MHA launching multiple Equity Impact Zones to empower local communities to close critical gaps in mental health equity
Alexandria, VA – Mental Health America (MHA) is proud to announce our commitment to The Kennedy Forum’s Alignment for Progress Movement to transform the United States’ mental health and addiction systems. Over the next five years, MHA commits to launching multiple Equity Impact Zones, a novel approach to empowering local communities to apply their own solutions to closing critical gaps in mental health equity. We join more than 60 organizations in making commitments to the movement, including the American Psychological Association and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
"To effectively confront the mental health and substance use crises, organizations must work together, and political leaders must reach across the aisle to find solutions. This is a moment of unity to create a more equitable and healthy society,” said Schroeder Stribling, president and CEO of MHA.
The MHA Equity Impact Zones will create an evidence base for the efficacy of community-based and community-led groups equipped to implement their own long-term solutions to addressing specific and harmful mental health-related disparities.
Amid historic rates of suicide and overdose deaths, there is an urgent need for organizations to align for progress and make the transformative change that this moment demands. Together, we can create a country where young people and the next generation get the care they need, recovery is possible, and communities grow stronger.
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About Mental Health America
Mental Health America is the nation’s leading community-driven nonprofit dedicated to promoting mental health and well-being, resilience, recovery, and closing the mental health equity gap. Mental Health America’s work is driven by its commitment to promote mental health as a critical part of whole-person health, including prevention services for all; early identification and intervention for those at risk; and integrated care, services and supports for those who need them. Learn more at MHAnational.org.
About The Kennedy Forum
Since 2013, The Kennedy Forum (TKF) has been leading a national effort to achieve systemic reform in the U.S. health care system by advancing evidence-based practices, policies, and programming for the prevention, treatment, and recovery of brain illnesses – specifically mental health and addiction. Former Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy led a coalition of diverse stakeholders to pass the most transformative legislation in 50 years, the bipartisan Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act. Since leaving congress, he has leveraged that unique role to coalesce a growing set of diverse stakeholders to advance the next generation of mental health and addiction policy through TKF. To learn more about The Kennedy Forum, please visit www.thekennedyforum.org.
About The Alignment for Progress
The Alignment for Progress is a five-year movement led by The Kennedy Forum to align stakeholders across industry and across the aisle to transform the United States’ mental health and addiction systems. The movement was launched at The Kennedy Forum’s Alignment for Progress Conference in October 2023 alongside policymakers, advocates, industry leaders, researchers, and practitioners. The Alignment for Progress leverages new tools developed by The Kennedy Forum to drive smart policy, build advocacy capacity, and assess data. For more on the Alignment for Progress and to join the movement, please visit www.AlignmentforProgress.org.