What Does Health Equity Mean to Us?

DENVER — “Health equity” appears everywhere now—mission statements, policy memos, grant calls. The phrase risks becoming background noise. At TheCHANGEproject (TCP), it has a precise meaning and a concrete mandate: shift who holds knowledge, who sets priorities, and who benefits from decisions in health. Power matters. So do place, language, and trust. Health equity is the practice of aligning all three.

The Mirage of “Access”

“Access” often reads as a box checked: a clinic on a corner, a sign in two languages, a number to call. Real access asks different questions. Can a patient take time off work without losing wages? Does the intake form recognize their family structure? Will a clinician hear an accent and respond with patience rather than suspicion? Geography, insurance design, transportation, digital connectivity, and cultural concordance shape those answers. When people describe “hard-to-reach” communities, they are often describing systems that never reached in the first place.

A Community Standard for Care

TCP’s standard begins with proximity and continues with accountability. The principle is simple: Nothing about us, without us. Programs originate with the people who will live with the results. Barbershops teach blood-pressure monitoring because barbershops already convene counsel and care. Youth leaders draft testimony because they know where policies chafe in daily life. We build tables and then set chairs for those whose expertise comes from lived experience. Expertise includes statistical fluency and street-level wisdom. We require both.

Health Lives Beyond the Exam Room

Health reflects the architecture of daily life. Zoning codes determine grocery options and green space. Bus routes govern the commute to dialysis. Broadband access decides whether telehealth is a lifeline or a locked door. School funding models seed the next generation of clinicians—or foreclose that path. Immigration rules, benefits cliffs, pharmacy deserts, eviction filings, and air quality monitors all register in blood pressure cuffs and glucose meters. A credible health strategy engages these levers directly.

What We Build

• Health Equity Incubator: Early-stage, community-driven interventions receive capital, coaching, and evaluation support. The goal is translation—move ideas from neighborhood conversations into durable programs with measurable outcomes.

• Policy & Advocacy Lab: Young advocates analyze bills, draft amendments, and practice testimony. They meet with legislators, coalitions, and agency staff. The metric is movement: better language in statute, stronger implementation guides, sharper oversight.

• CHANGE Media: Storytelling that treats community members as authors, not subjects. Profiles, op-eds, and explainer videos carry the voices that usually appear only in footnotes.

• Student Chapters: A campus engine for recruiting, training, and launching the next wave of organizers, researchers, and clinicians committed to equity.

What Accountability Looks Like

Good intentions do not equal good outcomes. We set targets and publish them. Who participated? Who stayed? What improved and by how much? Which approach underperformed and why? We revise tactics in public. Communities deserve more than promises; they deserve iteration, evidence, and a feedback loop that changes practice.

The Role of Institutions

Hospitals, universities, and agencies hold resources that matter, financing, data, facilities, credentialing power. Progress accelerates when those resources align with community leadership. Transparent partnerships, fair compensation for community time, and shared decision rights move projects from pilot status to permanence. We seek collaborations that transfer skills and authority, not just logos.

How Change Feels

Progress rarely arrives as spectacle. It looks like a barber adjusting a client’s cuff and catching a trend early. It sounds like a high-schooler testifying with fluency and courage. It reads as cleaner statutory text and clearer reimbursement guidance. It shows up as an eviction averted, a shuttle route extended, a clinic hour shifted, a translation corrected. Small pivots compound.

Our Working Definition

Health equity, to TCP, is a daily practice with four tests:

1. Proximity: People most affected design and govern the work.

2. Power: Decisions move toward the community, along with dollars, data, and discretion.

3. Proof: Outcomes are measured, shared, and used to refine strategy.

4. Persistence: Efforts endure beyond news cycles and grant periods.

The Work Ahead

The road demands patience and precision. It asks leaders to share credit and relinquish unilateral control. It rewards those who build coalitions across neighborhood lines and ideological boundaries. We will continue distributing tools where people already gather, translating research into plain language, and turning stories into statutes. The aim is consistent: a health system that reflects the people it serves.

Health equity means families who can plan their lives without bracing for the next barrier. It means neighborhoods where wellness is ordinary. It means policy written in a voice the community recognizes as its own. That is the future we are organizing toward—steadily, locally, and together.