Mid-Iowa Health Foundation strives to listen and collaboratively re-imagine how to address system-driven conditions that prevent children in Greater Des Moines from living a healthy life.
View our 2021 Year in Review.
To live a healthy life, children need:
Attachment with parents and caregivers within healthy, thriving families
Positive relationships with peers and adults and equitable places to live, learn, and play
Access to quality care and support and knowing that you matter to others and your community
Yet families are often confronted with systemic barriers that make it difficult for children to thrive. Racism, unstable housing, low wages, unsafe homes and neighborhoods, lack of access to health care, quality child care and education, and inaccessible supportive services are among the social determinants of health that can make it nearly impossible for children to have a strong foundation from the start.
We are committed to listening to the voices of those most impacted by these challenges. We seek to foster connections that inspire community-driven approaches to improve the health of our kids.
Mid-Iowa Health Foundation invests in efforts—and the people who drive them—to connect, create, and transform our systems to address complex root causes of poor health. Our goal is to ensure all children have the building blocks for healthy development. By working collaboratively to rethink our systems and targeting our attention and resources on underinvested areas, we can provide all children with the foundation to be healthy and successful.
Grant PrioritiesWe work alongside our grantees and our community with these three goals:
Through strategic grantmaking, we accelerate system-level solutions to address social determinants of health for children and youth in our community.
Grants Awarded
As an independent foundation, we advance our mission through learning, convening, knowledge sharing, and partnerships.
Issues + Ideas
As a public trust, we commit to managing, governing, and investing our resources responsibly according to our mission and guiding principles.
Our Mission
