State Exchange Convening: Reflections
Last month, funders with investment in nearly all 50 states met in Washington, DC, to connect, share, and learn from one another, with a focus on advancing state-level efforts to improve birth outcomes nationwide. As we reflect on the inaugural SOBE State Exchange Convening—particularly in light of potential changes at the federal level—we are more certain than ever that building support for state level efforts to improve maternal health outcomes is key.
To open the event, CHAP Co-Director Wendy McWeeny moderated a conversation with New Jersey First Lady Tammy Murphy and Lisa Asare, President and CEO of New Jersey’s new Maternal and Infant Health Innovation Authority. Both are fiercely committed advocates who brought candor and insight as they discussed their motivations, progress, and next steps in New Jersey’s birth equity work, highlighting how philanthropy can partner with government to accelerate change.
Participants were then able to join workshops focused on:
Building effective and equitable public-private partnerships
Supporting thriving community-based organizations and leaders
Ensuring inclusive state policy design and implementation processes
Sustaining a coordinated, aligned, and collaborative state funding community
Throughout the two days, attendees discussed topics including how foundations of different sizes can enter into collaborations on equal footing; how to talk about equity in states where the word alone is divisive; and what working with funders and government partners in adjacent fields, like reproductive justice and early childhood, can look like.
A final plenary in collaboration with Funders for Maternal Mental Health (FMMH) served as a bridge to FMMH’s annual meeting, which immediately followed the State Exchange convening. The plenary explored the ways federal investments could be leveraged to transform maternal health and mental health, specifically looking at the ways the current Administration and HHS are integrating mental health into maternal health efforts– from new HHS grants to innovative programming through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
Next Steps
CHAP is proud to have supported the convening as an extension of our role in the State of Birth Equity (SOBE) partnership, an initiative launched together with the Pritzker Children’s Initiative and Cambia Health Foundation. SOBE is dedicated to increasing state-level philanthropic engagement in maternal health and fostering collaborative partnerships among funders, government, and community-based organizations to improve outcomes.
In the months ahead, we will continue to explore strategies for addressing themes that surfaced throughout the meeting, including the need for more technical assistance and infrastructure support for state-based funder collaboratives, interactive mechanisms for sharing resources across states, and increased funds to support the immediate needs of community-based health organizations serving moms and babies.
We extend our deep gratitude to the teams at Afton Bloom and Boldly Go Philanthropy for their commitment to facilitating open, action-oriented workshops throughout the gathering. Special thanks also to our colleagues at the Cambia Health Foundation, California Health Care Foundation, Commonwealth Foundation, FORE Foundation, Irving Harris Foundation, Merck for Mothers, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Perigee Fund, the Pritzker Children’s Initiative, and W.K. Kellogg Foundation for the care they brought to every step of the planning process.
Top row, from L to R: Wendy McWeeny (CHAP), First Lady of NJ Tammy Murphy, Lisa Asare (Maternal and Infant Health Innovation Authority) open the convening; Stephanie Lagos (Chief of Staff to First Lady Murphy), Atiya Weiss (The Burke Foundation), Wendy McWeeny, First Lady Murphy, and Lisa Asare. Middle Row: Alexandra Geertz (Afton Bloom) facilitates discussion; program session. Bottom Row: Betsy McNamara (Funders for Maternal Mental Health) speaks to convening attendees; Raquel Mazon Jeffers (CHAP), Wendy McWeeny, and colleagues.