2024 is drawing to a close, and with that, we enter into the unique season of reflection and transition that marks our shift into 2025.
In the wake of a turbulent election season in America, many of us have struggled to resolve conflicting emotions – maybe hope, or fear, or perhaps distrust and anxiety about the outcomes and the unpredictability of the incoming administration. It is deeply human to want to understand (and influence) what the road ahead looks like. However, if we’ve learning anything over the last five years, it is that we cannot predict the future.
While we don’t know how policies and systems may change and the impact that will have, we do know that our mission remains unchanged at BUILD. Local, community-driven partnerships are more important than ever. Our collective commitment to health equity and racial justice is more important than ever. Our solidarity is intentional and resilient.
This year demonstrated for us that BUILD offers a path forward:
Making progress
This November, the current cohort of BUILD awardee partners marked the halfway point of their time with BUILD, with momentum building on the foundations they’ve established over the first 18 months. Throughout their award, each BUILD team receives support from ChangeLab Solutions as a technical assistance provider. In addition to local research, policy mapping, strategy, and resource identification, the teams came together over the last year to explore concepts like owning your local history, communicating in a polarized landscape, and root cause analysis. The progress we have seen to date – from expansion of equitable data practices, adapting to emergent issues and local contexts, and expanding infrastructure for resident leadership – are strong indicators of systems changes to come.
Championing collaborative, community-centered approaches
In addition to supporting current BUILD teams, we also had the opportunity to expand the reach of BUILD’s learnings and stories. From conferences to blogs, we shared tools, resources, and case studies with decision makers around the country. We advocated for community leadership to sit in decision making space with the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine; with the National Association of County and City Health Officials; with the American Public Health Association; and more. Equally as important, we were joined in those venues by BUILD awardees from Houston, Greensboro, Cincinnati, Muskegon Heights, Pittsburgh, and Omaha, among others, who told their stories, explained the opportunities and challenges in their work, and celebrated what they were able to achieve.
From big cities to small towns
The BUILD team in Durham, NC.
BUILD visited each of the current awardee communities this summer and fall, traveling across the country to spend time with the local partners and community members who put the BUILD model into action and are actively improving their neighborhoods.
The BUILD teams in Seattle, WA (left) and Muskegon Heights, MI (right).
During these visits, we sat in collaborative and community meetings; toured new developments, food banks, community gardens, and churches; ate delicious local food; met local business owners; danced in city plazas and listened to musicians at community centers; heard from health department directors, activists, and community health workers; and participated in many, many conversations about community goals, what brings us each to the work, and what our collective future could hold. Visiting the BUILD partners reaffirmed the power of relationships and working together.
The BUILD team in San Diego, CA.
Embodying our values
At the start of the year, we published a series of articles on our community-designed racial equity strategy. This process – nearly a year in the making and building on a second year of institutional strategic planning – led us to a set of ten practices that BUILD is embracing to move towards racial justice. Moving forward, BUILD is committed to: field-building and thought leadership; creating interactions and supportive pathways for awardees who are on this journey with us; and continually strengthening our own commitment to racial equity.
One major step forward in this practice was the launch of the BUILD Awardee Advisory Council this fall. The Advisory Council members are a group of diverse BUILD awardees who hold a leadership role in our decision-making process. From over two dozen applications, seven BUILD awardees were selected to serve a one-year term. They are compensated for their time and leadership, and meet monthly to advise BUILD on our programmatic and strategic decisions. With their insight and brilliance, we are more confident that the choices we make will best serve the communities we support.
With all of that said, our path may look different than we thought it would at the start of 2024, but we are not starting from scratch—we are standing on a foundation that we, and many before us, have spent years building. We know what our priorities are, and we are more than capable of advancing them, together.
For myself, I’ve had to remember to find joy and calm among my community, and to take a deep breath even as I feel myself tense for the road ahead. We wish the same for you all, that you take care of yourselves and each other. Moving into 2025, we are looking forward with anticipation for a year of continued partnership, progress, and time together. The coming year marks ten years since BUILD launched, and we can’t wait to share more learnings, more local stories, and more collaborative visioning for the future. There will be moments of celebration, moments of challenge, and moments that none of us can predict today. We are ready.
