Tu-Uyen Nguyen (GAVA organizer) and Janett Iturbe (resident) look at a map showing that the areas in most need of shade trees are on the East side of Austin. Photo by Arazelly Alcazar.
Our Commitment to Health Equity
We prioritize health equity in research, evaluation, and learning at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
active awards
awarded in 2025
awards made in 2025
of 2025 projects had BIPOC leadership
of 2025 projects led by women
We’ve established three ambitious goals to transform health over the course of a generation that we aim to achieve together with grantees, partners, and communities.
See how our research, evaluation, and learning findings help to guide conversations in the field.
Over the past decade, we have invested in research that helps build a community where everyone has a fair and just opportunity to reach their best health and wellbeing.
Learn MoreResearch
Collective wellbeing is both aspirational and operational. It is driven by a shared vision that generates actions to help people and communities not just survive, but thrive.
Research
Democracy is at its best when people come together to explore shared values and address shared challenges. And when we do, it becomes clear we have far more in common than what divides us.
Equitable Evaluation
Our goal of promoting health equity requires us to take an equitable approach to our research, evaluation, and learning efforts.
This means thinking critically about who is doing the research and designing the questions, how the data are gathered and reported, who is visible and included in the research process, who interprets the results, and how findings are owned by the community. Since 2019, RWJF has been a practice and investment partner in the Equitable Evaluation Initiative. What we have learned through this partnership has deepened our commitment to centering equity in evaluation and we are doing the work to ensure that these principles guide every aspect of our programs, practices, and projects. From how we design proposals to the innovative methods we support, we are committed to diversifying our research, authentically engaging communities, and building evidence for solutions that will make a bigger difference.
"When data fail to capture our complexity, blind spots emerge. Democracy in data closes that gap by better representing communities, informing decisionmaking, and building a nation where everyone counts."
—Brian Quinn, Associate Vice President, Research-Evaluation-Learning
We take bold leaps to transform health in our lifetime, demanding equally bold ideas to build a future, together, where health is for everyone. We look far and wide, to the cutting edge and abroad, to discover new ways to improve our nation's health.
The equitable future we all deserve won’t simply arrive—we must create it. We investigate emerging trends and cutting-edge ideas to help anticipate how new technologies, scientific discoveries, cultural shifts, and unforeseen events may shape our lives. We also support pioneering ideas that can lead to a healthier future for all.
