We take our name from Harriet Tubman because she embodied the connection between health and freedom, and she fought for both her entire life. She guided people out of slavery, healed them as a nurse, fought oppressive systems, and created institutions to support our health and freedom for generations.

Getting free and getting healthy go hand in hand: physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. This is true on an individual level: having control over our lives is linked to better health. It’s also true on a community level: community power is tied to better disease prevention and reduced severity of disease. And it’s true on a societal level. We know that societies that are the most unequal are also the least healthy.

The dominant healthcare system is failing patients and practitioners alike. It prioritizes profit over relationships. It treats Black and Brown patients like a problem. Offers us the lowest quality of care. Blocks opportunity for Black and Brown clinicians.

Just as so many of our people have opted out of the healthcare system as patients, our community is exiting the system as practitioners.

This isn’t just about access. A medical system that routinely mistreats us will not deliver the solutions. We need to create a new healthcare model, by and for us.

Lots of things! But there are two crucial elements that make our model unique – and both are about adding the ingredients of agency and power that are missing from almost all other approaches to health equity.

First, our solutions come from our communities. We're creating a new system around our wishes, insights, experiences, and communal practices. And even shifting power in the process of designing our care is a form of medicine – having more control in our lives improves health.

Second, Tubman Health is creating a whole-system solution. We’re redesigning the way we offer and receive care from top to bottom. At Tubman Health, you meet with your whole care team, with western and cultural medicine on equal footing. Your providers look like you. You get support and accompaniment through your healthcare journey. And your health practitioners get the care and support they need, too.

Healthcare providers from our communities want to get free, too. That’s why so many are leaving the healthcare sector – or reaching out to us, looking for a welcoming, supportive place where they can provide the care they know our communities want and need. As we grow, we’re looking forward to bringing on more practitioners from our communities.

We’re also using our community design process to create health career pathway programs for our people. Through those programs, we’ll welcome the next generation into healthcare and health-related professions and provide lifelong training and support.

Lots of ways! Tell your friends and family about the Campaign for Health & Freedom. Make a contribution. Join our email list to stay updated. Follow us on social media. Watch out for ways to join with us and take action together!