Structuring Member Engagement to Drive a Multi-Issue Agenda for Health Justice

Hosted June 2025

In this webinar, we were joined by the team at Alabama Arise and their grassroots partners to explore how they are building power for health justice in one of the most politically conservative states in the country. Over the past five years, Alabama Arise has deepened its multi-issue advocacy—including Medicaid expansion, maternal health, tax fairness, public transit, and voting rights—by centering the voices of people directly impacted by poverty and systemic injustice. Together, we explored what it takes to build a coalition across lines of difference, bridge grassroots and grasstops strategies, and sustain wins that improve health outcomes and shift power.

A public demonstration; people are leaning against Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan offices, with picket signs. The one in the forefront is a young man wearing a wide brimmed hat holding a yellow sign with dark text that reads "Your greed makes me sick".

Understanding Values, Democracy, and the Future of Health

from Rx Foundation’s Power is a Social Determinant of Health series

Session description: How does a multi-issue coalition organize for Medicaid expansion, voting rights, maternal health, and tax equity in a state long defined by underinvestment and systemic exclusion? Alabama Arise is doing just that by aligning a powerful membership model, strategic staffing, and values-based coalition building. In this session, the team shares lessons learned, tangible wins, and the structure behind their success.

Together, we explored how Alabama Arise:

  • Expanded postpartum Medicaid coverage in Alabama
  • Streamlined presumptive eligibility and advanced patient-centered Medicaid reforms
  • Proposed consumer-led quality improvement models for care coordination
  • Integrated reproductive justice into its work alongside religious partners, political divisions

Watch the Recording

Session Highlights

Power is a root cause, and building it requires sustained investment
Alabama Arise is redefining what it looks like to do health advocacy in a conservative state by treating power itself as a core social determinant of health. That includes growing member-led agendas, supporting rural leadership, and bridging the gaps between organizing, communications, and policy work.
Member-driven priorities ensure community ownership
With over 1,500 individual members and 155 organizational members, Alabama Arise uses a weighted voting process to develop its agenda, which includes Medicaid expansion, maternal and infant health, public transit, and tax reform. Priorities are proposed and voted on by members through listening sessions, issue submissions, and annual meetings.
Policy advocacy is most effective when it’s rooted in lived experience
The organization created new policy advocate roles to connect technical knowledge with the community voice. Their Medicaid Unwinding Task Force and maternal health advocacy efforts are examples of how feedback loops between government and residents have led to more equitable implementation and even new legislation.
Headshot of Dr. Lisa Fitzpatrick with a quote from the RX Foundation power session, "We must be willing to embrace solutions that respond directly to community feedback even if it sounds foreign, risky and non-academic. People want relatable messaging. This builds trusts which can increase engagement and close care gaps.
Organizing across values and identities is possible—and necessary
The team emphasized that solidarity across faith, class, and ideology is possible when relationships are authentic and sustained. Members aligned across potentially divisive issues like reproductive justice and maternal health because trust had been built over time.
Power building isn’t just about policy wins—it’s about people
In a single year, Alabama Arise hosted 278 events, engaged over 9,000 people, and generated more than 7,000 legislative contacts across all 67 counties. Their model combines grassroots energy with insider strategy, ensuring representation and influence on decision-makers. By fostering a coalition where lobbyists and grassroots members collaborate, Arise maintains year-round pressure.

Notable Quotes

  • “We’re lobbyists for regular people. And we want to be in lawmakers’ ears all the time.”— Robyn Hyden, Executive Director
  • “Engagement is messy—but that mess is where power lives. — Pres Harris, Organizing Director
  • “The grassroots are the ones with the energy. They’re not tired. They’re fired up. — Robyn Hyden
  • “Wins aren’t just legislation—they’re reaching new people, growing our base, and holding space for rural folks to lead.”— Samantha Gomez, SRBWI
  • “We were able to help draft and pass the Alabama Maternal Health Act—with not one ‘nay’ vote.”— Jennifer Harris, Senior Health Policy Advocate

Session Resources

Speakers

  • Robyn Hyden – Executive Director, Alabama Arise
  • Pres Harris – Organizing Director, Alabama Arise
  • Whitney Washington – Communications Associate, Alabama Arise
  • Jennifer Harris – Senior Health Policy Advocate, Alabama Arise
  • Samantha Gomez – Human Rights Organizer, Southern Rural Black Women’s Initiative

Green Arrows

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