A Roadmap for Living Our Values

MPHA’s Health Equity Policy Framework is designed to provide a guide to the MPHA board, Policy Council, staff, and partners to operationalize our mission and vision to achieve health equity in Massachusetts.  

This Framework addresses five key areas:  

• Section 1: Definitions of Commonly Used Terms  
• Section 2: Framing  
• Section 3: Policy Development  
• Section 4: Community Partnerships  
• Section 5: Organizational Leadership & Culture  

Putting Our Mission into Action  

The goals of promoting health equity and racial justice are fundamental components of MPHA’s work and identity. MPHA has identified two primary commitments to guide our work: 

• A commitment to dismantling structural racism; and 
• A commitment to listening to the voices of those most impacted by health inequities in developing our priorities.

And our mission statement is:  

The Massachusetts Public Health Association is the champion for public health in the Commonwealth. We are a catalyst for change, eliminating health inequities and promoting healthy communities for all.  

History

First adopted in 2016 and updated in 2022, the Health Equity Policy Framework is designed to support MPHA staff, board, and Policy Council members to operationalize these goals and enable us to act in more powerful ways to promote health equity and racial justice. MPHA recognizes that white supremacy culture and implicit bias impact all of us, despite our best intentions, and that we must develop clear goals, strategies, and tools to operationalize our shared values if we are to avoid reinforcing systems of oppression in our work.     

Purpose

The Health Equity Policy Framework guides MPHA’s work – both externally and internally – to combat the impacts of racism and other inequities on public health. MPHA seeks to eliminate all forms of structural inequities that impact health. We lead with dismantling structural racism in these efforts. Our analysis and strategy to address structural racism is used as a framework to tackle the intersecting forms of oppression and discrimination that impact health, including classism, sexism, ageism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, and xenophobia, among others. 

As we work to carry out our mission, MPHA uses this Health Equity Policy Framework to guide our actions. Specifically, the Framework is used to:  

• Guide the development of new community partnerships,  
• Inform how we develop policy priorities,
• Provide guidance on developing internal organizational practices, including hiring practices,  
• Guide our external communications, and  
• Support MPHA to lead by example and to provide assistance to partner organizations working to embed health equity in their organizational practice.

To download the Framework, click here.