We’re calling for change. Will you add your voice?

Voices for Healthy Kids works around the country to improve or create equitable policies that will make the places kids, live, learn, and play healthier.

Voices for Healthy Kids strives to make every day healthier for every child. We want every child, toddler, and infant in every community to have access to affordable healthy foods and beverages, safe places to play and get active, high-quality early childhood development, and more. Voices for Healthy Kids works around the country to improve or create equitable policies that will make the places kids, live, learn, and play healthier.

We do this by supporting advocacy campaigns, creating visibility for issues that affect children's health, mobilizing communities, helping to advance science and research via communications and messaging expertise, and fostering partnerships.

We need to address the inequities, biases, and racism that exist in current systems and policies and how they have impacted the lives of children – particularly those who are Black/African American, Latino/Hispanic, American Indian/Alaskan Native, or from families who have low income.

We must work together as families, individuals, communities, and a country so that every child has the opportunity to reach their full potential and live a healthy life.

Together, we can make an impact. Keep in touch with us to hear more about the inspiring work that is happening across the country on behalf of our nation’s kids and how you can get involved.

Our Priorities

With American Heart Association science as the backbone of our work, Voices for Healthy Kids engages national and local leaders from around the country to improve or create equitable policies that will make the places kids live, learn and play healthier. We focus our efforts on places where stark inequities exist.

Learn about our priorities

Active, Equitable Communities Family Economic Supports Health Equity Healthy, Accessible Food and Drinks Healthy, Equitable Schools Infants, Toddlers and Early Childhood Paid Family and Medical Leave Preemption Efforts

Our People

Voices for Healthy Kids believes great work happens when a diverse group of experts comes together with the same mission. Meet our team.

Meet our staff

Our Advisors

We are grateful to collaborate with hundreds of organizations. These organizations focus on social justice, physical activity, nutrition, education, transportation, food access and school health, and all seek to advance policy changes that make each day healthier for all children.

Meet our Strategic Advisory Committee

A Commitment to Health Equity

At Voices for Healthy Kids, advocating for health equity is not optional. It’s our mission. And advocates across the country are making great strides in supporting policies that help children grow up at a healthy weight. This is cause for celebration!

At the same time, we must remain vigilant to ensure that our work creates the greatest benefit and avoids unintended consequences. For example, policies are often intended to benefit “all children.” The challenge is that some areas lack access to benefits created by these policies, continuing a cycle of structural and historic discrimination. In our quest to improve conditions for all children it is most effective to start where there is the greatest need—and therefore the greatest relative health impact—and then expand. To do that, the policy itself must include language prioritizing its design, implementation and funding in communities experiencing the greatest health disparities first. Otherwise, it can actually widen the gap rather than promote health equity.

We have an opportunity to advance health equity by ensuring that public policy language prioritizes implementation and funding first in areas of greatest need, then expands to benefit all children.

If you have questions about our commitment to health equity contact April Wallace.