Health Forward Foundation

09/26/2025

Celebrating 20 Years of Stronger Tomorrows! 🎉 We’re highlighting our amazing partners who have been with us on our mission to advance health equity.

Here's how we've been partnering with Alliance for a Healthy Kansas to build a stronger future. As their Executive Director, April Holman, said:

"Health Forward Foundation has been with us since our inception. They have been a important thought partner for us. They have helped us to connect with key individuals and community leaders in communities where they're active, and they have also provided group learning opportunities. It has us thinking not just about the challenges of today, but longer term, how can we make a real difference?"

We're so proud of the work we've accomplished together to improve lives in our community!

09/24/2025

We are thrilled to welcome Anthony C. Lloyd Sr. to Health Forward Foundation as our new Chief Financial Officer. With over 20 years of experience, his financial expertise and commitment to economic mobility as a pathway to healthier communities will be essential as we create new opportunities for collective prosperity.

Anthony will play a key role in managing our financial resources and providing strategic leadership. His ability to leverage finance for meaningful impact, alongside his dedication to our mission, will help drive our organization and community toward shared success.

Welcome, Anthony! Read more ➡️ https://healthforward.org/news/health-forward-foundation-announces-anthony-c-lloyd-sr-as-cfo/

09/22/2025

It's been an honor to partner with Cass Community Health Foundation and see their work firsthand! We're proud to support their mission and help them expand access to care, because we know oral health isn't a luxury — it's a critical component of whole-person health and a vital step toward creating a fair and just health ecosystem for all.

We recently hosted Health Forward Foundation at our Cass County Dental Clinic location in Harrisonville, Missouri! 🦷💙 As a valued funder, their support helps us provide children and teens with access to quality, compassionate dental care — care they might not otherwise receive. Health Forward's support of our Harrisonville clinic has increased access to dental care to many families in the southern parts of Cass County. Thank you, Health Forward Foundation, for investing in the health of our community and helping more kids smile brighter! 😁✨

09/22/2025

What a fantastic 2025 Heartland Developers Summit presented by LISC Greater Kansas City! Health Forward was proud to sponsor this year's event. Our Chief Policy and Impact Officer, McClain Bryant Macklin, and board member Geoff Joley, joined a powerful closing plenary session on "Grants and Social Impact Investing." The discussion, moderated by Marvin Lyman, the Treasurer of Health Forward's Community Advisory Council, explored how philanthropy can be a more powerful force in urban development.

This summit is a vital part of our "Place" strategy, aimed at empowering emerging and intermediate developers. It was an honor to support this summit, which provides a crucial platform for emerging developers to learn, network, and grow. Together, we can create healthier, more equitable communities through innovative and sustainable development.

09/19/2025

Celebrating 20 Years of Stronger Tomorrows! 🎉 We’re highlighting the incredible partners who have been with us on our mission to advance health equity.

Here's how our longtime partner, Thrive Allen County is looking forward to stronger tomorrows. As their President/CEO, Lisse Regehr, said:

"At the end of the day, what we are working on is a cultural mind shift. We want people not to come from this scarcity mindset. We want them to say that tomorrow will be better than today."

Thank you, Thrive, for two decades of partnership and for showing us what it means to create lasting change.

09/16/2025

Today is , and we're reflecting on the powerful connection between civic engagement and health. What does "building power" really look like in our communities?

A great example is our partnership with Advocates for Immigrant Rights and Reconciliation (AIRR). They are building power with immigrant families in Wyandotte County by providing essential tools and resources, helping them to see their own voice as a source of strength. This work directly advances our goal of creating healthier, more democratically engaged communities.

Read the full story and discover how our partnerships are making a difference: https://healthforward.org/story/health-is-on-the-ballot-but-power-begins-in-community

Immigrant families in Wyandotte County bring resilience, cultural richness, and strong networks of care that hold their communities together. Their voices and leadership are powerful drivers of change, even if they aren’t always recognized that way. At the same time, the realities of daily life .....

09/16/2025

On , we reflect on the powerful connection between civic engagement and health. At Health Forward, we are committed to investing in community-led initiatives that build power from the ground up.

As our work with the Missouri Workers Center demonstrates, the ability to organize and advocate for oneself is a fundamental driver of a community's well-being. Their 2024 voter registration drive, which resulted in 2,500 new voters, is a powerful example of how closing the voter gap can lead to a more equitable and democratic society.

We believe that when communities are empowered to influence the policies that shape their lives — from housing to wages to health care — we all move toward a healthier, more just future.

Let's continue to support efforts that build power from the ground up. Get today 👉🏽 https://nationalvoterregistrationday.org/register-to-vote/

09/16/2025

On National Voter Registration Day, we're sharing the essential connection between voting and health.

09/16/2025

Food as Medicine Day reminds us how critical it is to integrate nutrition into health care. Our partner University Health KC's FoodFARMacy initiative is proving that food can, indeed, be medicine when embedded into care.

FoodFARMacy has created a model that goes beyond providing fresh produce; it demonstrates how nutrition education and access, when paired with health care, lead to improved diets, reduced food insecurity, fewer emergency room visits, and, in many cases, better clinical outcomes.

By innovating and going deeper, this initiative builds the evidence we need to influence policy change. It shows that Food as Medicine is not just a concept, but a viable pathway to transform our health care system and create better opportunities for people across urban and rural communities.

Our Food as Medicine efforts are helping strengthen this case for policy change in Kansas and Missouri. Check out our policy brief to learn how we can expand this impact together 👉🏽 http://bit.ly/46DGtxP

09/12/2025

Celebrating 20 Years of Stronger Tomorrows! 🎉 We're highlighting our amazing partners and the incredible work they do in our community.

Patrick Sallee, President & CEO of Vibrant Health a reflects on the impact of our partnership and how it has helped their growth and strengthened their service to the community: “[Health Forward has] been a core component of our ability to grow and be a strong and vital resource for the community. This isn't just about health care access... this is justice and equity work, and they are absolutely a hundred percent partners in that work, which is really important."

We're so proud to partner with Vibrant Health. Here’s to

09/10/2025

We are so proud to be at the table at the Next Narrative Summit. We know how crucial a healthy, informed community is, and we are so excited to listen and collaborate with leaders from across the country.

We were especially moved by the opening plenary with Sam Gill of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and Jen Ford Reedy from The Bush Foundation. Their message went beyond the campaign title "Unite in Advance: Building a Coalition of Foundations to Protect the Future of Independent Philanthropy," focusing on the deeply human side of philanthropy: the freedom to give and how it fuels a more optimistic society.

They left us with a powerful thought: Foundations and nonprofits are not just funders — they are trust builders. Trust isn't the finish line; it's the beginning of believing in what's possible.

09/05/2025

Celebrating 20 Years of Stronger Tomorrows! 🎉

We're highlighting our amazing partners and the incredible work they do in our community. Our longtime partner, Sarah Morris, General Manager at KCUR 89.3, describes our shared work as a "Wonderful partnership where we help provide the information the community needs, and ultimately that makes for a healthier community."

From highlighting solutions to improve our communities to delivering critical updates in an emergency, partners like KCUR 89.3 are essential for a stronger, healthier Kansas City. We're proud to support their work.