Children, Families, and Communities Grants is a grant from The David and Lucile Packard Foundation supporting organizations working to improve health care, child care, and financial support systems for mothers, expectant parents, and families with young children.

The initiative focuses on making these systems more connected, accessible, and responsive to diverse family needs, with particular urgency around addressing maternal and child health disparities faced by Black, Indigenous, and Latino communities. Packard funds nationally with concentrated investments in California, Louisiana, and Mississippi, backing community-driven solutions, policy advocacy, and visionary nonprofit leaders.

Grants are awarded on a rolling basis and vary in size based on project scope and strategic alignment.

Children and Families Initiative • The David and Lucile Packard Foundation The David and Lucile Packard Foundation Justice and Equity Commitment Net Zero Energy Commitment Financials and Governance You might be looking for: Packard Fellowships for Science and Engineering Our goals and initiatives Children and Families Initiative We work to ensure moms, expectant parents, and children have the support they need to be healthy and thrive.

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 c hildren 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.

Children and Families Initiative Overview Center for Community Change State of California Department of Health Care Services The Children’s Partnership Maternal and Child Health Landscape: A Three-County Study in California To ensure their children can be healthy and thrive, families must navigate health care, child care, housing, and food needs. There are programs and...

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