The Packard Foundation works with people and communities to create enduring solutions for just societies and a healthy, resilient natural world. Our vision is a just and equitable world where both people and nature can flourish.

Our work is organized under three big goals: protect and restore our natural world, build just societies, and invest in families and communities. If we can advance these three objectives, then our vision becomes truly achievable. But we need to do them all together, because they’re interconnected. So, while my work specifically focuses on creating the conditions for children and families to thrive, we recognize those connections across all of our work. For families to thrive, they need to be healthy, but they also need to have the freedom to make decisions about their reproductive health, have a voice in a strong multiracial democracy, and have healthy and supportive environments. And the inverse is true, too – if we have all of those things, but families aren’t able to have healthy births and a strong, healthy start for their children, can they thrive and live their lives in the ways they dream? And while families don’t live single issue lives, economic inequity is at the heart of many of the challenges families and communities face – it’s a common-sense root cause of so many problems, and I think most people recognize that. And climate change is exacerbating it and deepening inequities. So our work really takes all of this into account as we work toward a just and equitable world where both people and nature can truly flourish.

In my work specifically – which is focused on making sure all families can have healthy pregnancies and births and all little ones can have the strong, healthy start in life that’s so important for their development – economic equity and opportunity play a direct role. Healthcare costs, child care expenses, and the cost of healthy foods are all increasing at a time when families are already stretched too thin. Supporting their economic security is one of the most effective ways to ensure that families are healthy, thriving, and have the power to shape their own lives.

The goal of the Children and Families Initiative is to ensure moms, expectant parents, and children have the supports they need to be healthy and thrive. We want this to be a reality for all families, but we focus on those who face the greatest systemic barriers–Black, Indigenous, and Latino families as well as families who live in low-income households. For example, Black women are nearly three times more likely and Indigenous women two times more likely to die because of pregnancy compared with White women. Black and Indigenous babies have double the risk of infant mortality as do White babies. And 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.

Healthcare is important in our work, of course, but it’s only part of the puzzle. Expectant parents need to find a healthcare provider and arrange prenatal care, come up with a birth plan, ensure they’ll have paid leave from work, and line up a pediatrician. And once their baby arrives, they’ll have to find affordable quality child care, look after their own physical and mental health, provide nutritious food, and so much more – all while continuing to make ends meet.  Today, when families seek support, they find systems that are often disconnected and difficult to navigate, placing the burden on families to create a patchwork of support for themselves and their baby.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. It’s possible to have a system – for healthcare, child care, and economic support – that’s truly designed around what families need to be healthy and thrive. We think of this as a connected system of care – a single door a family can walk through and find connections and access to whatever they need. What’s most exciting to me is that we have grantees who are proving this in their communities every day, and we have investments in broader systems and policies designed to make this type of family-centered system of care possible.

In the U.S., we have a very individualistic mindset. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but when it comes to children and families, it can give us permission to shrug off our collective responsibility to each other. Think of how easy it is to say “it’s the parents’ responsibility,” and then not have to grapple with why we accept poor health outcomes for children at a societal level when we would never shrug off those outcomes if they were happening to our neighbors or family members. We’d pull out all the stops to help. And yet supporting children and families — particularly at the state and federal levels —is consistently deprioritized behind other issues like national security, immigration, and the economy. Our federal budget is a mirror of our nation’s values; and yet, less than 3% is dedicated to babies, toddlers, and their families.

The second challenge I see is dis- and misinformation. For example, we’ve seen vaccine rates go down, although vaccines have been proven to be effective and safe time and time again.

The final one is the polarization of programs that support children and families, especially in low-income households. Despite all the evidence we have that the public supports accessible, affordable healthcare for families, affordable childcare, and comprehensive paid family leave, politicians don’t act in ways that reflect the desires of their constituents.

Building relationships with funders outside of early childhood development and health—the people I normally work with—has been really rewarding. I learn so much from my peers and the convenings; it opens my aperture of how I think about the issues we care about. For example, by thinking about tax and public benefits together (they’re often seen as bifurcated), I’ve been able to think about the delivery of tax credits and benefits in a new way. It’s been exciting for thinking about the future of public supports.

How are you making trade-offs, given that you have so many areas of priority?

How are you managing the dynamic of immediate and long-term needs?

My mom. She’s my role model. She navigates the world with empathy, kindness, and strength. She, her parents, and my uncles came to the US as refugees with nothing. They built lives for themselves, and the foundations on which my brother and I have been able to thrive in ways they couldn’t imagine. This is why I feel such a great responsibility for improving conditions so children and families can thrive in the ways they dream.