July 22, 2025

July 2025 newsletter: Building a birth justice movement, events coming soon, upcoming grant opportunities and more!

Advocating for birth justice

Every mother should receive respectful, high-quality care; every baby deserves a healthy start. Giving birth should be a time of joy, not fear. Yet Black and Brown women are at a greater risk of complications and even death due to preventable issues rooted in racism. Over the last year, the Horizon Foundation has been engaging with local providers and residents with lived experience, and with other statewide partners, to examine the landscape around maternal & child health and co-create solutions to make birth justice a reality in our community and beyond. We are working to:

Ensure every mother gets the care, support and respect they deserve before, during and after pregnancy.
Change the systems that put women of color and their babies at risk.
Partner with communities and organizations to change harmful systems and uplift the voices of those most affected.

Check out our website to learn more about our work on birth justice and how you can get involved.

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Reminder: First Thursday – August 7

Thank you to everyone who has been participating in our First Thursdays community conversations! Our next gathering will take place on August 7 at 10 a.m. at the Horizon Foundation’s office. The topic for this discussion will be around community supports and safety net programs.

Please join us and your fellow Howard County residents for connection and community. To join, please RSVP to our Senior Power and Movement Building Officer, Gerardo Benavides, by Monday, August 4.

Coming soon!

Faith Leaders Prayer Breakfast – Late August
Are you part of the Howard County faith community and interested in improving the health of county residents? Join us for a prayer breakfast next month (final details coming soon!) to find out how you can get involved with Healthier Choices Coalition which is working to increase access to healthier food and drinks, increase food security and fight diabetes, especially in neighborhoods of color. We will also discuss the Horizon Foundation’s larger work to improve mental health, expand health insurance coverage and more. If you are interested in joining or have any questions, please email Gerardo Benavides.

Food Insecurity Town Hall – September 16
Everyone in Howard County deserves the chance to lead a healthy life, and that starts with access to affordable, nourishing food. But too many of our neighbors are struggling to find or afford healthy options. We know food insecurity is one of the biggest, often overlooked drivers of chronic diseases like diabetes — and it’s only getting worse with rising food costs and cuts to programs like SNAP. Save the date for September 16 (time and location to be confirmed) to join the Healthier Choices Coalition, HCPSS and other partners for a town hall to discuss how we can fight food insecurity in our community.

Be an emotional support human

We all know that there is a lot going on in our country and the world right now. Balancing between being informed about the news and not becoming overwhelmed by it is difficult. Check in with your friends to see how they are holding up to the constant stream of reporting. More than ever, it’s important for us to be there for our friends, families, neighbors and loved ones. Together, our efforts make a difference. Show up as an emotional support human for the people you care about. Check out our Emotional Support Human campaign to learn more about how to ask questions about mental health.

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Upcoming grant opportunities

We have some exciting grant opportunities coming up this fall! Want to make sure you don’t miss any announcements? Sign up to make sure you get all the details about our upcoming grant opportunities.

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