How ‘Black Health Matters’ Is Navigating A New Era Of Health Equity Funding

Black Health Matters is adapting its strategy as funding for health equity programs changes.

Roslyn Young-Daniels knows how to sell an idea.

Before launching Black Health Matters in 2012, she built a career in publishing and advertising sales, working with outlets like Essence, Sports Illustrated, and Fitness Magazine. Now, she’s applying that business experience to a different kind of mission: helping Black communities access preventive healthcare. But the language around that mission is changing.

Black Health Matters, a nonprofit that addressed health disparities, has stopped using the phrase “health equity” in sponsorship proposals to pharmaceutical companies. Instead, the organization uses “population health” — a shift Young-Daniels says reflects the current corporate funding environment.

“I can’t say ‘health equity’ in my proposals,” Young-Daniels told MediaPost. “I say ‘population health.’ But people understand that we’re here to save lives.”

The change comes as pharmaceutical support for diversity, equity, and inclusion-related initiatives has declined following policy changes under the Trump administration. Still, she says pharmaceutical companies remain engaged with organizations working directly with patients.

“They may not call it DEI, but they still have advocacy groups and departments,” she said. “They want to work with partners that can help patients, and that’s what we do.”

That partnership model remains central to Black Health Matters’ business operations. A recent summit at New York City’s Riverside Church drew more than 2,000 attendees and received support from Pfizer, Merck, AstraZeneca, Novo, and other pharmaceutical companies. Meanwhile, hospitals and community organizations continue to play a major role. At the event, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center provided free colorectal cancer screening kits, Mount Sinai offered prostate cancer testing, and Weill Cornell Medicine brought its rare disease group. Other organizations provided mammograms and referrals for blood testing.

Over 14 years, Black Health Matters has produced roughly 600 events focused primarily on preventive care. The organization currently stages three major summits annually but plans to increase that number to seven next year.

Its core audience is also telling. Young-Daniels says attendees are primarily people 40 and older, with women representing roughly 80% of participants because they “tend to be the CEOs of health for their families.”

Young-Daniels launched Black Health Matters after deciding to “become an advocate for the medically underserved.” Today, her approach reflects a familiar entrepreneurial lesson: When the market changes, the mission may stay the same while the strategy evolves.