2026 Grantmaking: Announcing Recipients of Healthy Births, Healthy Communities Rural Funding Opportunity

Across rural Central Texas, access to maternal health care is becoming increasingly limited – leaving many women without timely, quality care during pregnancy and childbirth. In 2025, St. David’s Foundation awarded $7M to grantees mostly based in and serving Travis County through the Healthy Births, Healthy Communities, an open-funding opportunity focused on strengthening the maternal health ecosystem in Central Texas. As applications were reviewed, the Foundation identified several compelling organizations serving Bastrop, Caldwell, Hays and Eastern Williamson counties providing community-informed, responsive maternal care. This discovery presented an opportunity to more deeply address maternal health needs in rural communities – particularly in designated Maternal Care Target Areas with no labor or delivery facilities.  

The Foundation is now awarding nine grants totaling $4.6M to organizations providing culturally responsive, community-informed perinatal support to improve maternal health and birth outcomes. This announcement coincides with Black Maternal Health Week, a national observance that celebrates the leadership and expertise of Black community-based organizations necessary in advancing equity and ensuring transformative, durable improvements in Black maternal health. This year’s Black Maternal Health Week theme is “Rooted in Justice & Joy,” a fitting reflection of the values that guide our work. 

St. David’s Foundation is committed to addressing some of the starkest health disparities in our community. Currently, nearly half of Texas counties, 46.5%, are defined as maternity care deserts. Women of color, particularly Black women, face significant inequities in access to prenatal care, labor and delivery outcomes, maternal mortality and postpartum mental health, disparities that are often even more pronounced in rural settings. This cohort of grantees directly reflects a commitment to improving the norm. Moreover, two-thirds of the awarded organizations are led by people of color, one-third operate with budgets under $1 million, and together they will serve approximately 1,700 individuals annually.  

“Healthy women are the cornerstone of healthy families, communities, and economies, and we are committed to expanding access to services that support their health and well-being,” said Andrew Levack, Senior Program Officer with St. David’s Foundation. “Building the capacity of community-based organizations – particularly in rural areas – is essential to helping mothers and babies thrive.”  

St. David’s Foundation has a long-standing commitment to maternal health equity, centering on improving health outcomes for women who face the greatest disparities, especially women of color, and creating the community conditions that support healthy pregnancies and birth outcomes with lasting, two-generation benefits. 

Collectively, this cohort of nine grantees will work to deliver services centered on women and families of color, strengthening the organizational effectiveness and stability of rural organizations, and building regional capacity for culturally responsive, community-informed perinatal care. These organizations will play a critical role in growing a larger, more impactful maternal health equity ecosystem that truly meets the needs of rural communities and will help shape that ecosystem by identifying future needs and even informing new funding opportunities that can best support a more holistic approach.  

Grant Recipients

• The Bastrop Birthing Center  
• Bastrop County Emergency Food Pantry  
• Caldwell County Community Services Foundation  
• CommuniCare Health Centers  
• Community Action Inc. of Central Texas  
• Community Health Centers of South Central Texas  
• Embody Transformation  
• HEAL Alliance  
• Hill Country Women’s Health Collective