HBCU CARES Health Equity Advocacy Agenda

A student-led blueprint for health equity on Georgia’s HBCU campuses

The BLKHLTH Community Advocacy for Racial Equity School (CARES) 2025 HBCU Health Equity Advocacy Agenda is a student-driven roadmap to strengthen health conditions on and around Georgia’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

Developed by undergraduate and graduate students across Georgia’s HBCUs, this agenda reflects lived experiences, campus realities, and a commitment to advancing racial health equity through informed, collective action.

Grounded in survey data, student-led workshops, community reflections, and secondary data analysis, the agenda outlines clear, actionable recommendations for students, campus leadership, and policymakers.

What’s Inside the Agenda?

The agenda is organized across four priority domains impacting student and community health:

• Healthcare Access
  Addressing coverage gaps, affordability, provider shortages, discrimination, and preventive care access.

• Reproductive & Sexual Health
  Expanding access to evidence-based education, reproductive services, and menstrual equity.

• Mental Health
  Tackling workforce shortages, parity enforcement, stigma reduction, and crisis response gaps.

• Social Determinants of Health
  Confronting food insecurity, housing affordability, economic instability, and community safety challenges.

For each domain, the agenda includes targeted actions for:

• HBCU students

• HBCU leadership

• Policymakers

It also provides practical guidance on engaging decision-makers, organizing peers, and supporting HBCU sustainability statewide.

View, Download, Print, and Share

We encourage students, faculty, alumni, community members, and policymakers to use this agenda as a tool for advocacy.

👉 View the full 2025 HBCU CARES Health Equity Advocacy Agenda.

👉 Download and print the agenda to share with your campus, community organizations, and elected officials.

👉 Bring it to meetings. Use it in classrooms. Reference it in advocacy days. Post about it.

HBCUs are critical pipelines for Georgia’s future health workforce. Protecting and strengthening the health of HBCU students strengthens equity across the entire state. When HBCU students thrive, Georgia’s healthcare system, communities, and future leaders thrive with them.

Bring CARES to Your Campus or Community

Interested in collaborating with BLKHLTH to:

• Launch a CARES fellowship cohort

• Host advocacy workshops

• Develop a campus-specific health equity agenda

• Train students in health equity advocacy

• Partner on research, storytelling, or community engagement

We would love to work with you.

📩 Contact us at engage@blkhlth.com to start the conversation.

Together, we can build the next generation of advocates and advance community-centered health equity across Georgia and beyond.