Going Bold to Achieve Health Equity
Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, the field of public health has sprinted a marathon to address the ongoing crisis — we have implemented mass vaccination plans, pushed back against misinformation campaigns, and taken action in the face of slashed budgets and outright assaults on our lives. But as a public health researcher and advocate, I believe there is a critical place where we have fallen short, and with dire consequences: connecting the dots between incarceration and health.
Investing in Nutrition Security Post-Pandemic
During the first year of the pandemic, despite being a rural agricultural region with over 4,000 small farms, the food insecurity rate across the North Country counties of New York rose from 11 to 15 percent. In March 2020, with funding from New York State Health Foundation (NYSHealth), the Adirondack Foundation, and the Cloudsplitter Foundation, AdkAction partnered with the Hub on the Hill, a nonprofit food hub, to launch its Emergency Food Packages (EFP) project to assist local families facing food insecurity due to the COVID-19 pandemic. EFP succeeded in delivering thousands of healthy, locally produced food packages to people in need while also supporting hard working farmers across the region.
On the Precipice: Why Health Funders Should Care about Abortion Access
Reproductive health and justice in the United States are at a crossroads. We are seeing positive developments such as growing (though still inadequate) attention to maternal health and reinstatement of the family planning safety net after years of reductions in access to these services. We invite funders focused on health more broadly to join us in an effort to support the dignity of women and families; protect women’s lives; and mitigate the health, economic, and social harms that can result from being denied an abortion.
Civic Engagement Is a Social Determinant of Health
What is the civic health of the communities you serve? Are community members equitably engaged in democratic processes and civic life? How might increased levels of civic engagement influence the distribution of public sector resources, population health outcomes, and health inequities? Is it possible to imagine transformative changes in community health absent a meaningful shift in community power and civic participation?
Retrospective Report: Mental Health Policy Academy and Policy Fellow Initiative
The Hogg Foundation for Mental Health released a retrospective report of their decade of investment in the Mental Health Policy Academy and Policy Fellow Initiative, which had the goal of bolstering the mental health and substance use policy workforce to make long-term systems change.
America’s Oral Health Is Improving Thanks to Better Prevention, Expanded Access to Care
The Pew Charitable Trusts are wrapping up their long-term dental campaign, which worked to address policy changes that would increase access to dental care.
Evelyn Delgado to Be Honored with the Andy Hyman Award for Advocacy
Evelyn Delgado, President and Executive Director of Healthy Futures of Texas and Chair of the Women’s Healthcare Coalition will receive Grantmaker In Health’s (GIH) 2022 Andy Hyman Award for Advocacy.