Efforts to improve youth- and family-serving systems never truly reach a finish line. Each step forward brings new questions—and new challenges—that demand thoughtful analysis and bold collaboration. Even the most seasoned innovators in our field feel the weight of this complexity. The current funding and policy context demands solutions that mobilize existing wisdom and knowledge and maximize returns on investments in public youth- and family-serving systems.
This is why we continue to honor the remarkable legacy of Sheila Pires, whose contributions to systems of care shaped the field and whose guiding question—“I think we need to figure that out”—remains a touchstone for our work. Sheila saw the policy and financing gaps that others overlooked, and she encouraged us to confront them with curiosity and discipline.
Sheila’s spirit of inquiry shapes Innovations’ work throughout the year and was especially present at the Summer 2025 Youth and Family Behavioral Health Research Summit (Summit), where we convened leading researchers, policy experts, family and youth partners, and funders to establish priorities and map a research agenda for youth and family behavioral health. In follow-up to the Summit, we established the Innovations Research Coalition for Youth and Family Behavioral Health (Research Coalition) to develop a research action agenda for the field.
To bring this agenda to life, we need your partnership and support.
Read more about Sheila's life and legacy and donate to the Pires Fund today!
Your Role in Building Smarter, More Responsive Systems
On #GivingTuesday2025, in the spirit of the annual global movement of generosity on the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving, we hope you will join us in supporting the Sheila A. Pires Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Youth and Family Behavioral Health Implementation and Policy Research (Postdoc).
Innovations is proud to lead the development and stewardship of the Postdoc, who will engage in applied research to address the complex questions identified at the Summit and will benefit from opportunities to work with the Research Coalition in engaging dozens of youth behavioral health decision-makers and scholars to improve public sector services for youth and their families.
By supporting the Pires Fund, you are not simply donating; you are shaping the next generation of researchers focused on policy and financing that strengthens and improves child- and family-systems. It is up to all of us to make sure her memory and legacy are lasting and a force for good in the world.
Donations can be made to the Sheila A. Pires Fund at Innovations Institute, University of Connecticut Foundation online or by making checks payable to the UConn Foundation, Inc., Attn: Data Services, 2390 Alumni Dr., Unit 3206, Storrs, CT 06269-3206. Please use the check notation line to designate the Sheila A. Pires Fund.