Category : Advocacy

The 2020 legislative session will be my eighth legislative session as a child advocate. The eighth year I will go to the state capitol and work to ensure that children are a top priority for Iowa policymakers. This year is the first year that my advocacy efforts have transitioned from ideological to personal.

Remarks shared by Kayla Powell at the HealthConnect Fellowship Celebration on November 18, 2019. Kayla shares her story of growing up in the foster care system and challenges all of us to do better for Iowa's children.

Two years ago, we launched the fellowship to foster a "tipping point" towards sound policy and practice changes that would positively and equitably impact the health of Iowa's children. We invited seven health advocates to join us as the inaugural fellows. Here is the release of our Cultivating Change report highlighting their work and our collective impact thus far.

The first piece of advice we are given when we decide to try creating system-level change is “you need to form a coalition." And if you ask, “What does it need to look like?” your answer is, "Get all the key stakeholders around the table." This is not enough.

In October, 18 children’s health advocates and their mentors met—some for the first time—to share their story about how each of us had arrived to Mid-Iowa Health Foundation’s HealthConnect Fellowship. I was struck by several themes that emerged from the three-hour conversation.

We are all familiar with this famous quote from Margaret Mead: 'Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has" With all due respect to Ms. Mead, I think she is mistaken. Particularly her comment that it is the “only” thing. It has been my experience that meaningful, long-lasting systemic change requires engaging large numbers of people.