Maternal Healthcare Access and Education grant program is sponsored by The Joseph & Vera Long Foundation. This program supports organizations working to eliminate health disparities by expanding education and access to essential maternal health services. It aims to advance birth equity and improve reproductive healthcare in Northern California and Hawaii.

Maternal Healthcare Access & Education "You are pregnant and you are powerful. You are bold and you are beautiful. Go forward in your boldness, in your beauty and in your contentedness.

Trust your body to birth and know that the collective power of women worldwide will be with you." Bringing new life into the world should be a joyful and empowering experience. Unfortunately, this is not always the reality for women in our country.

The maternal mortality rate in the United States is more than twice that of other developed nations, despite spending nearly double per capita on health care. Even more alarming, Black and Indigenous women are at least three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than White women. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 60% of pregnancy-related deaths in the U.S. are preventable.

Research into the leading causes of maternal mortality and complications is driving evidence-based strategies to improve care quality—underscoring the fact that we have the power to change outcomes and strengthen the well-being of vulnerable families in our communities.

The Joseph & Vera Long Foundation seeks to support organizations that work to eliminate health disparities by expanding education and access to essential maternal health services. Through funding for effective programs and timely contributions to larger capital projects, we aim to advance birth equity and improve reproductive health care in Northern California and Hawaii.

​ Grants will be made for: ​ Discounted Access to Services Preference will be given to organizations that: E mphasize measurable effectiveness Demonstrate a commitment to promoting birth equity ​ ​ Examples of the types of outreach that we support include (but are not limited to):​ Perinatal Mental Health Resources Birth Control and Family Planning For more concrete examples, please refer to our list of recent grants .

​When applying for the Maternal Healthcare Access and Education grant program: Apply only once per calendar year, either in the Spring or Fall grant cycle. Spring Cycle - for grants from $60K to $150K. Previous grantees (since 2020) are preferred.

Fall Cycle - for grants from $25K to $40K. Go to the Appl y page for key dates and process instructions.