Georgetown University Center for Children and Families

For the fourth consecutive year, the Wyss Foundation is providing a grant to support Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families.

The 2017 grant, for $367,000, will help the Center continue its research on child health outcomes and to develop ideas and policies aimed at improving the health of America’s children and families, particularly those with low and moderate incomes.

Over the coming year, researchers at the Center will continue their analysis of health programs that are important to children, including Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and the Affordable Care Act. The Center, for example, has helped document that the number of uninsured children in the U.S. has been cut almost in half since 2008 and the proportion of uninsured children in the U.S. is now at historic lows. Today, 95% of children have health coverage.

“We appreciate the support of the Wyss Foundation for our work at Georgetown to improve the health and well-being of children and families," said Joan Alker, Director of the Center. “Having health insurance not only improves health and educational outcomes for kids, but it is also vital to the economic security of these families.”

The Center’s recent reports cover a wide range of children’s health policy topics, such as examining how health coverage for parents affects and benefits children, documenting that Medicaid and CHIP are now responsible for covering more than one-third of children in the U.S., and how access to Medicaid in childhood leads to longer, healthier lives.

The Wyss Foundation has supported the Center each year since 2014.