The early years of a child’s life set the foundation for a lifetime of health, learning, and well-being. But for many parents in the U.S., that healthy start is frustratingly out of reach. While there are programs and services designed to help expectant parents, families, and children, they can be disconnected, confusing, and difficult to navigate, leaving families to create a patchwork of support to meet basic needs like prenatal health care or affordable child care. 

Through our Children and Families initiative, we support partners working to ensure that the health care, child care, and financial supports systems that serve moms, expectant parents, and families with young children are better connected, easier to access, and better equipped to meet the diverse needs of families.  

Our goal is to improve these systems for all families. Our starting point is focusing efforts to mitigate the current maternal and child health crisis for the communities most impacted:  

• • • • In the U.S., Black women are nearly three times more likely and Indigenous women two times more likely to die as a result of pregnancy compared with White women. 

• • • • Black and Indigenous babies have double the risk of infant mortality as do White babies.  

• • • • Latino children are two times more likely and Indigenous children three times more likely than White children to be uninsured, preventing many families from accessing essential care. 

Building a future where all children and families can thrive means addressing these urgent and unequal outcomes and barriers to care.  

We make grants that invest in community-driven innovative solutions, support visionary leaders working within these systems, and champion policies that benefit families and young children.  

The Children and Families initiative funds nationally, with focused investments in California, Louisiana, and Mississippi.