Supporting public sector leaders to drive transformational change and advance health equity goals.
Public sector leaders play pivotal roles in addressing the barriers to health and well-being for individuals, families, and communities. These leaders are at the helm of growing state- and territory-led efforts to address gaps in access to care, improve health outcomes, and reduce health disparities. However, those responsible for advancing efforts to improve health equity often work within small teams, navigating complex systems to implement meaningful change.
Equity Changemakers Institute, created and led by the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS), is a year-long leadership development program to bolster the capacity of public sector leaders who have significant oversight over agency efforts to advance health equity by addressing gaps in access and quality of care for the populations they serve.
With the Institute now in its third year, 15 public sector leaders from 13 states are participating in the Class of 2025, including California, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Vermont, and Wisconsin. Since launching in 2022, 44 public sector leaders from 26 states — representing various backgrounds, perspectives, and lived experience — have participated in the program.
Equity Changemakers Institute aims to support these public leaders in strengthening the skills to manage transformational change and positively impact the health of those who live in their states/territories by:
- Strengthening participants’ knowledge and skills to enhance inclusive leadership and advance an organization’s internal health equity strategy;
- Increasing knowledge, approaches, and use of tools and policy levers to reduce disparities in health care, and improve health outcomes for all enrollees;
- Increasing leadership capacity and resiliency to navigate government structures and organizational cultures while building consensus among a range of stakeholders; and
- Building peer relationships and fostering a network of state and territory leaders overseeing health equity initiatives to better sustain long-term change.
As part of Equity Changemakers Institute, participants:
- Learn and test a competency-based leadership model. Participants receive expert training that follows a competency-based core leadership framework designed for senior executives in the public sector with an expanded curricular focus on inclusive leadership and efforts to address health equity.
- Participate in Key Topics Seminars. Seminars will explore priority topics for advancing health equity and allow participants to interact with leading experts, gain exposure to emerging evidence and best practices, and explore approaches to better meet the health and social needs of individuals and communities.
- Receive individualized leadership coaching. Each participant will be assigned a leadership coach who will provide one-on-one coaching throughout the program.
- Develop a Leadership Action Plan. Participants will develop a Leadership Action Plan that advances an important strategic initiative that benefits their organization and partnering communities and/or promotes agency priorities for equitable health services.
- Connect with peers in Accountability Networks. These CHCS-led peer sessions will provide an opportunity for participants to connect and support each other in shaping their individual Leadership Action Plans.
