For young people — an awakening

EngenderHealth’s Ulla Müller sees men and women standing up and together to protect and promote women’s rights.  Müller says the reinstated Mexico City Policy banning U.S. aid to international organizations that provide any abortion counseling or services with funding from other sources means “women will die” because “access to choice and to contraception is life-saving.” …

The folks counting on us

Planned Parenthood’s Dawn Laguens, along with the organization’s staff and volunteers, are motivated every day by the people they serve. Laguens says they are there for the Americans who rely on Planned Parenthood’s information and services as they try to build their families, make their careers, and achieve their dreams.

Data shows reality of people’s lives

Rachel Gold, of the Guttmacher Institute, says data brings a “substantive foundation” to debates and reflects the reality of people’s lives. And she sees students, the media, policymakers, and increasingly the business community, using data and evidence to connect what people see in their own lives “to the larger story and the larger dimension of…

Reproductive health and rights: 10 reasons for optimism

Women’s health, reproductive rights, and economic opportunities are front page news. They’re at the heart of debates over whether to roll back the Affordable Care Act’s broad coverage of birth control, restrict government reimbursement for services provided by Planned Parenthood, provide paid family leave, and expand child care options. And women around the world will…

Deeper learning, six years later

When the Hewlett Foundation introduced its deeper learning grantmaking in 2010, the goal was to spread a concrete set of skills that American students should be learning. The strategy anticipated that high schoolers who gain academic knowledge alongside inter and intra-personal skills in school will be better prepared as college students, workers and citizens.  At…

Hermanas, we breathe the struggle

The people Jessica González-Rojas works with along the Rio Grande in Texas are not defined by one issue. Reproductive justice, immigration, access to health and child care, LGBTQ rights, the environment and socioeconomic policy are connected and affect their daily lives. The National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health that González-Rojas runs helps Latina leaders and…

Q&A with Sarah Jones: How commissions shaped my career

From Mozart’s Don Giovanni to Nijinsky’s Rite of Spring, commissions have long helped artists achieve their unique vision. And while today’s artists develop, fund and share their work in varied ways, commissions are still critical to fostering artistic expression. That’s why the Hewlett Foundation launched our Hewlett 50 Arts Commissions, which will support the creation…

Why philanthropy must do more on climate change

History is replete with examples of societies that vanished when the local climate changed. But the threat we face from climate change today is much greater than that, because it’s not local, it’s global. Human activity is changing the climate of the entire world, and the impact will be felt everywhere and by everyone—particularly those…

6 ways think tanks can overcome angst about impact

The best think tanks around the world provide timely, independent research that informs policy decisions and improves lives. Yet many of these organizations struggle to explain how they measure the impact of their work. My view is that moving beyond numbers — and talking instead about how they are positioned, what they decide to work