Passing the Torch: Welcoming the Next Generation of CHANGE

CHANGE grant awardees and partners at the 2026 AstraZeneca Health Equity in ACTion Expo & AstraZeneca Foundation Learning Forum in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

By: Shannon Fyalkowski, Senior Manager, Programs & Operations, AstraZeneca Foundation

When the AstraZeneca Foundation launched Creating Health Access for Next Generation Equity (CHANGE) in 2023, the vision extended beyond traditional grantmaking. CHANGE was designed as a philanthropic collaborative where nonprofit organizations, the Foundation and its evaluation partner could learn together, build capacity and strengthen efforts to improve access to quality healthcare and reduce health disparities.

This fall marked an exciting new chapter in that journey as the Foundation welcomed its second cohort of CHANGE grant awardees, while celebrating the experiences and lessons of the program’s first cohort.

Welcoming the Next CHANGE Cohort

The new cohort expands the reach of the CHANGE program from its Mid-Atlantic US footprint to locations across the country with a continued aim of increasing access to and coordination of care and mitigating barriers, like transportation and health insurance status, through innovative, tailored approaches. The program also maintains its focus on screenings, early diagnosis, treatment and continuity of care for cardiovascular, renal, respiratory and immunologic diseases and cancers, as well as partnership expansion to break down institutional silos and maximize impact.

New grant awardees include:

• Ambulatory Surgery Access Coalition dba Operation Access in San Francisco;
• Boston Community Pediatrics in Boston;
• Conejo Free Clinic in Thousand Oaks, California;
• Franciscan Workers of Junipero Serra dba Dorothy’s Place in Salinas, California; and
• Mobile Medical Care, Inc. in Rockville, Maryland.

AIDS Resource Alliance, Inc., an inaugural CHANGE awardee based in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, will also continue its involvement as a peer mentor for newly funded organizations.

Together, these organizations are addressing a range of community needs, from increasing access to primary, preventive and specialty care to strengthening cancer screening and navigation and connecting people experiencing homelessness with healthcare and supportive services.

Learn more about the new awardees through the AstraZeneca Foundation’s media release.
 

Passing the Torch Through Shared Learning

The transition between cohorts came to life on October 15 at the AstraZeneca Foundation’s Learning Forum in Gaithersburg, Maryland. The Forum brought both groups of CHANGE awardees together with local AstraZeneca US ACT on Health Equity Community Solutions Challenge grant recipients for meaningful conversations, shared learning and best-practice exchange focused on strengthening collective efforts to improve healthcare access.

For the first CHANGE cohort, the day provided an opportunity to reflect with the Foundation’s evaluation partner at NORC at the University of Chicago on their collective impact over the past three years, while the new cohort engaged in orientation to the CHANGE program.

The handoff was also quite literal: members of the first cohort wrote letters offering advice to the new CHANGE awardees as they begin their own journeys.

“Think of each grantee as a partner and learn from each other. Utilize the experience of NORC and the AZ [Foundation] team to be thought partners. This is not your traditional funding relationship in all the best ways. ”

- Christina Bauer, Director of Development, Health Care for the Homeless
 

Building Capacity Together

Throughout the Learning Forum, nonprofit leaders moved from conversation to practical learning. Awardees participated in moderated roundtables addressing current and emerging issues affecting nonprofits, including meeting rising demand with limited resources; workforce recruitment, retention and burnout; funding stability and financial resilience; and AI and digital innovation in healthcare access.
 

Nonprofit leaders exchange ideas and experiences during roundtable discussions at the Foundation Learning Forum.

Participants also took part in an interactive communications learning lab focused on helping nonprofits make more intentional communication choices, including understanding the audiences they most need to reach, demonstrating value and identifying the messengers and channels that can help deliver their messages credibly.