It Is Time to Place an Explicit Focus on Agency
There is a risk that initiatives resulting from the health sector’s growing enthusiasm for influencing social determinants will be too limited to meet the mark because they leave out the knowledge and power of those most affected by the very challenges they intend to address.
Measuring Health Outcomes: Philanthropy as Catalyst
As projects and cross-sector partnerships that integrate affordable housing, community development, and health begin to scale, documenting the associated health outcomes is essential to gain an understanding of how these efforts address the key social determinants of health and to build the body of evidence needed to tailor interventions in communities.
Grantmakers and the Health Care Workforce
Recently, I’ve written about issues that are top of mind with current and past GIH board members. My series concludes with a look at the health care workforce, a pressing and complex issue that encompasses aspects of quality, equity, and delivery system reform.
Harvey, Irma, and Maria: Reflections on Building Community Resilience
Equity is an intrinsic part of building community resilience, just as it should be part of the recovery process. Acknowledging and addressing racial, ethnic, and economic inequities that existed before the disaster is essential.
Confronting a Public Health Crisis: Solitary Confinement in U.S. Prisons
A lack of quality care inside correctional facilities often results in damaging outcomes, including increased incidence of violence, mental health crises, and high rates of recidivism.
Health Funders and the Challenge of Shifting Funding Upstream
The uncertain future of the ACA has focused attention for the past several months on policies related to health care, but we should not lose sight of the factors outside of the health care system that profoundly shape health. Community development, housing, and domestic violence—all discussed in this month’s Bulletin—are among them.
Health and Housing: Empowering Older Adults
As growing evidence shows how profoundly our health is shaped by upstream factors, numerous foundations have focused their attention on the links between health and housing.