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2021-06-04
Project HOPE/Health Affairs;
The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare existing inequalities in workplace exposure to health risks and economic insecurity. Policy action is needed to protect workers' health during the pandemic and to support worker empowerment and equitable opportunities in the future.
2021-07-01
Urban Institute;
Given the COVID-19 pandemic's disproportionate effects on people of colorand increased attention to racial justice in the US, initiatives to increase health equity are sprouting up across the country (Ndugga, Artiga, and Pham 2021). These efforts range from addressing immediate health and social needs among communities most affected by the pandemic's impacts to broader and longer-range policy changes designed to eliminate systemic barriers to good health. This brief examines the role of community engagement in informing and advancing efforts to eradicate health inequities. Here, we define "community engagement" as collaborating and sharing power with communities to identify concerns and develop and implement solutions.This brief draws on interviews with representatives from national organizations, health equity experts, and stakeholders in four states, including representatives from state agencies, community-based organizations (CBOs), consumer advocacy groups, and foundations. Through these interviews, we investigated ways community engagement is being used to advance health equity and factors that promote or hinder community engagement. Many study participants expressed that community members are experts in their lives and communities who need resources and support to facilitate equitable community health and well-being. Though community engagement can take many forms, authentic and meaningful engagement in which community members are not just present but actively take part in decisionmaking requires extensive relationship and trust building that involves a significant investment of time and resources. However, interviewees acknowledged that a lack of institutional commitment, limited funding, and bureaucratic barriers impede efforts to effectively engage communities.
2020-02-29
Guidestar by Candid;
Performance measurement is an important dilemma facing the philanthropic sector. Charities with similar missions may operate in parallel but lack shared, validated yardsticks with which to assess their social impact and efficiency. Other sectors facing similar needs have made notable strides in performance measurement. Healthcare, in particular, offers a useful analogy. Considerable recent progress in healthcare performance measurement invites emulation. This paper examines these developments and how the nonprofit sector can adapt them to benchmark performance.
2020-01-23
FSG;
An estimated $12 trillion in market opportunities are embedded within the Sustainable Development Goals. Companies can unlock these opportunities with shared value, addressing social challenges in ways that improve a business' competitive positioning and profitability. But long-entrenched social and environmental problems often thwart shared value strategies. While executives know how to manage their corporate ecosystem of suppliers, distributors, and related businesses, those approaches do not work for the social ecosystem of governments, NGOs, and local communities. This guide outlines concrete and actionable steps for companies to build shared value ecosystems, based on insights from 12 companies across industries from around the world.
2020-02-24
Open Society Foundations;
The Roma Early Childhood Inclusion (RECI) studies and reports aim to build a comprehensive and detailed picture of the extent of early childhood provision and services, available to Romani families. The studies have been carried out in five countries—Czech Republic, Hungary, Macedonia, Romania and Serbia—and endeavour to identify the major obstacles that Romani families face in accessing high-quality, socially inclusive, early childhood care and education. More generally, the studies and reports deliver data and information about communities that are often ignored or misrepresented by official statistics, government policies, ministerial strategies and plans for spending.As previous studies carried out by Open Society Foundations have shown—No Data—No Progress, 2010—the lack of reliable data hampers any attempt to measure the impact of government or international NGO intervention. Planning services and allocating resources to Romani communities are the consequence of "guesswork" rather than knowledge and careful study. The Roma Early Childhood Inclusion reports present a distillation of the most recent and reliable data to be had, in these circumstances, drawn from the actual communities themselves, through interviews and focus groups. Government strategies, policies and action plans are all assessed in this context; what has been the effect of the initiatives aimed at improving the economic and social position for Romani families, in these countries?This Overview Report draws upon data from the five country studies, carried out by Romani and non-Romani researchers working together, to present what are the themes and topics of most relevance to families and young children in settlements and neighbourhoods across central, eastern and south-eastern Europe. A profound lack of equality of access and services, beset by numerous obstacles, characterizes the overall picture, for Roma. The numbers of Romani children that have access to good quality, early childhood education and care provision or who can participate in community and home-based learning programmes, remains minimal in comparison with the surrounding, majority populations.The desperate need for Romani children to be able to access, at least for two years, high-quality, socially inclusive, early childhood education and care services and benefit from effective home visiting and community-based early childhood development (ECD) programmes, is a particular theme throughout the report. This is a minimum requirement that the partner organizations (UNICEF, Open Society Foundation's Early Childhood Program and Roma Education Fund) advocate for at national and international levels, if progress is to be made in improving education outcomes for Romani children.The scale of the changes that need to be undertaken in order to provide equal opportunity for Romani children and families requires that national governments and international institutions (such as the Council of Europe, the European Commission and the European Union's Parliament) act, following the recommendations that these reports deliver.
2020-02-05
Center for High Impact Philanthropy at University of Pennsylvania;
There has never been a more urgent time to address mental health and addiction. In Health in Mind: A Philanthropic Guide for Mental Health and Addiction, the Center for High Impact Philanthropy at the Penn School of Social Policy & Practice identifies approaches that are most effective at preventing, treating, and supporting the recovery or long-term management of mental health conditions and substance use disorders. In it donors will find:Five strategies you can use to address mental health and addictionEvidence for the opportunities that have the greatest potential for impactA range of solutions and philanthropic opportunities for each strategy
2020-01-14
Heartland Alliance;
For individuals experiencing housing insecurity—and other hardships associated with poverty, such as low rates of health literacy, food insecurity, lack of transportation, and restricted access to quality health care—an HIV diagnosis exacerbates an already burdened quality of life. These larger structural barriers may inhibit HIV+ participants from feeling able to change individual-level behaviors which may complicate their HIV status. One counseling intervention that addresses obstacles to change is Motivational Interviewing (MI). MI is a collaborative, client centered approach that fosters communication between a service provider and their recipient with the goal of identifying and resolving the change goals identified during the counseling session. Studies on healthcare outcomes for chronically ill individuals who received MI interventions indicate that, when followed properly, MI can effect long-term, positive behavior changes. This paper defines MI, explores it's applications among HIV+ participants, describes an MI fidelity monitoring tool, and situates MI relevance while acknowledging the influence of social determinants of health.
2020-02-01
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation;
Throughout its engagements in India, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has focusedon building in-country capacity that supports long-lasting change and betters the health and well-beingof those in the country. As the Foundation's Population and Reproductive Health (PRH) engagementscame to a close in 2019, it considered how to leave the field and stakeholders in India poised to take onthe ongoing task of improving maternal health—a key to achieving social, financial, and physical wellbeing. Recognizing quality as the linchpin for making more progress on maternal health, the MacArthurFoundation focused its final PRH grants on improving maternal health quality of care (MHQoC) in India.This final round of funding in India supported long-standing work designed to transition the country tothe next phase and launch promising innovations. Using information collected from the final phase ofthe MHQoC strategy (April 2018 through July 2019), this report represents the culminating review of thestrategy, assesses its contributions to the quality of maternal health care, and considers the implicationsfor the future of the field. Results are presented by each of MHQoC strategy's three core substrategies:supply, demand, and advocacy.
2020-04-13
FSG;
Approximately one-quarter of the global population are women of reproductive age, most of whom menstruate every month.A core function of a woman's reproductive system, menstruation is a healthy and normal occurrence in the female body. However, it can—and often does—become a challenge when individuals lack access to the resources, infrastructure, and social support they need to appropriately manage it.This report captures key changes in the menstrual health and hygiene (MHH) space that have happened since the publication of An Opportunity to Address Menstrual Health and Gender Equity in 2016. We pay particular attention to the remaining gaps and highlight opportunities for further action and investment.
2020-01-31
Healthy Schools Campaign;
This brief describes the multiple co-benefits of green schoolyards for communities; provides a case study of the Space to Grow model; and offers practical suggestions to policymakers and advocates interested in beginning, expanding and making the case for a green schoolyard initiative.
2020-04-20
Center for American Progress;
the COVID-19 outbreak has laid bare the need for a more proactive and integrated approach to fight infectious disease epidemics, which are becoming more common in many regions around the world. Specifically, alongside investments in epidemiological research and healthcare, we need to address the problem at its root: the destruction of nature.
2020-03-20
National Center for Family Philanthropy;
This guide offers an initial compilation of lessons and inspirations to help donors and families act in the near-term, as well as a variety of tips for family philanthropy's long-term response. Included are ideas and resources from giving families, family funders, and philanthropy leadership organizations.
