Open Call Funding Opportunity

Healthy births are the cornerstone of healthy communities. They impact not just the immediate well-being of the baby and parent, but also shape long-term health outcomes, stability, and well-being of entire communities. Healthy births are an essential element of advancing health equity in Central Texas.

For too many Central Texans, systemic barriers have resulted in significant disparities in birth and maternal health outcomes. These stark disparities are especially pronounced by race/ethnicity. In Texas, Black mothers experience serious, unexpected outcomes of labor and delivery at twice the rate of their white counterparts. These outcomes can lead to significant short- and long-term negative impacts. In Central Texas specifically, rates of severe maternal morbidity have risen sharply over the past five years.

The goal of Healthy Births, Healthy Communities funding opportunity seeks to increase regional capacity in Central Texas to provide culturally responsive, community-informed perinatal health support within and beyond clinics to improve maternal health and birth outcomes. We aim to resource trusted, community-based organizations and networks that are advancing culturally relevant, community-led solutions that serve pregnant women, especially pregnant women of color, who face systemic barriers to quality care and healthy birth outcomes.

Regional capacity means that Central Texas has the infrastructure and resources needed to support mothers facing the greatest health needs during the perinatal period. Building regional capacity requires strong, committed organizations working together across diverse roles—including direct services, advocacy and policy, community organizing, and systems coordination. This funding opportunity is designed to strengthen trust, foster collaboration, and support cross-sector partnerships among community-based organizations, healthcare providers, advocacy and policy organizations, and individuals with lived experience.

We are interested in supporting organizations that:

• Focus on pregnant and postpartum women, especially women of color, in our five-county area, particularly those in the highest need zip codes based on Health Equity Zone data.
• Work within a specific area or areas in the maternal health ecosystem — including direct services — either clinical or community-based, advocacy and policy change, community organizing, and systems coordination and integration.
• Are community-led or community-rooted; meaning that decisions and actions of the organization are driven by the needs, voices, and interests of community members who are most impacted by maternal health and birth inequities.
• Work in collaboration with other partners to improve the maternal health ecosystem — including clinical and non-clinical care — based on the awareness that an interconnected web of systems and factors in Central Texas influence a woman’s health during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period.
• Work with cultural competence to address the health needs and non-medical drivers of health that impact disparities in maternal and birth equity.
• Use both quantitative data and lived experience to help inform and measure its approach to addressing disparities in birth and maternal health outcomes.

The Foundation expects to award up to a total of $7M for this open call. Each awardee will receive a flexible, one-time, 24-month grant.

Eligibility

We encourage applications from a wide range of organizations that are rooted in and trusted by the communities they serve. This includes organizations that are:  

• Operating in one or more of the following Central Texas counties: Bastrop, Caldwell, Hays, Travis, or Williamson.
• A tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (with a valid determination at the time of LOI submission), a public or government entity (county, municipality, health department, public university, public school), or using a fiscal sponsor that is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization.
• Serving historically marginalized pregnant and postpartum women, especially women of color, in Central Texas.
• Demonstrating a practice of working in collaboration with partners to improve the maternal health ecosystem — including clinical and/or non-clinical care partners.

Note: Organizations with an existing St. David’s Foundation grant are eligible to apply.

How to Apply

The Healthy Births, Healthy Communities open call will launch on July 1, 2025, using a rolling Letter of Intent (LOI) process. The LOI includes a short eligibility screening on the criteria above and requests a high-level summary of the applicant’s project, which will be reviewed by Foundation staff on a rolling basis. LOIs will not be accepted after July 28, 2025, at 5:00 PM Central Time.

Proposals that strongly align with the intent of the funding opportunity will be invited to submit a full application after receipt of the LOI. The invited applications will be due by August 15, 2025, at 5:00 PM Central Time.

Organizations are encouraged to submit their LOI as early as possible to allow more time if invited to submit a full application. Applicants can submit multiple LOIs, however each LOI must represent a unique program/project.

All letters of intent must be submitted through the online Grants Portal. Paper copies and emailed submissions will not be accepted.

Contact Information

For programmatic questions, please email [email protected]. 

For technical questions, please email [email protected].