Our opportunity to build and amplify power: A message from Qiana Thomason, Health Forward President and CEO

In a time of unprecedented action to dismantle policies and practices that protect the well-being of all Americans, where chaos is the principal strategy to overthrow the will of, and care for, the American people, Health Forward Foundation remains rooted in what is legally and morally right. 

The primary purpose of a representative democracy is to support and protect the well-being of its citizens. Our founding documents make clear that a principal aim of the Constitution is to “establish justice.” Further, the Declaration of Independence espouses “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” are unalienable rights achieved through a government that derives its “just powers from the consent of the governed.” The 14th amendment goes on to provide a guarantee of equal protection under the law to all citizens. To remind us of these promises, “equal justice under law” is carved above the entrance to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Before we know the alphabet, we are taught the American Pledge of Allegiance — “liberty and justice [is] for all.” This promise of America, no matter how aspirational, is indelibly etched in our minds and our hope for the possibilities for ourselves and our families. 

It is against these very foundational principles of our country that we have run astray. Clearly, diversity of people and thought (which America has long possessed), equity (something that is fair and just) and inclusion (integrating all people and groups in activities, organizations or political processes) are unequivocal attributes of justice. These are the core values on which America was founded.

Yet, the evidence is clear. Health outcomes, life expectancy, and general well-being are not and have never been equal, fair, or just for all Americans. Health outcomes are stratified by two key factors: race and financial health. This is due in large part to a long history of social and economic policy decisions and harmful narratives which perpetuate such policies. 

Diversity of people and thought (which America has long possessed), equity (something that is fair and just) and inclusion (integrating all people and groups in activities, organizations or political processes) are unequivocal attributes of justice.

As champions of America’s espoused values, Health Forward Foundation remains steadfast in our purpose: To work every day to support and build inclusive, powerful, and healthy communities characterized by racial equity and economically just systems.

And, we are resolute in advancing our mission: To secure a fair and just region through leadership, advocacy, and resources. 

Health Forward employs an evidence-based and socially conscious approach that prioritizes people who experience the greatest injustices in health outcomes: gente de color whose outcomes are shaped by structural racism and other socioeconomic conditions and people in rural areas where systemic underinvestment hinders optimal health. Whether you are an urbanite, suburbanite, or a rural resident across racial, ethnic, gender, national, and political identities in our region, we believe that nothing could be more just, or more American than our purpose, mission, and evidence-based approach.

Health outcomes, life expectancy, and general well-being are not and have never been equal, fair, or just for all Americans.

Amid an existential crisis fueled by greed, power, and deepening polarization, our commitment to funding and advocating for systems change that advances health and financial well-being is more essential than ever. U.S. racial and ethnic terror is being reanimated through unlawful anti-DEI and anti-immigration orders, legislation, and consequential narratives. 

Action to recolonize American prosperity is rapidly unfolding as economic erosion of our middle class is effectuated through tariffs and plans to mangle the Department of Education. Attempts to cease federal grants and aid committed to states and nonprofits for vital health and human services, and looming cuts to Medicaid and SNAP imperil Americans already living close to and beneath the margins. USDA grant freezes endanger farmers’ financial stability, compounding existing workforce challenges that stem from orders related to immigration. Mass layoffs of government workers who buttress the middle class and care for our veterans are occurring without analysis of the implications to government efficiency or efficacy. Nonprofits that exist to support these organizations and individuals are being intimidated and silenced as the tide has shifted from supporting all Americans to a privileged few. All the while, the politics of division, turning people against each other, and sowing fear and lies about scarcity do nothing to improve well-being for anyone.

Amid an existential crisis fueled by greed, power, and deepening polarization, our commitment to funding and advocating for systems change that advances health and financial well-being is more essential than ever.

Amid this downward spiral inflicted upon the American people, we the people of these United States must hold fast to the self-proclaimed American value of justice. Women suffragists, including Black women who stood to gain no voting rights, fought together for the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote. Black citizens, including courageous teenage freedom riders joined by people of diverse identities banded together while enduring intense racial terror toward the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Working people paid inadequate wages, in response to poor working conditions successfully advocated for worker’s rights and collective bargaining in the historic U.S. labor movement. 

At Health Forward, we are also practiced in forging cross-sector and multi-identity coalitions from the grassroots to the grasstops. We partnered to secure essential health coverage for hardworking Missourians through a ballot initiative to expand Medicaid, and successfully defended its passage from those who didn’t respect the will of the people. 

This climate of multi-level resistance to justice may be long and persistent. Yet, history instructs the pendulum will swing back once again. But not without intentional and coordinated multi-sector strategies to increase citizen power, recast narrative power, and build economic power.

We center how the people in our region define and experience power and follow with continual investments to amplify their voices, expertise and movements. And this is what we will continue to do:

• Citizen power: There is a cross-country correlation between democracy and health. We are investing deeply in nonpartisan policy change through power and movement work led by and with our partners. Specifically, we have increased our civic engagement and coalition building multi-year funding and “support beyond the check” field building investments from $1 million in 2020 to over $9 million in 2025. Our 2025 civic engagement and advocacy coalitions funding opportunity is active through April 2nd and we invite your interest and partnership.
• Narrative power: Narratives shape beliefs, policies, and resource allocation. We have positioned narrative change among our Platform strategies because of how consequential narratives are. We value and are deepening our partnerships with responsible journalism to combat misinformation, misperceptions, and reshape truthful framing around inequality, health equity, DEI, and the rich contributions of all people in America. We must work to change the temperature of polarizing conversations, leveraging paradigms of abundance and rejecting notions of scarcity and zero sum game rhetoric that benefits no one and creates more harm. To support this work, a funding opportunity for narrative change will be open this fall. Sign up for our platform emails to receive more information.
• Economic power: America has the tools needed to address economic inequality and injustice. Health Forward will continue to invest in economic well-being for those who have historically and continue to face economic barriers. These efforts increase affordable housing and create pathways to sustainable homeownership. They increase representation of people of color and people from rural backgrounds in health science workforce pathways. They ensure people have access to digital tools and skills to be full participants in a digital economy. And they forge policy advocacy that increases income and assets among our communities of focus and honors their vital contributions to our economy. 

Today, we call all people and sectors “in” — public, private, philanthropic, and faith communities — to act in unity to support the sustainability and effectiveness of justice-centered work that amplifies the power of communities, however we choose to describe it, and the well-being of the people forging it. 

For sectors untethered to the government like philanthropy and private companies, we must stand in the gap caused by fear and intimidation from unlawful proclamations and be assured of the legitimacy and lawfulness of our work and the work of our nonprofit partners. We must draw courage, strategy, and strength from our forerunners who secured the rights we are fighting to protect with significantly less support and resources. We must remain steadfast in the progress we have made collectively to be the country we say we are. We must stand firm in the work and the language of justice, in all its forms. This is our American birthright and moral obligation. 

We must draw courage, strategy, and strength from our forerunners who secured the rights we are fighting to protect with significantly less support and resources.

Our team has gathered resources which may be helpful as we navigate this era. Additionally, we are planning several convenings during the course of the year to provide additional support for messaging, narrative, idea exchange, and staying in community with each other. I encourage you to connect with us and with each other, and to lean on the strength that comes from community. Be encouraged. 

In Faith and Action,