Episcopal Health Foundation has approved 74 grants totaling $19.2 million, marking the first open round of funding under Igniting Change, EHF’s Strategic Framework for 2025-2030.
More than a list of grants, the funding provides a window into how communities across Texas are working to improve health and where EHF is investing to help create lasting change.
The grants reach communities throughout EHF’s 81-county service area. Together, they reflect further evidence that improving health requires more than access to medical care. It also requires addressing the systems, policies, and community conditions that shape health every day.
EHF’s Strategic Framework includes six Impact Drivers – core ways EHF works to improve health across Texas. This grant cycle focused primarily on Strengthening Comprehensive Care, Activating Community Voices, and Maximizing Connections to Health Coverage and Benefits. EHF also made investments through Accelerating Innovative Health Financing and Supporting Community Health Workers, providing an early look at how the Strategic Framework is taking shape across Texas.
Several themes emerged across this first round of funding. Health care providers are finding new ways to connect patients to food and nutrition support. Maternal health organizations are building stronger regional networks. Community groups are helping residents influence policy decisions that affect their neighborhoods. Enrollment organizations are adapting to a more complex health insurance landscape. And organizations across sectors are looking for sustainable models that can support long-term health improvement.
Health care providers are looking beyond the exam room
Strengthening Comprehensive Care received the largest share of funding, with 31 grants totaling $9.4 million.
The requests EHF received reflected a sector that is evolving beyond traditional clinical care. Across Texas, federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) and community-based organizations are increasingly addressing food and nutrition security, diabetes prevention, maternal health, and other factors that influence health outcomes.
Many health care providers are building on work launched through EHF’s Clinics Pathway Approach, a five-year initiative that helped clinics move beyond the traditional fee-for-service system and adopt payment models that reward better health outcomes, prevention, and coordinated care.
The goal was to create financial flexibility for reinvestment in infrastructure, innovation, partnerships, and new approaches to care. As that initiative concludes this summer, participating organizations are using that foundation to strengthen prevention efforts, expand partnerships, and connect patients to resources that support health beyond the clinic.
One of the clearest trends was the growing connection between health care and food and nutrition security. Organizations such as El Centro de Corazon, Spring Branch Community Health Center, Lone Star Circle of Care, Waco Family Medicine, and the University of Texas Medical Branch are integrating nutrition support and diabetes prevention into care delivery.
Rather than waiting until a patient develops a serious chronic condition, these organizations are creating stronger connections between clinical care, healthy food, and prevention services.
The grants also highlight the emergence of a highly-collaborative maternal health ecosystem in Central Texas. Organizations are coordinating services, sharing referrals, and working together to help ensure mothers and families do not fall through the cracks. Increasingly, they are pairing direct services with policy and advocacy efforts aimed at improving maternal health systems across the region. What stood out to EHF was not a single program, but the growing network itself and its ability to connect families to support across multiple organizations.
Food and nutrition security organizations are also adapting to significant policy and funding challenges. From developing new ways to collect and analyze information that federal agencies no longer gather to revising nutrition education and service delivery models to meet changing community needs, these grants reflect how the sector is responding.
This funding area also reflects EHF’s interest in new approaches to grantmaking. Through a partnership with Texas Health Resources Foundation, EHF is supporting nutrition security organizations across North Texas through a model that combines grantmaking, coordination, and technical assistance, helping strengthen both individual organizations and the broader regional network.
Communities want a stronger voice in decisions that affect health
Through Activating Community Voices, EHF approved 16 grants totaling $3.1 million.
Many of the requests reflected a shift away from broad citywide efforts and toward more focused work in specific communities and neighborhoods.
In Central Texas, EHF is funding organizations adapting to population shifts that are changing where low-income and immigrant families live. The Central Texas Interfaith Sponsoring Committee, for example, is increasingly focusing efforts in suburban and semi-rural communities in Williamson, McLennan, and Bastrop counties.
The grants also reveal a stronger connection between community engagement and policy change. EHF will provide funding to organizations using listening sessions, surveys, and resident engagement to identify priorities and help community members influence decisions about health care affordability, mental health, transportation, and other issues that affect health.
Another theme that emerged was the growing use of lived experience as a tool for shaping policy. Organizations are helping residents share their experiences and perspectives in ways that can influence decisions at the local and state levels.
Funding also continues for the Houston Economic Growth Collaborative, where residents in four Northeast Houston neighborhoods are helping shape priorities for community investment and policy change. The initiative reflects EHF’s belief that residents should help guide decisions affecting the places where they live.
Access to health insurance remains a critical health issue
Maximizing Connections to Health Coverage and Benefits accounted for 18 grants totaling $4.6 million.
These investments come at a time when organizations helping Texans enroll in and maintain health insurance coverage are operating in a more challenging environment following federal and state policy changes.
The grants support organizations helping Texans navigate enrollment, understand their options, and maintain access to health insurance coverage. They also reflect a growing emphasis on improving long-term sustainability and strengthening enrollment systems.
Angelina County & Cities Health District illustrates that approach. Its work focuses on improving enrollment accuracy, helping clients better understand coverage options, and reducing reliance on uncompensated care. At the same time, it is developing a plan to sustain enrollment assistance beyond the grant period, reflecting a broader interest among grantees in creating long-term solutions rather than short-term programs.
EHF is funding organizations testing approaches that could be replicated in other communities. Some grants focus on rural areas where enrollment assistance remains limited, while others explore ways to improve efficiency and reach more people through better systems and processes.
Beyond direct enrollment assistance, EHF is investing in organizations like Every Texan and Texans Care for Children that are working to improve the policies and systems that determine how benefits are delivered and accessed. Together, these efforts reflect EHF’s belief that improving access to coverage requires both direct service and system-level change.
Additional approaches through EHF’s Impact Drivers
Additional investments included a $650,000 grant focused on Accelerating Innovative Health Financing that will test a direct patient payment model alongside traditional FQHC funding.
A $680,000 grant focused on Supporting Community Health Workers is funding an effort to strengthen the community health worker workforce through expanded bilingual training, field-based learning opportunities, and technical assistance that helps organizations better integrate community health workers into both health care and community settings.
New regions and new partners
Following the expansion of EHF’s service area into North Texas, 15 grantees are now located in or serving the region that includes Fort Worth and Tarrant County, along with surrounding rural and smaller communities.
The funding also includes 12 first-time grantees, bringing new perspectives, expertise, and partnerships into EHF’s work. At the same time, 32 grantees serve rural counties across the service area, reinforcing EHF’s commitment to ensuring communities of all sizes have opportunities to improve health.
What these grants tell us
Viewed together, these investments reveal several clear trends.
- Organizations are increasingly connecting health care to food and nutrition security.
- Maternal health providers are building stronger regional networks.
- Community engagement efforts are becoming more focused on neighborhood-level change and policy influence.
- Benefit enrollment organizations are looking for ways to improve both access and long-term sustainability.
Across the five Impact Drivers represented in this funding cycle, EHF saw organizations working to build stronger partnerships, improve coordination, and create solutions that can last beyond a single grant or program.
Those themes are at the heart of EHF’s Strategic Framework and reflect our commitment to improving health by changing systems and removing barriers across Texas.
Looking ahead
The next cycle of EHF’s 2026 Grant Opportunities opens on June 23. The grant application process begins with a brief Letter of Inquiry submitted through EHF’s online grant portal.
Existing and new partners, community-based organizations, service providers, policy advocates, collaborative networks, and other organizations are encouraged to explore funding opportunities.
EHF received strong interest during the first competitive grant cycle under the Strategic Framework, with requests far exceeding available funding. While the process is competitive, EHF encourages organizations whose work aligns with its priorities to consider applying.
EHF’s second grant cycle of 2026 will again prioritize three Impact Drivers:
- Strengthening Comprehensive Care
- Activating Community Voices
- Maximizing Connections to Health Coverage and Benefits
Organizations applying for the first time are encouraged to register now for access to the grant portal and review EHF’s Strategic Framework, Grant Guidance, and Frequently Asked Questions before the application period opens.
For organizations wondering what EHF looks for in a potential investment, this first round of grants offers a useful guide. The strongest themes were collaboration, prevention, sustainability, and helping people access the resources they need to be healthy. Those priorities will continue to guide EHF’s investments as the Strategic Framework moves forward.
See all of EHF's 2026 Cycle 1 Grantees
| 4 Saints Episcopal Food Pantry | $224,000 |
| Alliance of Community Assistance Ministries, Inc. (ACAM) | $150,000 |
| Angelina County & Cities Health District | $150,000 |
| Austin Asian Community Health Initiative (AACHI) | $135,000 |
| Avenue 360 Health & Wellness | $300,000 |
| Baylor College of Medicine | $300,000 |
| Baylor College of Medicine – Teen Health Clinic | $140,000 |
| Brazos Valley Food Bank | $200,000 |
| Bread of Life Inc | $110,000 |
| Every Texan (Center for Public Policy Priorities) | $400,000 |
| Center for Urban Transformation | $125,000 |
| Central Texas Interfaith Sponsoring Committee | $300,000 |
| Children’s Defense Fund | $150,000 |
| Community Family Centers | $100,000 |
| Connective | $400,000 |
| El Buen Samaritano Episcopal Mission | $330,000 |
| El Centro de Corazon | $300,000 |
| Epiphany Community Health Outreach Services-(ECHOS) | $300,000 |
| First3Years | $190,000 |
| Fort Bend Care Center | $100,000 |
| AccessHealth (Fort Bend Family Health Center, Inc.) | $500,000 |
| Foundation Communities | $300,000 |
| Giving Austin Labor Support (GALS) | $400,000 |
| Greater Fayette Community Foundation | $150,000 |
| Gulf Coast Leadership Council (GCLC) | $250,000 |
| Health Alliance for Austin Musicians (HAAM) | $220,000 |
| Healthcare for the Homeless – Houston | $275,000 |
| Healthy Futures of Texas | $135,000 |
| Houston Area Urban League | $80,000 |
| Houston Food Bank | $370,000 |
| Houston Immigration Legal Services Collaborative | $215,000 |
| Ibn Sina Foundation | $250,000 |
| Light & Salt Association | $250,000 |
| LINK Houston | $100,000 |
| Local Initiatives Support Corporation – LISC | $435,000 |
| Lone Star Circle of Care | $500,000 |
| Luz de Atabey Midwifery Project (LAMP) | $200,000 |
| Memorial Assistance Ministries (MAM) | $170,000 |
| Mama Sana Vibrant Woman | $350,000 |
| Vibrance Health (Matagorda Episcopal Health Outreach Program- MEHOP) | $250,000 |
| Mi Familia en Acción | $100,000 |
| National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)-Texas | $100,000 |
| National Center for Farmworker Health, Inc. | $75,000 |
| North Central Texas Community Healthcare Center | $550,000 |
| Organizing Institute South and West IAF | $200,000 |
| Partners in Parenting | $175,000 |
| People’s Community Clinic | $350,000 |
| Precinct2gether, Inc. | $150,000 |
| Santa Maria Hostel, Inc. | $500,000 |
| SEARCH Homeless | $226,000 |
| Special Health Resources for Texas, Inc. | $300,000 |
| Spring Branch Community Health Center | $130,000 |
| Tarrant Area Food Bank (TAFB) | $100,000 |
| Taste Project | $450,000 |
| Tejas Health Care | $350,000 |
| Texans Care for Children | $600,000 |
| Texas Children’s Hospital | $330,000 |
| Texas Doula Association | $50,000 |
| Texas Health and Environment Alliance | $200,000 |
| Texas Health Resources Foundation | $500,000 |
| Texas Organizing Project Education Fund (TOPEF) | $200,000 |
| The Georgetown Project | $100,000 |
| The Level Up Project | $200,000 |
| The Montrose Center | $400,000 |
| The Network Of Behavioral Health Providers, Inc | $150,000 |
| The Rose | $400,000 |
| The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) | $600,000 |
| The Women’s Home | $175,000 |
| Twin City Mission | $100,000 |
| United Way for Greater Austin | $450,000 |
| Vecino Health Centers | $300,000 |
| Waco Family Medicine | $400,000 |
| Waco Foundation | $200,000 |
| Young Invincibles | $300,000 |