Oil and Anguish: Alaska, Nigeria, and the Gulf Coast

Today, Prince William Sound appears "normal" to the naked eye. However, if you look below the surface, oil continues to contaminate beaches, national parks, and designated wilderness areas.

The Story of Cosmetics: "N-Nitrosoethanolmaine?"

In The Story of Stuff, Annie explained that as long as we keep putting toxic chemicals into our production system, we'll keep bringing toxic stuff into our homes, workplaces, and schools. Which means we'll keep getting toxics in us.

We're revisiting 'Toxics In, Toxics Out' on July 21st with the release of The Story of Cosmetics, which exposes the $50 billion cosmetics industry's use of toxic chemicals in everything from lipstick to baby shampoo-even chemicals linked to cancer and birth defects. Yuck!

Making the Case for Integration: The Tides Africa Fund Approach

Why not integrate separate models of care if it could mean better health for clients and their families? That is the essential question that drives the work of our Africa Family Planning and HIV Integration Fund, or Tides Africa Fund. With support from the Hewlett Foundation, the fund dispersed grants totaling $1.3 million in 2008–2009 to pioneer integrated care efforts in six countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

A new report about the fund, Making the Case for Integration, documents this holistic approach and has just been released. Read on for an introduction to this illustrative report that includes profiles of leaders in the integration field, a summary of current research, and analysis of difficult challenges and real solutions by experts from the public and philanthropic sectors.

New Challenges for Community Clinics

Community clinics and health centers are a key source of health care for the poor. What will happen to them now that a version of health care reform has passed?

by Tom David, Jane Elizabeth Stafford of Tides' Community Clinics Initiative

After nearly a year of heated debate about health care reform, Americans are used to hearing about the millions of their fellow citizens who are living without access to affordable medical care. But now that a version of reform has passed, what will happen to...

Health Care for America Now: What's Next?

It’s taken 94 years and many failed attempts for the United States to join the rest of the world’s industrial democracies in making health care a right for all its residents.  And while the process was ugly (that old adage about not watching sausage being made, especially if you want to enjoy a pepperoni pizza, comes to mind here) and the final product not everything  we wanted, I am ultimately joyful and relieved that the Administration and the Congress could deliver on this dream too long deferred.

Join the conversation at a special briefing featuring Health Care for America Now.

A Defining Moment for Health Philanthropy

Tom David is a Senior Strategist at Community Clinics Initiative, a project of Tides that was started in partnership with The California Endowment and has granted over $100 million to more than 90 percent of California's community clinics. David recently wrote a rousing commentary for last week's Grantmakers In Health annual meeting calling health foundations to act – now. Read an excerpt of the eight page article is here, or you can read the entire commentary.

Speaking Power to "Truth"

As Congress debates Health Care Reform, the stimulus package starts showing signs of positive impact, and the war on Afghanistan intensifies, what is the right wing media up to? First of all, they're keeping the debate alive over the legitimacy of President Obama's birth certificate. Second, they're intensifying their attacks on the nonprofit organizations working on climate change, economic justice and other causes they deem "radical." These attacks are no longer the sphere of the right wing blogosphere; they're going mainstream, not surprisingly starting with FOX, but seeping into other media outlets including CNN.