December 8, 2025 • 26 mins
Linda Goler Blount, MPH Bio Linda Goler Blount, MPH, is the President and CEO of Community Catalyst, a national organization dedicated to building the power of people to create a health system rooted in race equity and health justice. A nationally recognized leader in public health, race equity, and systems change, Linda brings more than 25 years of experience across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. She most recently served as President and CEO of the Black Women’s Health Imperative (BWHI)—the only national organization solely focused on the health and wellness of Black women and girls. During her tenure at BWHI, Linda led the organization through a period of significant growth and strategic impact. Under her leadership, BWHI advanced bold policy advocacy, launched evidence-based programs, and developed partnerships that elevated Black women’s health on the national stage—including a landmark collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). That effort advanced BWHI’s mission to build the power of Black women to take control of their health and advocate for policies that support their well-being, while also shaping national standards for equitable, community-informed care. Prior to BWHI, Linda held senior leadership roles at the CDC, the American Cancer Society, and in the private sector, where she applied community-based research methodologies to address chronic disease prevention and health disparities at scale. She was a lead contributor to IndexUS, the first data set focused on the health of Black women using an asset-based approach—centered on studying healthy Black women rather than only illness or disease, and was named to Forbes’ 50 Over 50: Impact list for her leadership in public health. Throughout her career, Linda has been a steadfast advocate for solutions that center the lived experiences of those most harmed by health inequities. Her leadership is rooted in the belief that health is a right, and that people—especially those historically excluded from the health system—should be at the center of shaping the policies and practices that impact their lives. She holds a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering and Operations Research from Eastern Michigan University.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
M and T Bank presents CEOs you Should Know, powered
by iHeartMedia.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Let's meet Linda Golder Blount. She is the newly named
president for Community Catalyst, a national nonprofit organization focused on
building community power transform the US health system. They work
with advocates, community organizations, and policy makers to ensure that everyone,
especially of vulnerable populations, has access to a health system
rooted in race equity and health justice. Before we talk
(00:28):
more about Linda's new role and what Community Catalyst does,
I first asked her to talk a little bit about herself,
where she's from and her origin story.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Well, I am from a small town in Michigan called Jackson,
and you have to be from Michigan to really know Jackson.
It's not Detroit, but it's about eighty miles west of Detroit.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
And spent my wonder years there.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Actually went down south to Clark College and Georgia Tech
to do undergrad and then came back to Michigan to
do epidemiology at the University of Michigan. But I'll tell
you I really started out wanting to go to law school,
but my father and I had a fundamental disagreement about
(01:10):
women in the law, so I ended up doing epidemiology
instead and sort of did the traditional public health path.
I was at the Centers for Disease Control and then
had the opportunity to actually leave the country. My husband
also was at CDC, and we left the country, and
(01:30):
that's where I sort of got the awareness of differences
in health.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
We were in a developing country, very.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Poor, but the health of the people in that country
actually was better than the health of people of color
in the US. And so when I came back, I
took a slight detour and went to work for Coca Cola.
But then I got into the nonprofit space with Cancer Society,
with the United Way, and then as president of the
Black Woman's Health Imperative. I think we have such great
(02:02):
opportunity to improve health here and given what we know
about what leads to poor health outcomes.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
When I left the Black Lives Health Imperative.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
And the folks that Community Catalysts said, we understand the
role pricing and discrimination and plays and health. We'd like
someone to come help us bring data to that and
policy to that. And Community Catalyst is an amazing organization
and has a long track record of fighting for those
who don't have access to healthcare. So I was thrilled
(02:34):
and honored to be offered this role, and I'm so
looking forward to what's next.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Well outstanding, and I appreciate you setting the table, and
I do want to give a little context to our
listeners because you've been Your resume is fantastic, and the
nonprofit work that you've done is led up to this
new job that's not even two months old, as president
of Community Catalysts. As you were going through everything and
deciding to take on this job, and I'm also curious
(03:00):
exactly why you did besides maybe just digging the values
in what they were doing out there is a important
time of our history right now doing all those different
kind of jobs as all these different nonprofits. What kind
of experience did they give you as you led and
consider this new gig.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Well, you know, it's interesting that I mentioned that I
took a slight detour from public health and went to
Coca Cola. But in the end, I think the Coke
job was the best possible thing I could have done
for my public health career because at Coke, you.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Know, we sell things.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Yeah, what we do in public health I think is
we don't realize that we have a product to sell,
and we do a.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Terrible job of selling it.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
If you talk to somebody like me, I'm an epidemiologist,
we you know, in about five minutes can put you
to sleep because we have to tell you everything about
the issues when what people really want to know is
what do I do? Whether where it's at the Cancer Society,
I have cancer? What do I do? Black women's health impare?
Here are the these incredible political and social and economic
(04:03):
barriers to health.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
What do I do? Well?
Speaker 3 (04:06):
You know, when I was talking to the to the
board and the team that Community Catalysts, they said, look,
we've got private equity that has moved in and priced
people out of the healthcare market. We know the role
that racism plays in health outcomes.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
We have to do something.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
And that's what attracted me to this role because here
was an organization that was focused on actually doing something,
bringing solutions to like talking to people who are in
positions of power to help them understand that if we
are all healthy, you know, then that means the least
of us, or those those of us who have been
ignored for centuries right need to be healthy as well.
(04:46):
In Community Catalysts and its team that the people I
have the privilege of working with have the courage to
stand in that space.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
And do what needs to be done.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Well that's well said, then you know, you and I
don't have to argue about this one whatsoever. You're coming
in at a very historic time when healthcare seems to
be the news headline all the time right now. So
we'll talk about that, But what I want to do
first is to educate our listeners who haven't heard about
Community Catalyst about mission and vision, which I want to
talk about in just a moment, but also exactly what
(05:16):
you do. And then we'll get into the weeds on
a few things. But if you were to give us
the mission and the vision for Community Catalyst, what is that?
Speaker 3 (05:26):
So you know, I think in a nutshell, we're a
national nonprofit, so we serve people all over and we
have one simple goal to create a health system that
ensures quality care is accessible, affordable and accountable for everyone.
And we are Racism and other forms of discrimination don't
(05:48):
determine our health outcomes, so our work.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Matters, I think more now than ever.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
We're going to talk about some of these attacks on
our care. But there are people in this country no
matter how hard working, they are simply don't have access
to quality care, and so at Community Cannabis, we're trying
to make sure that there's no barrier to people having
what they should have. And frankly, we believe that healthcare
(06:15):
is a right and we should all be able to
enjoy good quality care and know that when we say
evidence based medicine, that evidence applies to people like us
because we were all included in its creation.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Right.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Well, Linda, you're starting to elude this, but if I
could ask you, if you were to give a thirty
thousand foot view of community catalysts and tell people about
what you do, what would you say that you'd actually do.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
So what I would say is we partner with communities.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
We actually invest in communities over the life of the
community helves. We've put tens of millions of dollars in
community based organizations because these are people who know what
the issues are of health care in their community. So
we put both human and financial resources in communities. We
build capacity city, we work with them on programs on
(07:03):
policy to help them bring solutions to people that are
relevant to the people in their community.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
So we don't come in and say, well, we know
what to do.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
We work with community partners, so you know, for example,
you know, vaccines were obviously have been in the news,
but are very important.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
We saw how important they were, but we worked with.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
Communities to take vaccine education into barbershops, into beauty shops,
parking lots in the Mississippi Delta to make sure that
people had access to vaccines, knew about them, knew how
important they were, and weren't in any way faced with
a barrier to protecting themselves and their family. So we
actually work with communities and we take our lead from
(07:45):
community partners so that the people that they serve can
get the.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Best possible care.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
We obviously also look at policy issues, and so we're
in Washington, d C. Fighting constantly for the rights of
healthy to make sure that healthcare is affordable, that the
Affordable Care Act stays in place, so that people can
continue to have healthcare. Know, we cut the uninsured rate
drastically years ago when the Affordable Care Act was enacted.
(08:15):
We have to protect that, and we're defending Medicaid. You know, Dennis,
I don't know if you know this, but nearly half
of all babies are book that are born in the
US are covered under Medicaid. If Medicaid goes away, imagine
what will happen to those babies and to those moms.
So we're are also every day at the federal and
(08:35):
state level fighting to protect Medicaid for patients.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Well, and I'm glad you brought that up, because you've
got at least two fights on your hands. You've got
the one you just talked about, but you also got
the one as far as educating the public. And in
the thirty years that I've been in the media, and
I'm on the sports side, and I do a little
bit news, but sports has been my background, I've never
seen where we are not only in the kind of
debate world that we are in the two different sides,
(08:59):
but what is the real facts? And what are the
second set of facts? And as you taking this new
gig go on, and I know you knew this going
into it, that knowledge is power, And as you try
and get your message out there and as you try
to advocate, you're also fighting that Well, we got a
set of news here that people are saying is correct,
and then the set of news that you know is correct.
(09:20):
And I imagine if you'd like to expound on a
little bit on what that's like to take that on
because its own set of issues, isn't it?
Speaker 3 (09:27):
It really is, And we're constantly fighting disinformation and misinformation,
and there are those who just don't know until we're
always sort of trying to clarify what is really true
and factual around health. And then there are those who
are deliberately trying to change the narrative. And so what
we spend a lot of time doing is bringing data
(09:49):
and science to the narrative, uplifting the stories of people
in community who can say, yes, this did actually work
for me.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
I did face this issue.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Because of the work of community catalysts, I was able
to get care.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
But we need people to understand what they're entitled to.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
So we spend a lot of time helping them understand
what you're entitled to when it comes to your health care,
your insurance, what happens with your employer, and to interpret
what they may be exposed to in media, social media,
mainstream media so that they can make the best choices
for themselves and their family.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
It takes a lot of time and energy to be
because this work never ends.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
There's always some other new bit of miths or disinformation
that we've got to combat against, but we're not going
to stop. We have to make sure people have information
that they need to be as healthy as possible, and
that it is as factual as possible, and that they
can ignore or disregard all of the other attempts to
(10:52):
lead them around along a path that won't result in
their making the best choices for their health care.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
I'd like to circle back to advocation, and I know
that's just a really high priority, not only Capitol Hill,
but you've got fifty states to work with. Everybody's a
little different. You've got federal and then you've got state laws.
So I imagine there are a lot of moving and
fluid parts for you and your team all the time
of just keeping up with the laws and what's happening.
But as you advocate for what's going on right now,
what's I know you're new into the jobs, so I
(11:21):
get that, and we'll give you a break because I
know you're on a learning curve right now. The new
gig is President of Community Catalysts. But when it comes
to advocating, what does that look like for you? What
are you and your team doing right now?
Speaker 3 (11:32):
Well, first we start with the facts, so what is
in our healthcare system? But I'll tell you one of
the most powerful tools and our advocacy is uplifting the
stories of our community partners. When you're a policymaker at
the state level or at the federal level, and you here,
I'm thinking about a community member of Florida who was hospitalized.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
She's doing her level best to be as healthy as possible.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
She was hospitalized and then hit with a nearly six
hundred thousand dollars bill. Nobody explained to her that this
is what her care costs, that she was going to
be faced with this bill, what was she going to do?
So we were able to take stories like hers and
others to the state level and the federal level to
(12:21):
say to policymakers, this isn't fair. Knew nobody could expect
a nearly half a million dollar bill. Nobody could expect
that when they showed up at the emergency department someone
they would say, oh, no, we can't treat you. And
then when they go to urgent care, they say, well,
we don't take your insurance. So what we try to
make sure people have is the data that they need
(12:44):
so that their policymakers understand the impact that this is
having at the community level.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Oftentimes, when we talk about healthcare costs.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
We use these really big numbers like healthcare industry costs
two trillion dollars. I don't think anybody knows what to
do with that number. But when you point to someone
who says, I have a medical bill that's five hundred
thousand dollars and I make thirty five thousand dollars a year,
what am I supposed to do? We're able to get
policymakers and leaders and those frankly whose hands are on
(13:14):
the levers of power to think about the people differently,
and that's what this is all about, you.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Know, Linda. That also brings up a point I'd like
to talk about just briefly with you, because you're talking
about the micro there, and sometimes you need the micro
story to serve the macro that you're working with on
a federal level and the big picture. But to hear
those individual stories from people and families and the people
from Middle America that are having a tough time it's
paying their bills, I think it's paramount. Could you expand
(13:41):
on that a little bit for us?
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Yeah, you know, I think that's everything you know that
most of us walking around the street really aren't thinking
about policy.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
We're thinking about our jobs.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Our families, our homes, how do we stay in them?
You know, what's next feeding our families? And you know,
I think about some of the work that we do,
particularly around medical debt. You know, it is the leading
cause of bankruptcy in this country and most people don't
know that, but you know, we have so many stories.
(14:13):
I'm thinking of one where a homeowner was faced with
either losing his home or paying medical debt his medical bill. Well,
community catalysts for years work to make sure that a
medical debt didn't show up on your credit score, because
that could then prevent you from buying a home, or
getting a car, or frankly, getting your electricity turned on
(14:34):
in your apartment. And so that's why we bring to
your point these issues down to the individual level, because
this affects how people live.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
I mean, you know, health is everything, as we like to.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
Say, and if you can't have access to health, and
if you can't afford health, we're looking at private equity
firms buying physician practices and hospital systems, and then of
course they close the hospital and so we lose access.
We have to make sure that people in community, and
that's where our partners come in, understand the implications of
(15:09):
these kinds of decisions, these financial decisions and policy decisions,
so that we can fight against them and keep people
like Terry Belk in his home and allow people to
be able to do things like get their gas and
electricity turned down.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Well, that is a great segue about being funded. I
know your nonprofit, but as you take a look, and
we'll talk about donations at the end, and also how
to do that and the website for everybody out there,
a lot of our listeners are probably already googled and
checked it out. Well, we'll give that to you in
just a moment. But when it comes to funding, donations,
working with different third parties, how does it all work
for you?
Speaker 3 (15:44):
Well, for community catalysts, because we're a national organization, we're
actually sort of on both sides of this. We fund
where we put money, financial and human resources in the communities,
but we also help philanthropy understand what is actually going
on so that we inform philanthropic strategy.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
So what people sort of refer to as charity, we
actually call investment.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
If people support us, whether it's an individual or a foundation.
They're investing in communities so that they understand what they
need to do to be as healthy as possible, and
our partners can advocate for the members in their community.
So what they're actually doing is investing in improving health
for those who have been left out.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
We do both.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
We invest, we allocate resources, We evaluate the issues so
that we help. Big philanthropy understands from a strategic perspective
where resources need to go, and we also understand the
healthcare funding landscape so that anyone who's interested in wanting
to improve healthcare access can get factual information from us.
(16:56):
So whether we're developing grassroots leadership or narrative change or
innovations and care, it doesn't matter. It's those partnerships at
the community level and at the higher funded level in
alignment with our values and our mission to make sure
that people have access to affordable, quality care that matters.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
So we like to say it's not charity, it's impact.
I like that.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
I like that a lot of Linda. How many on
staff there?
Speaker 3 (17:24):
I think we are around eighty people now, okay, so
we're pretty good size.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Well, what I want to ask you about because you
mentioned leadership, and in this series, there's a lot of
future entrepreneurs and people that are going to be running
for profit and nonprofits out there, and leadership is always
something I love to talk about with people like you,
especially the extensive resume that you've had in your arena
with nonprofits and eighty people. But it's much larger than that,
because you've talked about, you know, the federal landscape and
(17:50):
the state landscape and all that you do. So there's
a lot of moving parts and I'm curious, especially with
the way we are in history right now, Linda, the
world's on fire. I think we can all agree that,
I know there's a lot of happy people, but there's
also a lot of unhappy people and a lot of
unrest going on right there. And for what you do,
and I know it's very historic what's going on right
(18:10):
now as you lead your team of eighty and more.
You know, I'll give you the analogy because I'm a
sports guy. A coach is there to make sure that
nobody loses their head in the fourth quarter, that you
stay focused and you finish the game plan off to
the best of your ability. Well that said, you know,
you're the same you're the coach with your eighty staff
and more, and there's a lot of people probably worried
(18:33):
out there, maybe panicking having a really rough day. I
wanted to know what leadership means to you in your
new role and how you deal with all that's going
on on a daily basis.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
You know that is such a good question, Jennis, and
I love your sports analogy. You know my approach is,
you know, yes, at the end of the day, I'm
making the decisions, but the leadership team leads together. I mean,
just a coach, the coach, she has her assistants, coaches.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
You know, she's got a whole team around.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
Her that helps make get that team to where it
needs to be and successful. But what she does first
is she articulates where she wants that team to go.
She's clear on the mission, she's clear on the vision,
and you know what she does is she trusts her
team to deliver against that mission and vision. So she's steering,
(19:27):
but everybody's working, and she makes sure that everybody understands
just how valuable their contribution is. You know, from sports,
you know, if you're let me just pick the knicks
right now. Thibodeau's on his way out, but it wasn't
only him. He's leaving for another reason. But pick a coach.
It's not just one person, it is the team. And
(19:47):
so at community catalysts, we've got a vision, we've got
a mission, we've got strategies to get to what success
looks like, and success is being defined. We have to
be clear on what success looks like so that we
understand it, but we also translate it to our community
partners and then hear from them, well, here's what success.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Looks like in our community.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
So we can then bring our considerable talent, time and
treasure to work with our partners to make sure that
they're successful.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Because if they're successful, we're successful.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
That's really well said. And if you could talk about
one more thing, because once again, and this doesn't apply
just to sports, even though that's my background, is culture,
and I think what you were alluding to is culture,
you know, being honest and forthright, not mincing words, but
being appropriately candid and all the things to go without leadership.
And you also talked about team, which is a reoccurring
theme in our series of CEOs, presidents and founders of companies.
(20:42):
They would be nothing without their team. But can you
talk about culture, especially for where you're at right now?
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Sure, Dennis.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
I think any CEO nos culture starts from the top
if you start by trusting your team, by valuing their team,
showing them how you value them, showing them that you
not only want their opinions, trust that they have the expertise,
but act on it so that they have a clear
example of yes, my leader trusts me. That's how you
(21:11):
build a culture, because then they do that with their teams,
and their teams do that with their teams. I don't
think an organization can success successfully meet any mission or
vision without trust, without valuing the people that they work with.
Doesn't mean that you all have to be best friends,
as you know, but you do have to communicate that
(21:34):
I believe that you've got the skill set to do
this work. We've articulated where we want to go, and
I'm trusting all of us to work together in service
of this mission and vision.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
And whether it's a.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
Sports team, whether it's a for profit or nonprofit, that
has to be the guiding Like, we are a team
and we trust each other to have the our mission
and vision first, are people first, and that we're committed
and showing each other how we are committed not only
to the organization, but to making sure that each of
(22:07):
us can perform to the best of our abilities.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
That's well said in one final thing that I'll put
on top of this on a word you have and use,
but I'll used for us. And I've heard it into
my industry about myself, and I'm seeing it as I
meet and talk to you. It's passion for what you
do because people feed off of that. I always use
that example, Linda that when you go to a party,
who do you want to hang out with? The person
that has their head down in the corner that's not
(22:30):
talking to anybody, or the person's in the middle of
the room telling a joke and everybody's laughing and surrounding them. Right,
It's all about passion.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
It is all about passion. And I have to tell
you I am as CEOs Go. I am so fortunate
that I'm surrounded by people who are passionate about these issues,
passionate about making sure people can be as healthy as possible.
The beauty of community cannabists is everyone there could do
something else.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
If it works someplace else.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
They have chosen community catalysts because of that passion because
they believe that we all can be healthy and that health.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Is a right and that they have a role in
making that a reality.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
All right, well, listen, let's do this. I want to
do a recap of what we chatted about, get some
final thoughts from you, and also give the website. It's
a gorgeous website, folks, It's easy to navigate. There's a
lot of information on there. Well, let's do this, Linda,
just what we talked about, some final thoughts from you,
and recap. The floor is yours.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Okay, Well, thank you so, Denzil. As you said this,
we are in some difficult times.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Healthcare is under attack from a number of different fronts.
But the thing that we know is that our own poling,
our own information shows that the vast majority of people
in this country, over seventy percent, feel that it should
be a right, and they feel that it's too expensive.
And so what we need to do is figure out
(23:57):
how to get healthcare.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
Two people who need it, who are being left out,
in a way that is quality and affordable.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
And that's what Community Catalyst is about, and to remove
those barriers that would determine our health outcomes in adverse
ways like racism, like gender discrimination, like economic inequality. So
what people need to know is there's a national organization
that's fighting every single day at the community level, building
power at community at the community level, and at the
(24:26):
federal level, helping to set policy.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
So if they're interested.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
And if they feel like healthcare is right, and if
they ever looked at their own families and thought, how
we're really having a hard time taking care of this
health care issue and paying all of these other bills,
and we're hard working, we're doing the things that we should.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
Do, and yet it's still a challenge.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
Then go to Community Catalyst dot org, find out about
our work, donate to us, make that investment in healthcare.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
In this country. It is in the healthcare of all
of us.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
And pay attention to what is being said in the media.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
What is fact, what is fiction?
Speaker 3 (25:09):
And you know, I would just invite people to join
us at the community level or the federal level.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
This is going to take a while.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
This will not be a short fight, Dennis, as you know,
but we're in it for the long haul, and we're
in it to make sure that people have access to
the care that they need and understand what they really
are entitled to.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
All right, well, Linda, thank you so much for your
valuable time. I can see why Community Catalysts shows you
and why you've chosen them. I know you're new into
the role, but your bounty of work speaks for itself,
and I know that good things are going to happen
with a very hard fight ahead of you. Give my
best to the team. Thank you so much. Continued success
and we really appreciate featuring you on CEO that you
should know.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
Thank you so much, Dennis. It's been my pledsure.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Our community partner, M and T Bank supports CEOs, you
should know is part of their ongoing commitment to building
strong communities, and that starts my backing the businesses within them.
As a bank for communities, M and T believes in
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Speaker 2 (00:05):
Let's meet Linda Golder Blount. She is the newly named
president for Community Catalyst, a national nonprofit organization focused on
building community power transform the US health system. They work
with advocates, community organizations, and policy makers to ensure that everyone,
especially of vulnerable populations, has access to a health system
rooted in race equity and health justice. Before we talk
(00:28):
more about Linda's new role and what Community Catalyst does,
I first asked her to talk a little bit about herself,
where she's from and her origin story.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Well, I am from a small town in Michigan called Jackson,
and you have to be from Michigan to really know Jackson.
It's not Detroit, but it's about eighty miles west of Detroit.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
And spent my wonder years there.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Actually went down south to Clark College and Georgia Tech
to do undergrad and then came back to Michigan to
do epidemiology at the University of Michigan. But I'll tell
you I really started out wanting to go to law school,
but my father and I had a fundamental disagreement about
(01:10):
women in the law, so I ended up doing epidemiology
instead and sort of did the traditional public health path.
I was at the Centers for Disease Control and then
had the opportunity to actually leave the country. My husband
also was at CDC, and we left the country, and
(01:30):
that's where I sort of got the awareness of differences
in health.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
We were in a developing country, very.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Poor, but the health of the people in that country
actually was better than the health of people of color
in the US. And so when I came back, I
took a slight detour and went to work for Coca Cola.
But then I got into the nonprofit space with Cancer Society,
with the United Way, and then as president of the
Black Woman's Health Imperative. I think we have such great
(02:02):
opportunity to improve health here and given what we know
about what leads to poor health outcomes.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
When I left the Black Lives Health Imperative.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
And the folks that Community Catalysts said, we understand the
role pricing and discrimination and plays and health. We'd like
someone to come help us bring data to that and
policy to that. And Community Catalyst is an amazing organization
and has a long track record of fighting for those
who don't have access to healthcare. So I was thrilled
(02:34):
and honored to be offered this role, and I'm so
looking forward to what's next.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Well outstanding, and I appreciate you setting the table, and
I do want to give a little context to our
listeners because you've been Your resume is fantastic, and the
nonprofit work that you've done is led up to this
new job that's not even two months old, as president
of Community Catalysts. As you were going through everything and
deciding to take on this job, and I'm also curious
(03:00):
exactly why you did besides maybe just digging the values
in what they were doing out there is a important
time of our history right now doing all those different
kind of jobs as all these different nonprofits. What kind
of experience did they give you as you led and
consider this new gig.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Well, you know, it's interesting that I mentioned that I
took a slight detour from public health and went to
Coca Cola. But in the end, I think the Coke
job was the best possible thing I could have done
for my public health career because at Coke, you.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Know, we sell things.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Yeah, what we do in public health I think is
we don't realize that we have a product to sell,
and we do a.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Terrible job of selling it.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
If you talk to somebody like me, I'm an epidemiologist,
we you know, in about five minutes can put you
to sleep because we have to tell you everything about
the issues when what people really want to know is
what do I do? Whether where it's at the Cancer Society,
I have cancer? What do I do? Black women's health impare?
Here are the these incredible political and social and economic
(04:03):
barriers to health.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
What do I do? Well?
Speaker 3 (04:06):
You know, when I was talking to the to the
board and the team that Community Catalysts, they said, look,
we've got private equity that has moved in and priced
people out of the healthcare market. We know the role
that racism plays in health outcomes.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
We have to do something.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
And that's what attracted me to this role because here
was an organization that was focused on actually doing something,
bringing solutions to like talking to people who are in
positions of power to help them understand that if we
are all healthy, you know, then that means the least
of us, or those those of us who have been
ignored for centuries right need to be healthy as well.
(04:46):
In Community Catalysts and its team that the people I
have the privilege of working with have the courage to
stand in that space.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
And do what needs to be done.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Well that's well said, then you know, you and I
don't have to argue about this one whatsoever. You're coming
in at a very historic time when healthcare seems to
be the news headline all the time right now. So
we'll talk about that, But what I want to do
first is to educate our listeners who haven't heard about
Community Catalyst about mission and vision, which I want to
talk about in just a moment, but also exactly what
(05:16):
you do. And then we'll get into the weeds on
a few things. But if you were to give us
the mission and the vision for Community Catalyst, what is that?
Speaker 3 (05:26):
So you know, I think in a nutshell, we're a
national nonprofit, so we serve people all over and we
have one simple goal to create a health system that
ensures quality care is accessible, affordable and accountable for everyone.
And we are Racism and other forms of discrimination don't
(05:48):
determine our health outcomes, so our work.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Matters, I think more now than ever.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
We're going to talk about some of these attacks on
our care. But there are people in this country no
matter how hard working, they are simply don't have access
to quality care, and so at Community Cannabis, we're trying
to make sure that there's no barrier to people having
what they should have. And frankly, we believe that healthcare
(06:15):
is a right and we should all be able to
enjoy good quality care and know that when we say
evidence based medicine, that evidence applies to people like us
because we were all included in its creation.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Right.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Well, Linda, you're starting to elude this, but if I
could ask you, if you were to give a thirty
thousand foot view of community catalysts and tell people about
what you do, what would you say that you'd actually do.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
So what I would say is we partner with communities.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
We actually invest in communities over the life of the
community helves. We've put tens of millions of dollars in
community based organizations because these are people who know what
the issues are of health care in their community. So
we put both human and financial resources in communities. We
build capacity city, we work with them on programs on
(07:03):
policy to help them bring solutions to people that are
relevant to the people in their community.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
So we don't come in and say, well, we know
what to do.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
We work with community partners, so you know, for example,
you know, vaccines were obviously have been in the news,
but are very important.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
We saw how important they were, but we worked with.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
Communities to take vaccine education into barbershops, into beauty shops,
parking lots in the Mississippi Delta to make sure that
people had access to vaccines, knew about them, knew how
important they were, and weren't in any way faced with
a barrier to protecting themselves and their family. So we
actually work with communities and we take our lead from
(07:45):
community partners so that the people that they serve can
get the.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Best possible care.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
We obviously also look at policy issues, and so we're
in Washington, d C. Fighting constantly for the rights of
healthy to make sure that healthcare is affordable, that the
Affordable Care Act stays in place, so that people can
continue to have healthcare. Know, we cut the uninsured rate
drastically years ago when the Affordable Care Act was enacted.
(08:15):
We have to protect that, and we're defending Medicaid. You know, Dennis,
I don't know if you know this, but nearly half
of all babies are book that are born in the
US are covered under Medicaid. If Medicaid goes away, imagine
what will happen to those babies and to those moms.
So we're are also every day at the federal and
(08:35):
state level fighting to protect Medicaid for patients.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Well, and I'm glad you brought that up, because you've
got at least two fights on your hands. You've got
the one you just talked about, but you also got
the one as far as educating the public. And in
the thirty years that I've been in the media, and
I'm on the sports side, and I do a little
bit news, but sports has been my background, I've never
seen where we are not only in the kind of
debate world that we are in the two different sides,
(08:59):
but what is the real facts? And what are the
second set of facts? And as you taking this new
gig go on, and I know you knew this going
into it, that knowledge is power, And as you try
and get your message out there and as you try
to advocate, you're also fighting that Well, we got a
set of news here that people are saying is correct,
and then the set of news that you know is correct.
(09:20):
And I imagine if you'd like to expound on a
little bit on what that's like to take that on
because its own set of issues, isn't it?
Speaker 3 (09:27):
It really is, And we're constantly fighting disinformation and misinformation,
and there are those who just don't know until we're
always sort of trying to clarify what is really true
and factual around health. And then there are those who
are deliberately trying to change the narrative. And so what
we spend a lot of time doing is bringing data
(09:49):
and science to the narrative, uplifting the stories of people
in community who can say, yes, this did actually work
for me.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
I did face this issue.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Because of the work of community catalysts, I was able
to get care.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
But we need people to understand what they're entitled to.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
So we spend a lot of time helping them understand
what you're entitled to when it comes to your health care,
your insurance, what happens with your employer, and to interpret
what they may be exposed to in media, social media,
mainstream media so that they can make the best choices
for themselves and their family.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
It takes a lot of time and energy to be
because this work never ends.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
There's always some other new bit of miths or disinformation
that we've got to combat against, but we're not going
to stop. We have to make sure people have information
that they need to be as healthy as possible, and
that it is as factual as possible, and that they
can ignore or disregard all of the other attempts to
(10:52):
lead them around along a path that won't result in
their making the best choices for their health care.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
I'd like to circle back to advocation, and I know
that's just a really high priority, not only Capitol Hill,
but you've got fifty states to work with. Everybody's a
little different. You've got federal and then you've got state laws.
So I imagine there are a lot of moving and
fluid parts for you and your team all the time
of just keeping up with the laws and what's happening.
But as you advocate for what's going on right now,
what's I know you're new into the jobs, so I
(11:21):
get that, and we'll give you a break because I
know you're on a learning curve right now. The new
gig is President of Community Catalysts. But when it comes
to advocating, what does that look like for you? What
are you and your team doing right now?
Speaker 3 (11:32):
Well, first we start with the facts, so what is
in our healthcare system? But I'll tell you one of
the most powerful tools and our advocacy is uplifting the
stories of our community partners. When you're a policymaker at
the state level or at the federal level, and you here,
I'm thinking about a community member of Florida who was hospitalized.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
She's doing her level best to be as healthy as possible.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
She was hospitalized and then hit with a nearly six
hundred thousand dollars bill. Nobody explained to her that this
is what her care costs, that she was going to
be faced with this bill, what was she going to do?
So we were able to take stories like hers and
others to the state level and the federal level to
(12:21):
say to policymakers, this isn't fair. Knew nobody could expect
a nearly half a million dollar bill. Nobody could expect
that when they showed up at the emergency department someone
they would say, oh, no, we can't treat you. And
then when they go to urgent care, they say, well,
we don't take your insurance. So what we try to
make sure people have is the data that they need
(12:44):
so that their policymakers understand the impact that this is
having at the community level.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Oftentimes, when we talk about healthcare costs.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
We use these really big numbers like healthcare industry costs
two trillion dollars. I don't think anybody knows what to
do with that number. But when you point to someone
who says, I have a medical bill that's five hundred
thousand dollars and I make thirty five thousand dollars a year,
what am I supposed to do? We're able to get
policymakers and leaders and those frankly whose hands are on
(13:14):
the levers of power to think about the people differently,
and that's what this is all about, you.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Know, Linda. That also brings up a point I'd like
to talk about just briefly with you, because you're talking
about the micro there, and sometimes you need the micro
story to serve the macro that you're working with on
a federal level and the big picture. But to hear
those individual stories from people and families and the people
from Middle America that are having a tough time it's
paying their bills, I think it's paramount. Could you expand
(13:41):
on that a little bit for us?
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Yeah, you know, I think that's everything you know that
most of us walking around the street really aren't thinking
about policy.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
We're thinking about our jobs.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Our families, our homes, how do we stay in them?
You know, what's next feeding our families? And you know,
I think about some of the work that we do,
particularly around medical debt. You know, it is the leading
cause of bankruptcy in this country and most people don't
know that, but you know, we have so many stories.
(14:13):
I'm thinking of one where a homeowner was faced with
either losing his home or paying medical debt his medical bill. Well,
community catalysts for years work to make sure that a
medical debt didn't show up on your credit score, because
that could then prevent you from buying a home, or
getting a car, or frankly, getting your electricity turned on
(14:34):
in your apartment. And so that's why we bring to
your point these issues down to the individual level, because
this affects how people live.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
I mean, you know, health is everything, as we like to.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
Say, and if you can't have access to health, and
if you can't afford health, we're looking at private equity
firms buying physician practices and hospital systems, and then of
course they close the hospital and so we lose access.
We have to make sure that people in community, and
that's where our partners come in, understand the implications of
(15:09):
these kinds of decisions, these financial decisions and policy decisions,
so that we can fight against them and keep people
like Terry Belk in his home and allow people to
be able to do things like get their gas and
electricity turned down.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Well, that is a great segue about being funded. I
know your nonprofit, but as you take a look, and
we'll talk about donations at the end, and also how
to do that and the website for everybody out there,
a lot of our listeners are probably already googled and
checked it out. Well, we'll give that to you in
just a moment. But when it comes to funding, donations,
working with different third parties, how does it all work
for you?
Speaker 3 (15:44):
Well, for community catalysts, because we're a national organization, we're
actually sort of on both sides of this. We fund
where we put money, financial and human resources in the communities,
but we also help philanthropy understand what is actually going
on so that we inform philanthropic strategy.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
So what people sort of refer to as charity, we
actually call investment.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
If people support us, whether it's an individual or a foundation.
They're investing in communities so that they understand what they
need to do to be as healthy as possible, and
our partners can advocate for the members in their community.
So what they're actually doing is investing in improving health
for those who have been left out.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
We do both.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
We invest, we allocate resources, We evaluate the issues so
that we help. Big philanthropy understands from a strategic perspective
where resources need to go, and we also understand the
healthcare funding landscape so that anyone who's interested in wanting
to improve healthcare access can get factual information from us.
(16:56):
So whether we're developing grassroots leadership or narrative change or
innovations and care, it doesn't matter. It's those partnerships at
the community level and at the higher funded level in
alignment with our values and our mission to make sure
that people have access to affordable, quality care that matters.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
So we like to say it's not charity, it's impact.
I like that.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
I like that a lot of Linda. How many on
staff there?
Speaker 3 (17:24):
I think we are around eighty people now, okay, so
we're pretty good size.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Well, what I want to ask you about because you
mentioned leadership, and in this series, there's a lot of
future entrepreneurs and people that are going to be running
for profit and nonprofits out there, and leadership is always
something I love to talk about with people like you,
especially the extensive resume that you've had in your arena
with nonprofits and eighty people. But it's much larger than that,
because you've talked about, you know, the federal landscape and
(17:50):
the state landscape and all that you do. So there's
a lot of moving parts and I'm curious, especially with
the way we are in history right now, Linda, the
world's on fire. I think we can all agree that,
I know there's a lot of happy people, but there's
also a lot of unhappy people and a lot of
unrest going on right there. And for what you do,
and I know it's very historic what's going on right
(18:10):
now as you lead your team of eighty and more.
You know, I'll give you the analogy because I'm a
sports guy. A coach is there to make sure that
nobody loses their head in the fourth quarter, that you
stay focused and you finish the game plan off to
the best of your ability. Well that said, you know,
you're the same you're the coach with your eighty staff
and more, and there's a lot of people probably worried
(18:33):
out there, maybe panicking having a really rough day. I
wanted to know what leadership means to you in your
new role and how you deal with all that's going
on on a daily basis.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
You know that is such a good question, Jennis, and
I love your sports analogy. You know my approach is,
you know, yes, at the end of the day, I'm
making the decisions, but the leadership team leads together. I mean,
just a coach, the coach, she has her assistants, coaches.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
You know, she's got a whole team around.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
Her that helps make get that team to where it
needs to be and successful. But what she does first
is she articulates where she wants that team to go.
She's clear on the mission, she's clear on the vision,
and you know what she does is she trusts her
team to deliver against that mission and vision. So she's steering,
(19:27):
but everybody's working, and she makes sure that everybody understands
just how valuable their contribution is. You know, from sports,
you know, if you're let me just pick the knicks
right now. Thibodeau's on his way out, but it wasn't
only him. He's leaving for another reason. But pick a coach.
It's not just one person, it is the team. And
(19:47):
so at community catalysts, we've got a vision, we've got
a mission, we've got strategies to get to what success
looks like, and success is being defined. We have to
be clear on what success looks like so that we
understand it, but we also translate it to our community
partners and then hear from them, well, here's what success.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Looks like in our community.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
So we can then bring our considerable talent, time and
treasure to work with our partners to make sure that
they're successful.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Because if they're successful, we're successful.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
That's really well said. And if you could talk about
one more thing, because once again, and this doesn't apply
just to sports, even though that's my background, is culture,
and I think what you were alluding to is culture,
you know, being honest and forthright, not mincing words, but
being appropriately candid and all the things to go without leadership.
And you also talked about team, which is a reoccurring
theme in our series of CEOs, presidents and founders of companies.
(20:42):
They would be nothing without their team. But can you
talk about culture, especially for where you're at right now?
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Sure, Dennis.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
I think any CEO nos culture starts from the top
if you start by trusting your team, by valuing their team,
showing them how you value them, showing them that you
not only want their opinions, trust that they have the expertise,
but act on it so that they have a clear
example of yes, my leader trusts me. That's how you
(21:11):
build a culture, because then they do that with their teams,
and their teams do that with their teams. I don't
think an organization can success successfully meet any mission or
vision without trust, without valuing the people that they work with.
Doesn't mean that you all have to be best friends,
as you know, but you do have to communicate that
(21:34):
I believe that you've got the skill set to do
this work. We've articulated where we want to go, and
I'm trusting all of us to work together in service
of this mission and vision.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
And whether it's a.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
Sports team, whether it's a for profit or nonprofit, that
has to be the guiding Like, we are a team
and we trust each other to have the our mission
and vision first, are people first, and that we're committed
and showing each other how we are committed not only
to the organization, but to making sure that each of
(22:07):
us can perform to the best of our abilities.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
That's well said in one final thing that I'll put
on top of this on a word you have and use,
but I'll used for us. And I've heard it into
my industry about myself, and I'm seeing it as I
meet and talk to you. It's passion for what you
do because people feed off of that. I always use
that example, Linda that when you go to a party,
who do you want to hang out with? The person
that has their head down in the corner that's not
(22:30):
talking to anybody, or the person's in the middle of
the room telling a joke and everybody's laughing and surrounding them. Right,
It's all about passion.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
It is all about passion. And I have to tell
you I am as CEOs Go. I am so fortunate
that I'm surrounded by people who are passionate about these issues,
passionate about making sure people can be as healthy as possible.
The beauty of community cannabists is everyone there could do
something else.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
If it works someplace else.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
They have chosen community catalysts because of that passion because
they believe that we all can be healthy and that health.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Is a right and that they have a role in
making that a reality.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
All right, well, listen, let's do this. I want to
do a recap of what we chatted about, get some
final thoughts from you, and also give the website. It's
a gorgeous website, folks, It's easy to navigate. There's a
lot of information on there. Well, let's do this, Linda,
just what we talked about, some final thoughts from you,
and recap. The floor is yours.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Okay, Well, thank you so, Denzil. As you said this,
we are in some difficult times.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Healthcare is under attack from a number of different fronts.
But the thing that we know is that our own poling,
our own information shows that the vast majority of people
in this country, over seventy percent, feel that it should
be a right, and they feel that it's too expensive.
And so what we need to do is figure out
(23:57):
how to get healthcare.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
Two people who need it, who are being left out,
in a way that is quality and affordable.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
And that's what Community Catalyst is about, and to remove
those barriers that would determine our health outcomes in adverse
ways like racism, like gender discrimination, like economic inequality. So
what people need to know is there's a national organization
that's fighting every single day at the community level, building
power at community at the community level, and at the
(24:26):
federal level, helping to set policy.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
So if they're interested.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
And if they feel like healthcare is right, and if
they ever looked at their own families and thought, how
we're really having a hard time taking care of this
health care issue and paying all of these other bills,
and we're hard working, we're doing the things that we should.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
Do, and yet it's still a challenge.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
Then go to Community Catalyst dot org, find out about
our work, donate to us, make that investment in healthcare.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
In this country. It is in the healthcare of all
of us.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
And pay attention to what is being said in the media.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
What is fact, what is fiction?
Speaker 3 (25:09):
And you know, I would just invite people to join
us at the community level or the federal level.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
This is going to take a while.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
This will not be a short fight, Dennis, as you know,
but we're in it for the long haul, and we're
in it to make sure that people have access to
the care that they need and understand what they really
are entitled to.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
All right, well, Linda, thank you so much for your
valuable time. I can see why Community Catalysts shows you
and why you've chosen them. I know you're new into
the role, but your bounty of work speaks for itself,
and I know that good things are going to happen
with a very hard fight ahead of you. Give my
best to the team. Thank you so much. Continued success
and we really appreciate featuring you on CEO that you
should know.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
Thank you so much, Dennis. It's been my pledsure.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Our community partner, M and T Bank supports CEOs, you
should know is part of their ongoing commitment to building
strong communities, and that starts my backing the businesses within them.
As a bank for communities, M and T believes in
dedicating time, talent, and resources to help local businesses thrive,
because when businesses succeed, our communities succeed.
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