ORGANIZED COURAGE FOR PUBLIC HEALTH
The American Health Equity Association is the independent national association for people advancing health equity.
There is still something worth building
This is a difficult moment for health equity work.
Funding is less stable. Language is more contested. Institutions are more cautious. Many people are being asked to do more with less, while others are searching for a way to remain connected to work they have spent years helping move forward.
But difficult times do not call for retreat. They call for the courage to build differently.
Courage without organization burns out. Organization without courage can’t afford to speak up. What lasts is organized courage: what happens when brave people stop standing alone.
That is why AHEA exists. We are building what this work needs to last between the crises, not just during them: a place where your experience is heard, your work is preserved, and you never have to carry it alone.
At AHEA, hope is not passive. It is built.
What membership makes possible
Membership gives you tools you can use the day you join, recognition for the work you do, and real ways to lead.
Never going unheard
Make your work and experience visible across the field.
Every member can submit a Profile or Case in Health Equity Practice, share what they’re seeing through the Health Equity Pulse, and apply to lead community campaigns through People’s Health Project.
Never starting from zero
Build on tools and evidence made for this work, not a blank page.
Members get full access to all three AHEA tools from the day they join, along with shared resources like the American Journal of Health Equity and the State of Health Equity Report as they launch.
Never standing alone
Lead this work alongside people who get it.
Join Member Strategy Forums, serve on a national council or the Journal’s editorial board, or become a State, Community, or Campus Health Equity Lead.
“In a time when the fabric of the work that I am involved with is being actively disassembled, the American Health Equity Association feels like the best way to collaborate with other professionals and community members aiming for a more equitable future. It is easy to be siloed and divided, but with a professional home like AHEA, we are stronger together - and able to do more!”
— Dr. Stephen Kane
Medical Director at a Local Health Department
AHEA Member
More than a place to belong.
A place to contribute.
This is where good work gets documented, published, and carried forward, so the next person never starts from zero.
Applied community leadership
Communities often see problems first. People's Health Project turns what they know into documented evidence and organized action. Members can train as community health leaders, join campaign teams, and help write Community Health Impact Reports.
Explore People’s Health Project
American
Journal of
Health Equity
The field needs a lasting record of what works. The American Journal of Health Equity, now in development, will be an open-access, peer-reviewed journal for health equity research and practice. As it launches, members can submit manuscripts and apply for editorial and peer-review roles.
Learn about the Journal
State of Health Equity Report
Evidence should outlast a budget cycle. The report will show where inequities persist and how conditions are changing, drawing on AHEA's developing Health Fairness Index. Members can contribute through research, review, and field insight.
Learn about the report
Leadership opportunities
The people doing this work should help lead it. Members can serve as State, Community, or Campus Health Equity Leads, or guide national initiatives through committees and editorial bodies, in selective, limited-term roles. For those Certified in Public Health (CPH), service may count toward recertification credits.
Explore leadership opportunities
Professional recognition
Good work should not disappear when funding does. Every member can submit a Profile highlighting their experience or a Case documenting a project or approach others can learn from and apply.
Explore recognition opportunities
Try our member tools for free
Each tool is built for a real public health or health equity task, with guided inputs and structured results, not a blank chat box.
Explore all member tools
Find the evidence you need faster, with focused PubMed searches and guidance for turning research into practice.
Evidence in Practice Tool
Career Positioning Tool
Whether you're fighting to stay in this work or trying to get in the door, turn your experience into a clear case for the roles that exist now.
Strategic Messaging Tool
Find language that works in complex and politically sensitive settings without giving up what you mean.
A room with people who get it
Health equity professionals are navigating changing language, shifting priorities, and hard decisions, often without anyone to think them through with. Member Strategy Forums are recurring spaces to talk honestly, exchange practical insight, and leave clearer about your next move. Not another presentation. A real conversation.
Help make the state of the field visible
The Health Equity Pulse is AHEA's national listening effort. Tell us what you're facing, from lost funding to shifting roles, so your experience gets counted. Findings shape AHEA's priorities and future State of Health Equity reporting. Open to everyone.
Approximately 3 minutes
You do not have to carry this work alone
This is a difficult moment, but it is not the end of the work.
AHEA is supported primarily by its members, on purpose. We answer to the people doing this work, not to a single funder, institution, or outside interest.
There is still a place for you in this work. Come build it with us.