Afton Bloom

Our team is still buzzing from the State Exchange Convening on Birth Equity which took place earlier this week in Washington, DC. Over 80 funders from across 40+ states showed up to share their insights, learn from each other, and connect as colleagues and friends. The multi-day event was filled with lots of laughter, thoughtful discussion on critical issues, and most importantly - authentic and real conversations. We have so much we want to share, but for the sake of LinkedIn, here are a few of our team's major takeaways: ?? ???????? ?????????? ?????? ???????????????????? ???? ????????????????. There is real appetite and need for state level funders to connect with each other to talk openly about their work, what they're learning, what challenges they face, and how they can better support government and community to drive outcomes across their state. ???????????????? ???????? ???? ?????????? ???????????? ?????????? ????????????????. We heard again and again the shared interest in cross-state learning, particularly for states in similar regions or those in similar environmental and political contexts. We also heard about the interest in building state and regional funder collaboratives to continue learning from each other. ???????????? ?????????? ?????????????????????? ???? ?????????? ???????????? ?????? ???????? ?????????????????????? ?????? ???????? ?????????????? ?????????? ???? ????????????. We heard from Shruti Jayaraman from Chicago Beyond about the importance of funding individual leaders holistically (e.g., funding a salary, benefits, work space, and more) and from Felicia Brown-Williams and Wesley Prater about the critical role their funder partnership plays in ensuring they can support the ecosystem of small community based organizations in Mississippi. ???????? ???????????? ???? ?????????? ???????? ????????????????, ???????????????????? ?????????? ?????? ???????????????????? ??????????, ???????? ???? ???????????????? ???? ?????? ???????????? ?????? ????????????????-???????????? ???? ???????????? ???????????????????????????? ?????? ???????????? ???????? ???? ?????? ??????????-??????????. This can help to reimagine, push boundaries and redefine what philanthropic dollars can do. We are hugely grateful to our Planning Committee - Cambia Health Foundation, California Health Care Foundation, Community Health Acceleration Partnership (CHAP), The Commonwealth Fund, FORE FOUNDATION, Irving Harris Foundation, Merck for Mothers, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Perigee Fund, Pritzker Family Foundations Children’s Initiative, and W.K. Kellogg Foundation - our partners at Boldly Go Philanthropy, and all the participants who were thoughtful and engaged throughout the event. Lastly, thank you to our guest speakers, Jennifer E. Moore, PhD, RN, FAAN, Michael Warren, First Lady of New Jersey, Tammy Murphy, Lisa Asare, Karrie Leonard, Tia Minor, Shelley Waters Boots and Betsy McNamara, CFRE who brought so much of our discussion to life.

Funders from over 40 states met in Washington, DC, this week to connect, share, and learn from each other during the first-ever State Exchange Convening. The two-day program focused on driving state-level action to improve birth outcomes nationwide and featured opportunities for discussion about: ? 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 Thank you again to the teams at Afton Bloom and Boldly Go Philanthropy for their incredible commitment to facilitating authentic, action-oriented conversations among all funders present. 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, Pritzker Family Foundations, and W.K. Kellogg Foundation for the care they brought to every step of the planning process leading up to this inaugural event.

Our State Exchange Convening kicked off today with a panel of amazing speakers - including the brilliant Michael Warren. More to come shortly!

? Meet the AB Team ? Today's highlight is Sandra Medrano, a Manager based in Seattle, Washington. Sandra came to Afton Bloom with extensive experience in social impact strategy and program management. Her work at Afton Bloom includes economic justice, gender justice, education to career transitions, caregiving, tech and innovation, and corporate social impact. To learn more about our team, click here: https://lnkd.in/gmGRQz7G Keep an eye out for who will be next! #meettheteam #aftonbloom #advancejustice

We loved attending Ford Foundation and The Meteor's Free Future 2024: Preventing Gender Violence Around the World?event last month alongside some incredible leaders, including the Collective Future Fund, Justice for Migrant Women, and Pivotal Ventures, who highlighted the importance of funding the movement to end violence — and priority needs and opportunities on the horizon. For more about the gender based violence philanthropic landscape (and the urgent need for increased and sustained commitment!), see Inside Philanthropy’s excellent summary below.

It's not new news - there is deep underinvestment in women's health. One of our core priorities at Afton Bloom is to drive more resources to women's health, so we are thrilled to see this commitment from Pivotal Ventures' to put dollars in the hands of leaders and organizations around the globe dedicated to advancing progress.

?? We are excited to share a?#requestforproposals?from our partners, which seeks to fund an organization to develop a centralized repository of U.S. postpartum standards of care, including clinical guidelines, research, and community-based models. This opportunity is supported by Merck for Mothers with partnership from Community Health Acceleration Partnership (CHAP). ??We invite you to share this opportunity with your networks and submit your Letter of Interest by October 11th.?For more information and to apply, please visit?this?link or reach out to us directly: https://lnkd.in/e7PgGGZF

Congratulations to the The Hive Fund for Climate and Gender Justice for an incredible five years of moving resources to groups in the US South who are innovating #communityledsolutions that address the climate crisis while #advancingjustice. It's inspiring to see the growth and impact that this team and set of partners have created in just a few years, and we're excited to see what's to come.

Our awesome partners over at Home Grown are celebrating Family, Friend and Neighbor (FFN) Appreciation Week all week! Family, Friend and Neighbor Appreciation Week is an opportunity to celebrate the over 5 million FFN caregivers who look after 11.5 million children each year. In honor of FFN Appreciation Week, they are hosting a #webinar tomorrow (September 12th) to discuss policies that support the work of these essential caregivers. The webinar will feature FFN caregivers, policymakers, and advocates. Check out the post below register for tomorrow's webinar or check out more about Home Grown's FFN Appreciation Week. #caregivers #policychange #advocacy #ffn

We have had the pleasure of working alongside Janet Holt in her role as Program Officer for the Global Reproductive Equity portfolio at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. She is off for an exciting new adventure and we can't wait for updates. Recruitment for a new Program Officer is live and we encourage folks to apply for this important role to advance global reproductive health, rights, and justice. Check out the post below for more details.