Register for MPHA’s Annual Conference on Dec. 13

Register today for MPHA’s upcoming Annual Conference & Meeting – Rooted in Community: Building Equity-Driven Policies. We are excited to announce that our keynote speaker will be Lauren Smith, Chief Health Equity and Strategy Officer for the CDC Foundation, who will be discussing the importance of data collection as a means of measuring health inequities and developing effective strategies to address them. We will also be unveiling our 2023 - 2024 policy priorities and sharing our recently revised Health Equity Policy Framework. Join us online on December 13 from 9 AM to 1 PM for an educational and inspiring morning!

Speak Up for Local Public Health

Last August, after the Statewide Accelerated Public Health for Every Community Act (SAPHE 2.0) passed unanimously in both the House and Senate, Governor Baker declined to sign the bill into law, instead returning it to the legislature with proposed changes. His amendment would weaken the bill by making minimum public health standards a local option, further entrenching the patchwork of municipal policies that makes the Commonwealth’s local public health system both inequitable and ineffective. Since then, MPHA and our partners have been urging the legislature to reject the amendment and send the bill back to the governor's desk. Now we need your help to bring SAPHE 2.0 across the finish line! Please contact your elected officials, thank them for their support of the bill, and encourage them to get it done this year!

Building a Fairer Massachusetts

Join us on Tues. October 25^th from 6:00 to 7:00 PM for an informational webinar to learn about the Fair Share Amendment (FSA), which will appear as Question 1 on the Massachusetts ballot this November. Tune in to hear from experts and advocates about this once-in-a-generation opportunity for the Commonwealth, and what FSA will mean for equity, the economy, and our environment. Register here.

Connect with MPHA at APHA

The American Public Health Association (APHA) is hosting their 150^th annual conference in Boston next month, and MPHA will be participating in several ways. If you are attending, we hope you will stop by our booth in the exhibit hall to say hello. In addition, please join us on Monday, November 7, from 12:00 to 1:00 PM, at A Street Park in South Boston next to the Convention Center. Come learn about critical public health and equity issues on the 2022 ballot in Massachusetts! Learn more. 

Be a Public Health Voter: Vote Yes on Ballot Questions 1 and 4!

Public health is on the ballot this November in Massachusetts. Voters will have a chance to weigh in on two ballot questions with far-reaching implications for health equity and racial justice. The first is Question 1, also known as the Fair Share Amendment, which would create a 4 percent tax on the portion of a person’s annual income over $1M and constitutionally dedicate the resulting revenue to transportation and public education. Passage of Question 1 will make the Commonwealth’s taxation system fairer, while directing resources to two key drivers of health outcomes: access to public transportation and educational opportunities. The second is Question 4 for Safer Roads, which would preserve the Work and Family Mobility Act, a commonsense law passed earlier this year (many of you may remember taking action to get this bill enacted). In passing this law, Massachusetts joined 16 other states that have improved road safety by allowing all qualified state residents to apply for a standard driver’s license, regardless of their immigration status. In addition to reducing hit and run accidents, the law will allow all families to make essential trips, such as dropping kids off at school and going to the doctor. This November, you can help improve public health and racial justice in our Commonwealth by voting yes on both measures! Learn more here about being a Public Health Voter.