Instagram Story Viewer

An America where everyone can flourish is still possible. And when democracy, equity, and health feel fragile, hope lives in the people who refuse to give up on one another.

Read more in the #LinkInBio about what this moment asks of us and how we can rise to meet the call, together.

📸 Photo by @brianadamsphotography for RWJF. This Ku.éex' ceremony in Angoon, Alaska brought generations together as the U.S. Navy issued a long-overdue apology for the 1882 bombardment of the Tlingit community. A powerful moment of truth-telling, reclamation, and healing—held on Tlingit land, led by Tlingit people.

An America where everyone can flourish is still possible. And when democracy, equity, and health feel fragile, hope lives in the people who refuse to give up on one another.

Read more in the #LinkInBio about what this moment asks of us and how we can rise to meet the call, together.

📸 Photo by @brianadamsphotography for RWJF. This Ku.éex' ceremony in Angoon, Alaska brought generations together as the U.S. Navy issued a long-overdue apology for the 1882 bombardment of the Tlingit community. A powerful moment of truth-telling, reclamation, and healing—held on Tlingit land, led by Tlingit people.

Civic participation isn’t just about elections, it’s about our health. Government policiescan make it easier or harder for families to access care, afford food, or live in safe neighborhoods, which means our wellbeing is directly tied to the strength of our democracy.

After a conversation with Reverend Arline-Bradley, Dr. Avenel Joseph explores how communities are pushing back against policies that harm health. She breaks down how voting, organizing, and speaking up directly shape the policies that protect—or threaten—our wellbeing.

Stay involved and stay loud. Read more in the link in bio. 🔗

Black women executive directors are shaping the future of health equity.

The Black Women’s Executive Directors (BWED) Program is a national leadership initiative supporting Black women-led social justice organizations and their leaders.

These organization's leaders are deeply rooted in community and drawing from lived experience and proven strategies to drive impact. BWED invests in their sustainability, collective power, and long-term leadership.

Meet the inaugural cohort and learn more at the link in bio.

Images captured by the talented @lailaannmarie

Black women executive directors are shaping the future of health equity.

The Black Women’s Executive Directors (BWED) Program is a national leadership initiative supporting Black women-led social justice organizations and their leaders.

These organization's leaders are deeply rooted in community and drawing from lived experience and proven strategies to drive impact. BWED invests in their sustainability, collective power, and long-term leadership.

Meet the inaugural cohort and learn more at the link in bio.

Images captured by the talented @lailaannmarie

Black women executive directors are shaping the future of health equity.

The Black Women’s Executive Directors (BWED) Program is a national leadership initiative supporting Black women-led social justice organizations and their leaders.

These organization's leaders are deeply rooted in community and drawing from lived experience and proven strategies to drive impact. BWED invests in their sustainability, collective power, and long-term leadership.

Meet the inaugural cohort and learn more at the link in bio.

Images captured by the talented @lailaannmarie

Black women executive directors are shaping the future of health equity.

The Black Women’s Executive Directors (BWED) Program is a national leadership initiative supporting Black women-led social justice organizations and their leaders.

These organization's leaders are deeply rooted in community and drawing from lived experience and proven strategies to drive impact. BWED invests in their sustainability, collective power, and long-term leadership.

Meet the inaugural cohort and learn more at the link in bio.

Images captured by the talented @lailaannmarie

Black women executive directors are shaping the future of health equity.

The Black Women’s Executive Directors (BWED) Program is a national leadership initiative supporting Black women-led social justice organizations and their leaders.

These organization's leaders are deeply rooted in community and drawing from lived experience and proven strategies to drive impact. BWED invests in their sustainability, collective power, and long-term leadership.

Meet the inaugural cohort and learn more at the link in bio.

Images captured by the talented @lailaannmarie

Policies keep being put in place that make it harder for people to get the care they need, when they need it, from the providers best equipped to deliver it. 

Avenel Joseph of @RWJFoundation and @joelbervell spoke recently about the policies narrowing pathways into many health professions, repeating patterns of exclusion we’ve seen before.

If you haven’t been following: The Department of Education redefined what counts as a “professional degree.” This shift raises real concerns about how the federal government understands the healthcare and public health workforce and risks weakening our ability to care for communities and respond to crises.  


Who’s affected? Graduate students preparing to become: 
⭐Nurse practitioners  
⭐Advanced practice registered nurses 
⭐Nurse anesthetists 
⭐Physician assistants  
⭐Physical therapists  
⭐Audiologists 
⭐Occupational therapists  
⭐Speech-language pathologists 
⭐Social workers 
⭐Public health workers

Have you considered how unleashing imagination to dream healthy futures can help connect us?

Aisha Shillingford encourages us to imagine deeply and bravely together to get to a better future.

Watch the full interview. #LinkInBio #VoicesOfVision

Building a future where every child can thrive starts with the courage to confront our past and repair what’s been broken.

The New Jersey Institute for Social Justice [@NJISJ] continues to model what courageous community leadership looks like. The organization is advancing work rooted in truth, repair, and the belief that every community deserves the opportunity to thrive.

The Institute has answered the call for moral courage, detailing New Jersey’s often-ignored ties to slavery and calling for reparations as an essential remedy to enduring harms. Their leadership shows what it means to pursue repair with clarity and purpose.

The Department of Education is putting a cap on how much graduate students can borrow for programs like nursing, social work, and public health.

What this means for our healthcare system:

👩🏽‍⚕️The healthcare workforce will become smaller and less diverse
🏥 Rural communities and underserved urban areas will struggle to access care
🩺 Progress to close health gaps affecting rural communities, racial and ethnic minorities, LGBTQIA+ people, and people with disabilities will stall

This moment deserves our attention because education is a public good that should be accessible to everyone regardless of race, class, or income.

It's a workforce issue. It's a community issue. And it's absolutely a health equity issue.

As federal caps on student loans tighten, the path into healthcare careers is getting even more expensive while our need for nurses, public health workers, and social workers keeps growing.

The students who face the most barriers will feel the impact first. First-generation students, low-income students, and students from marginalized racial and ethnic groups. They bring essential experience and commitment to our healthcare system, but rising costs threaten to shut them out.

And for those who push through, the price is steep: Private loans with high interest rates and dept that can follow them for decades.

It's a workforce issue. It's a community issue. And it's absolutely a health equity issue.

As federal caps on student loans tighten, the path into healthcare careers is getting even more expensive while our need for nurses, public health workers, and social workers keeps growing.

The students who face the most barriers will feel the impact first. First-generation students, low-income students, and students from marginalized racial and ethnic groups. They bring essential experience and commitment to our healthcare system, but rising costs threaten to shut them out.

And for those who push through, the price is steep: Private loans with high interest rates and dept that can follow them for decades.

It's a workforce issue. It's a community issue. And it's absolutely a health equity issue.

As federal caps on student loans tighten, the path into healthcare careers is getting even more expensive while our need for nurses, public health workers, and social workers keeps growing.

The students who face the most barriers will feel the impact first. First-generation students, low-income students, and students from marginalized racial and ethnic groups. They bring essential experience and commitment to our healthcare system, but rising costs threaten to shut them out.

And for those who push through, the price is steep: Private loans with high interest rates and dept that can follow them for decades.

New policy threats like fewer visas and Education Department caps on student loans risk pushing us even further from a healthcare workforce that reflects us all.

Avenel Joseph of @RWJFoundation and @joelbervell discuss how we got here, the current threats to an equitable healthcare system, and how to course correct. #healthcarepolicy

In 2025, the Administration lost more than 70% of legal challenges  thanks to organizations like Democracy Forward Foundation, @NILC, @lawyerscomm, and ACLU. 

Americans are defending progress in courtrooms and communities nationwide as threats to erode our democracy intensify. If there are other cases we should know about, drop them below. 👇

Courage fuels change—then and now.

From the Civil Rights movement to today’s efforts to advance health equity, progress depends on people willing to confront harmful systems and imagine something better.

When we choose courage, we unlock the potential to foster lasting social connections, build neighborhoods where all residents can thrive, and dismantle systemic barriers that stand in the way to health equity.

The Supreme Court ruling this week further limited critical civil rights protections of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This decision strips voters of color, especially Black voters, of their political power and their right to have fair political representation.

We will continue to fight for justice and a multiracial democracy that advances health equity for all.