We focus on the systems that influence people’s health. For example, the systems that determine who qualifies for different types of health care coverage or how health care is paid for and delivered. If you can change the rules for how these systems operate, you can have a huge effect and benefit many people.
What does that mean for grants?
We prioritize projects that focus on changing the structures, policies, and practices that create racial and ethnic health disparities. That could mean advocating for changes to policies or making sure that the voices of those most affected are heard during debates about policy changes.
Focusing on systems change efforts also means that we typically do not provide grants to support direct services. There are simply too many worthy services to be able to support them all. However, we do consider grants to organizations testing out how to deliver a service in a different way or evaluating whether a certain type of service is effective in addressing health disparities.
Here are some examples of types of projects that we fund:
- Developing or piloting a better way to deliver care.
- Researching sustainable funding options for programs or services that will lead to more equitable outcomes.
- Elevating community voices to encourage engagement in the policy process.
- Piloting innovative or new approaches to health equity that can be scaled.
- Evaluating a program, policy, or process to determine its effectiveness and ingredients for success.
- Finding a new way to solve a problem or health disparity.
- Supporting news coverage of issues related to health equity in Connecticut.
Take our eligibility quiz to learn more.
What we plan to fund in 2026
For each year of our 2024-2028 strategic plan, we plan to develop guidelines for the types of projects we will consider for funding within each goal area. You can read the full version of our 2026 grants guidelines here.
Goal 1: Expanding health care coverage
In 2026, we plan to fund:
- Efforts to defend and protect Medicaid (HUSKY) eligibility for current recipients and preserve data security. This includes efforts to ensure that the rollout of work requirements and other provisions of HR1 are done in the least harmful way possible.
- Efforts to minimize coverage losses.
- Research and data on the need for coverage options for people who have incomes just above the HUSKY threshold.
- Monitoring the impact of coverage changes due to new eligibility and work requirements.
Search our grants database for examples of projects we’ve funded related to coverage expansion here.
Goal 2: Sustainable funding for community health workers
In 2026, we plan to fund:
- Efforts to organize and mobilize support for funding community health worker services through Medicaid.
Search our grants database for examples of projects we’ve funded related to community health workers here. View our topic guide on CHWs here.
Goal 3: Maternal health equity for people of color
In 2025, the foundation concluded an extensive research process and published a blueprint for maternal health equity for people of color in Connecticut. We anticipate that most grantmaking related to this blueprint will begin in 2027. Early in 2026, we will develop a grantmaking strategy to inform how we fund. We welcome conversations about projects while we are developing this strategy, and we might consider awarding grants through the President’s discretionary grant process that focus on:
- Demonstrations (pilots, testing models, etc.) that address racial disparities in maternal health within a health system.
- Creating a model program or initiative that falls within the priorities outlined in the maternal health blueprint and has the potential to create larger systems change.
Examples of funding in maternal health will be available through our grants database after awards are made.
Goal 4: Fostering the infrastructure for health equity
CT Health typically funds policy and advocacy efforts in each of our goal areas. Many of the grants under this goal are by invitation only and often align with our goal areas. We might issue requests for proposals to support specific advocacy efforts or to find new advocacy partners. We list our requests for proposals here. Search our grants database for examples of media projects we’ve funded here and race, ethnicity, and language data projects here.