What We Do

We invest, innovate, and capacity build to improve the health of Minnesota communities.

Change policies, systems, and environments to support communities most impacted by racial and health inequities by:

  • Advancing food justice by ensuring access to healthy, affordable, and culturally relevant foods
  • Eliminating access to and use of commercial tobacco

How do we do it?

We support community-driven changes to policy, systems, or environments that will lead to healthier, more equitable communities for all. Policy, Systems, and Environmental (PSE) change focuses on making healthy choices more accessible and available in the communities in which we live, work, and play.

PSE change can include: 

➜ Policies change: This can be formal, such as a state law banning smoking in buildings, or informal, such as an organizational policy to provide healthy snacks at meetings.

➜ System change: This involves adapting and changing the rules and norms within systems to encourage healthier choices. This change takes time, and it is a continual process designed to meet the needs of those impacted by these systems.  An example of a system change is providing free, healthy lunch to all students in a district.

➜ Environmental changes: These are changes to the physical, economic, or social environment. Environmental changes increase opportunities for healthy behavior within a community. Examples include building new bike trails, crosswalks, community gardens, or placing fresh fruits and vegetables near the front of local corner stores.

Our Strategies

  • INVEST in innovative, community-led racial and health equity initiatives
  • ADVOCATE for policy, systems and environmental changes that advance racial and health equity
  • CHANGE the mainstream narrative on health
  • EVALUATE AND PROMOTE work grounded in community wisdom
  • ADVANCE community capacity and facilitate strategic connections
  • LEAD AND SUPPORT cross-sector coalitions to advance policies, systems, and environmental changes
  • INFLUENCE AND INSPIRE shared action on racial and health equity
  • INTEGRATE racial and health equity principles into our business

  • Commercial Tobacco Use

    We’re dedicated to decreasing commercial tobacco usage, especially in unfairly targeted communities. Our support of a smoke-free Minnesota goes way back.

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  • Food Justice Funding Initiative

    The Food Justice Funding Initiative is a multi-year initiative, designed to advance food justice by ensuring access to healthy, affordable, and culturally relevant foods without barriers.

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  • Healthy Eating

    It’s hard to be healthy when healthy foods aren’t available, accessible or affordable. Everyone deserves the option to eat healthy meals, and we work to make that a reality.

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