In this month’s issue, we are happy to share several bits of good news, wins, and upcoming events from our partners and colleagues at Alabama Arise, the Health and Reentry Project, Tennessee Health Care Campaign, and Vot-ER.

Alabama Arise is a statewide, member-led organization advancing public policies to improve the lives of Alabamians who are marginalized by poverty. 

In partnership with Alabama Values, Alabama Arise recently announced the launch of Think Big Alabama: Empowering Voices for Change, a four-part advocacy training program with the intention of empowering underserved and underrepresented communities in the state of Alabama.

Alabama Arise and Alabama Values will combine their missions and areas of expertise to create an effective, supportive, and dynamic learning environment for their participants to thrive and become powerful advocates for their communities. Through their programming, participants will hone their storytelling skills and practice tools and strategies to advocate for meaningful policy changes. Not only will participants leave Think Big Alabama with advanced advocacy skills and a better understanding of how to navigate the legislative landscape, they will also walk away with concrete action plans to address specific state or local issues that matter most to them.

This partnership is another way Alabama Arise is uniting faith-based, community, nonprofit and civic groups, grassroots leaders and individuals from across Alabama to improve the lives of Alabamians who are marginalized by poverty.

The Health and Reentry Project (HARP) is a cross-sector initiative to improve the health of people returning to communities after leaving jails and prisons.

CMS recently announced that Illinois, Kentucky, Oregon, Utah, and Vermont can use Medicaid section 1115 demonstration waivers to allow Medicaid to cover some services prior to release, increasing access to and continuity of care for returning citizens. This is a significant step forward in creating healthier communities for those personally and directly affected by incarceration. It is also a huge win for HARP and its partners, who have diligently advocated for stronger policies at the intersection of the health care and criminal justice systems to ultimately improve the health, safety, and wellbeing of people and communities.

Earlier this year, the Rx Foundation hosted the Health and Reentry Project (HARP) in our Power is a Social Determinant of Health webinar series. In their session, HARP shared an overview of the groundbreaking new policies creating the first opportunity to build systems of care for people leaving incarceration, including these 1115 waivers, and their potential to improve health and wellbeing. Importantly, they also emphasized how community-based organizations can translate these policies into improvements in peoples’ lives right in their communities. 

Vot-ER is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization working to integrate civic engagement into healthcare. 

Vot-ER was recently the focus of a newly published JAMA study, “Increasing Voter Participation Through Health Care–Based Voter Registration”, highlighting evidence about leveraging health spaces for nonpartisan civic engagement. McCabe et al’s findings showed that healthcare-based voter access, like Vot-ER’s, reaches voters who otherwise would not have the opportunity to cast their ballot.

Since its founding in 2019, Vot-ER’s reach has expanded beyond the emergency department, with academic medical centers, medical schools, and federally qualified health centers using Vot-ER’s posters and flyers to provide pathways for voter registration to healthcare patients. The piece identifies that the voters Vot-ER reached in 2020 were notably more diverse than those reached by traditional political campaigns — and furthermore, that turnout among these voters was substantially higher.

Finally, August is officially Civic Health Month and the team at Vot-ER are kicking off the celebration early with their latest op-ed, “We Want You, Doctor, to Help Get Out the Vote“. 

Sea Change is a 501(c)3 non-profit Recovery Community Organization (RCO) and Harm Reduction Center (HRC) with a mission to crush the stigma of Substance Use Disorder (SUD) and what it means to be in recovery. While Sea Change is based in Southern Ocean County, they serve anyone seeking support. They provide services at no cost, and educate, organize, and advocate on behalf of anyone negatively impacted by substance use. 

Currently, Sea Change is hiring two positions – a Community Health Outreach & Program Manager and Community Health Outreach & Program Associate. Resumes and cover letters are due by August 20, 2024.