NEVER GOING UNHEARD
Public Health Sustainability Scorecard
Where every state stands on public health that lasts
The Public Health Sustainability Scorecard will grade every state on the four foundations of the Declaration on Public Health Sustainability. Produced independently by AHEA, it will show where each state’s public health is protected and where it’s exposed, so lawmakers, advocates and the public can see what needs to change. The first Scorecard will be released in spring 2027.
Graded on the four foundations
Every state will be held to the same standard, the four foundations set out in the Declaration on Public Health Sustainability.
A guaranteed floor
Every community, in every state, can count on a defined set of core public health services.
Protection in law
Core public health funding is secured in law, strong enough to endure every budget and every change in leadership.
Funding scaled to need
Communities facing greater challenges receive more, so the floor is real in a rural county and a large city alike.
Stable revenue
Core public health is paid for from predictable sources, so it does not have to fight for survival in every budget.
Making the cycle visible
Public health is built in crises and cut between them, and the cuts rarely make headlines. Few people can say whether their own state’s public health would hold through the next budget or the next change in leadership.
The Scorecard measures every state the same way, whoever governs it. The states building public health to outlast will be easy to see, and so will the ones leaving it exposed.
Year after year, its grades will form an independent, durable public record that doesn’t depend on the priorities of any single funder, government, institution or interest group.
Building the first edition
AHEA’s National Research and Insights Council guides the Scorecard’s development and reviews its indicators and grades before each release. Public data and relevant research, including state laws and budgets, form its foundation, along with what people in the field report through the Health Equity Pulse.
Working in public health? Tell us what you’re seeing, including programs that were cut, and help the Scorecard get your state right.
Want to carry the results home? AHEA members can serve as State Health Equity Leads, helping explain what their state’s results mean and making the case for the four foundations.
Be counted before the first Scorecard
Every signature on the Declaration counts toward your state’s total. When the Scorecard shows where your state stands, the support for public health that lasts will already be visible.
Sign by April 2027 to be counted among the Founding Signatories.