Building Community Power for Health Equity

This campaign will develop a multi-cultural partnership to advocate for Governor Gavin Newsom to issue an executive order that declares racism to be a public health crisis in California and to commit to specific, aspirational, and actionable steps to address racism in health care that will ensure that the health care system treats all people with dignity. The partnership, co-convened by Black Women for Wellness (BWW), California Black Women’s Health Project (CABWHP), California Latinas for Reproductive Justice (CLRJ), and California Pan-Ethnic Health Network (CPEHN), will mobilize to build political will and momentum to win an executive order.

Parent Voices Oakland’s (PVO) will support the work led by directly impacted grassroots leaders to address root causes of health disparities experienced by the Black community, specifically families with young children, women, and aging populations who are also caregivers. This project will elevate the root causes for Black infant mortality and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) disparities connected to economic insecurity and racism. PVO will also work in collaboration with ROOTS Community Health Center and Parent Voices to demonstrate the need for reforms in municipal budgets in order to support these needed shifts. PVO aims to ensure programming that addresses barriers Black people face in receiving services with dignity, humanity and care.

This project will advance proactive policies to create access to affordable, quality health care for Colorado’s immigrants by supporting the leadership and policy agenda of the Coalition for Immigrant Health (Coalition). While there has been significant progress to ensure greater access to health care for many Coloradans, immigrant communities have been largely excluded. The Coalition includes 38 active organizational members and 100 individuals who are working together toward universal access to health care by centering the needs and perspectives of immigrants. Other key partners on this project include the Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights (COLOR), the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative (CCHI), the Colorado Fiscal Institute (CFI), and the Colorado Cross Disability Coalition (CCDC).

Black Moms Rising will build power with expectant moms, new moms and other allies in an effort to reduce Black women’s maternal and infant mortality rates in the District of Columbia. When policies and practices center the health, social and emotional well-being of Black women and Black expectant moms, these policies then, in turn, help all women and therefore their families. Working in wards 5, 7, and 8 of the District, Black Moms Rising is a collaboration between the Children’s Law Center, Early Childhood Innovation Network (ECIN), and SPACEs in Action (SIA).

Catalyst Miami, Florida Voices for Health (FVH), Florida Policy Institute (FPI), Florida Health Justice Project (FHJP), and Central Florida Jobs with Justice (CFJWJ) are joining forces in this initiative to improve health care access and affordability, and mitigate the widening of race-based health and wealth divides. With one eye on the statewide effort to expand Medicaid in Florida and the importance of local providers’ and officials’ voices in statewide campaigns, the project will also push to expand health care access through the lowering of patient co-payments in the Jackson Health System, the locally funded public health system in Miami-Dade County.

The New Georgia Project (NGP) will work with Georgians for a Healthy Future (GHF) and the Equality Foundation of Georgia (EFG) to address the intersections of systemic racism and health/health care in Southwest Georgia. Southwest Georgia has some of the poorest health outcomes in the state and is home to several counties with majority Black populations pointing to the inextricable link between race and health outcomes. The project will engage community members to be powerful advocates for health policies that directly affect their lives, strengthening the advocacy infrastructure in the state and working towards ensuring that all residents have access to affordable, high-quality health care.

Centro de Comunidad y Justicia, Idaho Voices for Children, and Medicaid Matters in Idaho have joined efforts to build organizing power in Latinx communities to advance policy solutions that seek to increase access to health care for Latinx children and Latinx children with disabilities. The Public Charge Rule, dozens of enrollment barriers and administrative issues have created a pervasive climate of confusion and fear for Latinx families. The project aims to address some of the disparities that Latinx children and their families face, as Latinx children, including children with disabilities, are more likely to be uninsured and less likely to utilize care than their white peers.

The Consumer State Advocacy Project-Illinois (CSAP-IL) is grounded in the belief that everyone deserves access to affordable, comprehensive, culturally appropriate health care - no matter their income, race, ethnicity, gender, place of origin, or immigration status. CSAP-IL will activate its grassroots, consumer advocacy, and policy partners to advocate for affordable coverage options for the state’s remaining uninsured. The Shriver Center on Poverty Law (Shriver Center) will lead the project in partnership with the Illinois Coalition on Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR), EverThrive Illinois, and the Worker’s Center for Racial Justice (WCRJ). Together they will collectively elevate health and racial justice, centering the project’s work so that Black, Indigenous, people of color (BIPOC) and immigrant communities will drive the policy solutions to increase access to affordable health care.

The Hoosier Action Resource Center seeks to increase the access, affordability, and quality of health care for Hoosiers by protecting, improving, and expanding Medicaid in Indiana. The project aims to organize and build broad-based public support for a well-funded Medicaid program, eliminate Medicaid premiums and tiered coverage, reduce barriers in the Medicaid application and enrollment process, and expand Medicaid eligibility in Indiana to up to 250% of the federal poverty level. In order to win necessary reforms, Hoosier Action will implement rigorous community organizing and communications strategies, mobilize mass public pressure for action, and redefine the issue for the Governor, Indiana’s Family Social Services Administration (FSSA) Director, and the public.

Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (Iowa CCI), Common Good Iowa and EMBARC (Ethnic Minorities of Burma Advocacy and Resource Center) will push Iowa’s Medicaid system to treat refugees and immigrants with dignity and respect by providing culturally and linguistically competent care and supportive health services. CCI will develop a Medicaid equity agenda based on the lived experience of families involved with EMBARC and other immigrant and refugee groups to influence decision-makers and infuse racial equity in the health policy debate in the state of Iowa.

The Louisiana Budget Project, in partnership with Louisiana Community Health Outreach Network (LACHON) and Southwest Louisiana Area Health Education Center (SWLAHEC) will lead an effort to raise public awareness about the roles and benefits of community health workers, who serve a vital and under-appreciated role in addressing social determinants of health in Louisiana. Deeply embedded in their communities, these public health professionals help connect people in underserved areas with health care services and other community supports. The campaign will build political power and advocacy skills among community health workers and work to include community health workers as a covered benefit in the Medicaid program.

This project seeks to ensure immigrant access to health care in Maine, particularly for undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers. Maine People’s Resource Center (MPRC), New Mainers Public Health Initiative, Presente Maine, Maine Equal Justice (MEJ), Consumers for Affordable Health Care (CAHC), and Maine Center for Economic Policy (MECEP) will collaborate to organize directly affected communities of immigrants, as well as health care providers, members of the public, and other key stakeholders to change policy. A Leadership team consisting of immigrants will be created to ensure that policy design and major decisions are made by the people who are most affected.

The dual struggles of health care access and health care affordability have been devastating to the lives and livelihoods of Black and Brown communities in Maryland, especially in Prince George’s County, for decades. CASA, the Ministers' Conference Empowerment Center Community Development Corporation, and the Maryland Citizens’ Health Initiative Education Fund, Inc. have joined forces to build support for, and ultimately establish a primary and preventive care basic insurance program for ACA-ineligible residents (largely immigrants). The collaborative will also work to ensure that high quality, locally oriented health centers, programs and services exist in communities to deliver this care.

Health Care For All (HCFA), the Massachusetts Immigrant & Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA), the Massachusetts Senior Action Council (MSAC) and Men of Color Health Awareness (MOCHA) have formed a health justice organizing collaborative focused on existing constituencies and new organizations, immigrant communities, older adults, and people of color from across the state. HCFA and partners will engage community members in training and advocacy to advance policies that seek to make health care more affordable. These policies include: 1) Increasing health care affordability for low-income seniors by expanding Medicare Savings Program eligibility; 2) Reducing out-of-pocket expenses and premiums for individuals with private health insurance; and 3) Ensuring that affordable health care options are available to all residents regardless of immigration status.

Mothering Justice, in partnership with Metropolitan Organizing Strategy Enabling Strength (MOSES), Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS), and Michigan League for Public Policy (MLPP) is working to expand access to high-quality health care services for Michigan’s low-to-moderate-income populations, focusing on communities of color. The project seeks a more flexible and responsive network of health care services where community health worker programs are adequately funded, covered by Medicaid, and an integral part of health service delivery. By moving health services beyond clinical settings and into non-traditional settings such as the home, the project will lead to improvements in health outcomes for underserved populations.

Mississippi Black Women’s Roundtable is working to increase Black women’s access to high-quality affordable health care by focusing on Medicaid expansion as one solution. Working in partnership with the Mississippi Center for Justice and the Mississippi Health Advocacy Program, the partners will advocate for health care coverage and economic security for low-and middle-income Mississippi women. They will build community power through grassroots organizing and leadership development by equipping community members with communications skills and advocacy knowledge in the Mississippi Delta, Gulf Coast, Northeastern Mississippi/Tupelo, and Central Mississippi regions.

Missouri Health Care for All, Missouri Faith Voices and the Missouri Budget Project will work together to focus on Medicaid policy that integrates a race equity lens and elevates the voices of Black and African American Missourians. A major goal is to implement Medicaid expansion on time and to prevent passage of any new barriers to coverage in Medicaid, such as work requirements or budget cuts. The project will work to increase overall Medicaid advocacy across the state and representation of Black-led organizations and Black Missouri voices in the Medicaid advocacy field.

This project will be a collaboration between Salvation and Social Justice, the Latino Action Network Foundation, New Jersey Policy Perspective, and the New Jersey Citizen Action Education Fund. Together this partnership will build a multi-racial campaign based on lived experiences that will make quality health care for traditionally excluded communities a reality. The campaign will work towards the adoption of universal health care coverage for all children and adults who are now ineligible or unable to afford existing health care coverage options, and develop a base of directly impacted people and leaders among Black, Latinx and low-income communities to build power for these high-priority health care advocacy efforts.

The New Mexico Worker Organizing Collaborative (NMWOC) will implement strategies to improve the health and economic security of low-wage workers and their families by designing policy initiatives around Medicaid buy-in or similar affordability plans, and creating a statewide environment that is conducive to earned sick pay and protections for individual workers. The project will work to provide economic relief by expanding the state’s cash assistance fund to include undocumented immigrants and will offer legal and technical assistance on public benefit eligibility. NMWOC is led by Somos Un Pueblo and key partners that include the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty (NMCLP), OLÉ Education Fund, CAFé, and El Centro de Igualdad y Derechos (El CENTRO).

The Ohio alliance consisting of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative (OOC), Policy Matters Ohio, the Contact Center, the Children’s Defense Fund-Ohio, and the Universal Health Care Action Network of Ohio (UHCAN) will respond to work requirements, insidious rule changes, limits on maternal and immigrant care, and more by weaving together policy, communication, and grassroots organizations. The alliance will work to build a robust campaign capable of defeating pending attacks on the health care of Black and poor Ohioans by mobilizing and lifting the voices of affected community members.

This project will work to expand access to mental health care for BIPOC mothers, children, and caregivers, as well as immigrant and refugee communities who make up a significant portion of the most vulnerable workers in Oregon. Together, APANO, Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste and Family Forward Oregon (FFO) and will deepen grassroots organizing and leadership development and advocate for expanding access to culturally competent mental health care providers.

The Rhode Island Organizing Project (RIOP), in partnership with the Economic Progress Institute and the Senior Agenda Coalition, will work to reform the state’s long-term care system to meet the needs of seniors and people with disabilities. RIOP will organize to increase resources and the promotion of consumer choice for home and community-based services, and improve care for those living in nursing homes by advocating for improved staffing ratios and workforce stability through increased wages. The project will engage in community organizing and building power with Black, Latinx, immigrant elders and dual-eligible Medicare-Medicaid recipients and will aim to broaden alliances with moderate-income elders, caregivers, and long-term services and support workers.

To expand health coverage in Texas and overcome continued opposition to Medicaid expansion, The Afiya Center (TAC) will energize directly impacted communities to raise their voices and utilize people-power. TAC will work in collaboration with the Texas Organizing Project Education Fund (TOPEF) and Every Texan to deepen the work of Medicaid expansion in Texas, and in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area by lifting up coverage concerns for Black, Latinx and Transgender womxn.

Virginia Organizing, CASA, the Virginia Poverty Law Center (VPLC), and The Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis (TCI), will focus their efforts statewide, tackling the longstanding issue of access to quality, affordable health care for communities of color and immigrant residents, regardless of immigration status. The coalition will organize campaigns with strategic partners in an effort to build consensus and support for unified recommendations to policymakers. Through these efforts, the coalition will be able to build power with directly affected Virginians to influence changes that affect community members and their families.

Milwaukee Inner-City Congregations Allied for Hope (MICAH), Wisconsin Alliance for Women’s Health (WAWH) and Citizen Action of Wisconsin Education Fund will organize and center the voices of the African American community on Milwaukee’s north side. MICAH and partners will work directly with health care systems to ensure that the most impacted people identify solutions to systemic inequities, and that health services get delivered in a way that recognizes and addresses critical health care measures, including social determinants of health. The project will also work toward a Community Benefit Agreement (CBA) with a major health care system that invests in the health, safety, and long-term economic security of the Black community in Milwaukee.