Our Focus Areas

Access to Health Care

FHKY believes in innovative health care delivery systems, strengthening public health infrastructure, and supporting collaborative efforts that address the social drivers of health to ensure Kentuckians receive care responsive to their health and health care needs.

  • What we do:

    • Through both pass-through grants and direct funding, the Foundation supports programs and organizations that are working to improve healthcare access, address social determinants of health, and implement innovative health strategies.

    • Collaborate with our endowed chairs at UK and UofL to enhance partners, pipelines, and pathways to support students with public health backgrounds to healthcare careers.

    • Advocate for laws, regulations, programs and/or practices to improve healthcare access.

    • Engage in coalitions and partnerships to cultivate strong, statewide collaboration around improving access to care.

  • What we do:

    • Through both pass-through grants and direct funding, we support efforts to increase vaccine uptake through boots-on-the-ground work and awareness campaigns. The grantmaking also works to increase the vaccine data available through the Kentucky Immunization Registry.

    • Support the research of immunization data in the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) to improve the accuracy of under-surveyed populations.

    • We have also conducted our own immunization awareness campaigns, many of which targeted under-vaccinated communities.

    • Collaborate with organizations to nurture partnerships and information-sharing around best practices to improve access to vaccines.

  • What we do:    

    • Coordinate and support efforts to educate employers about addressing worksite barriers to cancer screenings.

    • Grantmaking to increase usage of government provided healthcare coverage to get recommended cancer screenings.

    • Support the research of screening data in the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) to improve the accuracy of under-surveyed populations.

    • Engage in coalitions and partnerships to cultivate strong, statewide collaboration around improving access to cancer screenings.

  • What we do:

    • Raise awareness among state and local policy makers about utilizing community health improvement plans to inform their work.

    • Collaborate with anchor institutions and our Endowed Chairs to inform and build capacity at the community level to improve public health access.

  • What we do:

    • Educate and build support among internal and external stakeholders of the need and value of comprehensive data transparency in Kentucky.

    • Coordinate advocacy campaign to enact legislation that improves health care data transparency in Kentucky. One strategy to achieve that goal is the implementation of a Health Data Utility. Learn more here.

 

Children’s Health

FHKY works to improve the physical, social and emotional health of our next generation through partnerships and engaging communities with innovative strategies to build healthier and more equitable places where children can attain their optimal health and well-being.

  • What we do:

    • Through our position as backbone organization of the Kentucky Coalition for Healthy Children, we advocate for statewide policies to improve access to healthy foods for kids and increase opportunities for physical activity.

    • Support the expansion of food access programs like Kentucky Double Dollars and Fresh RX for Moms and coordinate with other statewide initiatives.

    • Fund targeted strategies to improve physical activity and nutrition in schools.

    • Raise awareness of the connection between type-2 diabetes, obesity, and community interventions.  

  • What we do:

    • Through our position as backbone organization of the Kentucky Coalition for Healthy Children, we advocate for statewide policies that improve and protect children’s mental health.

    • Through both pass-through grants and direct funding, we fund and collaborate on community interventions to increase the awareness and skills of adults interacting with children to foster resilience and address Adverse Childhood Experiences.

    • Engage in various coalitions and committees that work to improve youth mental health in Kentucky.

  • What we do:

    • Through our partnerships and advocacy, we promote the passage and implementation of statewide and local policies that reduce nicotine use among kids and teens and prevent initiation. Policy strategies include smoke-free communities and tobacco-retail licensure.

    • Engage in various coalitions and committees that work to reduce child and youth tobacco use and vaping in Kentucky.

  • What we do:

    • Through our position as backbone organization of the Kentucky Coalition for Healthy Children, we advocate for statewide policies and programs that address systemic racism and disparities, and promote increased diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice.

    • Develop and support initiatives to improve the available data and evidence around disparities and inequities in children’s health.

    • Engage in coalitions and partnerships to cultivate strong, statewide collaboration around reducing health disparities for children in Kentucky.