July 2025.
I have to address the state of the world today.
It’s like the elephant in the room—but I know you’re tired of hearing about it.
Some folks I know protested on the 4th of July this year. Their frustration? The signing of the “big, beautiful bill”—an extension of Mr. Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. I get it. The symbolism, the timing. But here’s the thing: protesting July 4th didn’t change what landed on the president’s desk.
Calling your state senators might have helped.
Voting would have helped.
I’ve attended the webinars. I’ve heard the administration talk about “Making America Healthy Again.” I’ve seen slides and heard talks about reducing obesity, increasing physical activity, and public health goals on the surface. But I’ve also seen proposals to cut public health funding. I’ve seen the silos that still exist between Medicaid, hospitals, local health departments, SNAP, colleges, and other government programs.
All of them—all of them—touch public health.
Public health isn’t just about vaccines and disease control. It’s programs. It’s surveillance. It’s systems that aim to reduce morbidity and mortality.
It’s the 5 Social Determinants of Health (SDOH):
Neighborhood and environment
Healthcare access and quality
Education access and quality
Economic stability
Social and community context
These are not just buzzwords. Each of these determinants has a department, an agency, a nonprofit, a whole world of programming behind it—and yet, they remain siloed.
We say we want to reduce chronic disease and mortality.
But how do we plan to do that if we’re not working with each other?
The County Health Rankings Model (you might remember it from 2014) expanded the way we think about health. They didn’t just stop at individual behaviors and socioeconomic factors. They added societal rules—both written and unwritten.
They added power as a determinant of health.
We’re seeing that in real time.
Who we vote for.
Where we live.
Which policies and laws pass.
Whether we can marry, have an abortion, choose a provider, afford school, or give birth safely—these are no longer abstract conversations. They are written into policy. They are signed into law.
According to County Health Rankings, power is the ability to achieve a purpose and to effect change.
And that power can be built.
By community.
By collective action.
By setting agendas, influencing decisions, and organizing for what matters.
So what do we do?
We vote.
We talk to our people.
We teach our young folks how to show up, how to speak up, and how to push the process forward.
We remind them—and ourselves—that real change doesn’t just happen every four years.
We show up locally.
We learn how policy works.
We advocate.
I called this post July 2025 because I didn’t have a better name at the time. But maybe the real title is something else. Something like:
“Power, Protest, and Public Health”
“Beyond the Fireworks: What July 4th Didn’t Fix”
“Policy, People, and the Places We Live”
“Silos Kill Systems: Let’s Fix That”
“Making America Healthy…Again?”
Got any ideas for a better title? Got ideas for change?
Let’s talk.
I’m always up for virtual coffee. ☕