Many RWJF grants are awarded through a network of more than 80 program groups, called national programs. By providing leadership, fostering communication and collaboration and serving as champions of innovation, national programs can help unite distinct efforts into a broader movement that can achieve social change. National programs are typically administered by universities, nonprofit groups or Foundation staff. Below is a list of current national programs.

Lead States in Public Health Quality Improvement
To create a peer network of innovator states with experience in designing and implementing a process for systematic assessment of local public health agency capacity and performance.

Public Health Services and Systems Research
To help establish the field of public health services and systems research as a needed resource that will improve performance of governmental health agencies.

Bridging the Gap: Research Informing Practice and Policy for Healthy Youth Behavior
To improve understanding of school, community, state and national policies and environmental factors affecting youth diet, physical activity, obesity, and tobacco, alcohol and drug use, and to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions to prevent youth obesity and tobacco use.

Building Advocacy for Policy Change to Improve the Nation's Health
To develop and advance policy recommendations for how a modernized public health system should be structured, funded, staffed and held accountable.

Building the Evidence Base for Public Health Accreditation and Quality Improvement
To advance understanding and evidence of the relationship between accreditation and other quality improvement efforts in public health and the performance and impact of the public health system.

County Health Roadmaps
To help communities translate the County Health Rankings into multisector action that addresses the social, economic, environmental, and behavioral factors that affect health.

Creating resources for data gathering and study to strengthen the evidence base, performance and impact of federal, state and local public health
To help develop priorities for public health research; create a center for data resources and technical assistance; and support data analyses to assist national public health organizations and assess the performance and impact of public health systems.

Developing a Program to Improve Cooperation Among Federal, State and Local Leaders When Responding to Natural and Man-Made Disasters
To prepare senior leaders across multiple sectors to work effectively and collaboratively in the event of a national public health emergency.

Establishing a National Public Health Accrediting Organization
To establish a new, independent, nonprofit entity to govern the national accreditation system.

Health Impact Assessment Portfolio
To engage policy-makers, public health practitioners, health advocacy groups, researchers and other stakeholders in promoting the implementation of health impact assessments in policy decision-making.

National Program for Public Health Research
To further the growth and impact of the field of public health services and systems research (PHSSR) by coordinating current PHSSR investments, supporting real-world applications of research, strengthening the capacity of researchers and practitioners, catalyzing the translation and application of findings into practice, increasing visibility and champions for the work, and attracting other funders to the field.

Public Health Law Research: Making the Case for Laws That Improve Health
To build the evidence for public health law and policy, and translate research findings into practical tools that policy-makers, public health practitioners, and leaders in other fields and venues can use to increase the support for and use of law to improve and protect health.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Practice-Based Research Network in Public Health
To develop a public health practice-based research network to help stakeholders understand how research in public health systems can be used to improve public health performance and impact.

Smoking Cessation Leadership Center
A center to work with a variety of health professional organizations and institutions to increase their motivation and capability to refer smokers into treatment.

State Health Leadership Initiative
To accelerate the development of the leadership capacity of state and territorial health officers as policy-makers, administrators and advocates for the health of the public.

Supporting Advocacy to Reduce Tobacco Use and Direct Tobacco-Related State Revenue to Health Priorities
To support advocacy to reduce tobacco use and direct tobacco-related state revenue to health priorities.

Young Epidemiology Scholars (YES) Program: A National Effort to Attract the Attention of Young Scholars to the Health of the Public®
To attract the best and the brightest high school students to become the public health leaders of the future.