Building Health Advocacy with Trusted Voices
Faith and community leaders participate in an advocacy workshop at The Sanctuary at Kingdom Square, taking notes during a training session

September 24โ€“25, 2025 ยท The Sanctuary at Kingdom Square, MD

The Faith Health Alliance & Health Champions Advocacy Training opened on Wednesday with a warm welcome from Bishop Anthony B. McClin of The Sanctuary at Kingdom Square and Bishop J.L. Carter, Chair of the Faith Health Alliance and pastor of Ark Church. Orientation from Laura Lee Hall, PhD, and Chinnie Ukachukwu, MPH, set the tone: this wasnโ€™t a lecture seriesโ€”it was a working session to turn conviction into policy impact. Moses Boyd kicked off with a clear, practical introduction to health policy and advocacy, translating the โ€œhow a bill becomes lawโ€ arc into steps congregations can take right now.

By late morning, the focus shifted to communications. **Adjoa Kyerematen, MSโ€”NMQFโ€™s Vice President of Communications & Public Affairsโ€”**led a dynamic session on effective messaging, showing leaders how to frame issues for a five-minute lawmaker briefing, a Sunday announcement, or a short social video without losing accuracy or heart. After lunch, the program moved through urgent health equity priorities: Tom Boyer of the Diabetes Leadership Council walked participants from screening to medication and education access; Millicent Gorham, PhD (Hon), MBA, FAAN, connected obesity, equity, and advocacy; and NMQF President & CEO Gary Puckrein, PhD offered a new framework for health equity advocacy with a real-world application to the 340B program. Bishop Carter closed Day 1 by grounding 340B in Marylandโ€™s on-the-ground reality, before Ukachukwu guided teams to start drafting their own advocacy plansโ€”complete with goals, timelines, and rolesโ€”followed by a final discussion and adjournment.

Day 2 began with a brief overview from Hall, then moved into the vaccine environmentโ€”whatโ€™s changing, where misinformation persists, and how trusted messengers can make the difference. Hall was joined by Iyabode (Yabo) Beysolow, MD, MPH; Abby Bownas, MA; and Julian Ritchey, MBA (Sanofi) for a rich, pragmatic conversation on building vaccine confidence from the pulpit to the policymakerโ€™s office. Later in the morning, Leslie Zuniga-Rivas, MPH addressed kidney disease and transplantation, highlighting the disparities that congregations see every week and the policy levers that can help. Over lunch, Breyana Williams, MPH, CHES brought the advocateโ€™s perspective from Voices for Vaccines, and in the afternoon Bambi W. Gaddist, DrPH challenged the room to decide โ€œwhere we go from here,โ€ pushing participants to convert awareness into action.

The workshop closed with teams presenting their advocacy plans to peers and facultyโ€”refining talking points, clarifying decision-maker targets, and stress-testing timelines. With next steps identified, attendees left with more than notes: they carried home tailored plans, templates for town halls and policymaker meetings, and a growing network of clergy and lay leaders committed to moving policy from paper to people. Across both days, one theme never wavered: trusted voices in faith and community networks are powerful drivers of change. Equipped with data, clear messages, and workable plans, these leaders are poised to advance health equity where it matters most.

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