Vitalyst Health Foundation has selected its 2025 Systems Change Grant partners. The System Change Grants, worth $175,000 over three years each, were awarded to the following coalitions: North Star Task Force; the San Carlos Apache Healthy Foods System Rejuvenation Coalition; the Arizona Maternal Health Policy Coalition; and the Material Resource System Coalition.

The North Star Task Force will work on placing survivors of human trafficking at the center of systems change by shaping policies, services, and local response strategies. The San Carlos Apache Healthy Foods System Rejuvenation Coalition will work on Building Healthy Food Hubs across the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation to turn a food desert into a community-led food system. The Arizona Maternal Health Policy Coalition will work on expanding access to breastfeeding support in underserved communities through policy change and community-informed care. The Material Resource System Coalition will also work on redesigning how donated goods are sourced and distributed to help nonprofits better serve communities across Arizona.

Below is a description of each coalition’s partners and systems change goals:

North Star Task Force: Survivor Informed Trafficking Awareness and Response

Coalition Project Partners: Northland Family Help Center, Applejack’s Ranch, Coconino County Attorney’s Office, Flagstaff Police Department, Coconino County Sheriff’s Office, Northern Arizona University PD.

Project overview: The North Star Task Force: Survivor-Informed Trafficking Awareness and Response aims to transform the conditions that enable human trafficking crimes to remain under-addressed in Northern Arizona. Project activities are targeted toward improved relationships, streamlined communication, altered mental models, and shifted power dynamics to allow individuals with lived experiences of human trafficking to guide policy, practice, and resource allocation. The expected outcomes for this project include improved community safety, increased access to care, and more equitable outcomes for survivors.

The San Carlos Apache Healthy Foods System Rejuvenation Coalition

Coalition Project Partners: Nalwoodi Denzhone Community, Local First Arizona, Activate Food Arizona, Arizona Food Bank Network, San Carlos Apache Healthcare Corporation, University of Arizona FRTEP, Tribal Social Services.

Project overview: The people of the San Carlos Apache Reservation experience disproportionately high levels of diabetes and other lifestyle diseases. Through various challenges and historical traumas, the region has been rendered a food desert, hampering the food choices of even the most well-informed. To create a robust, community-wide, food systems change and provide improvements to health equity; a healthy, hyperlocal food system will be developed. This food system will be supported by the San Carlos Apache Healthy Foods System Rejuvenation Coalition through in-neighborhood education centers, also known as Healthy Food Hubs.

The Arizona Maternal Health Policy Coalition

Coalition Project Partners: 4^thTrimester Arizona, Arizona Birthworkers of Color, Arizona State University Maternal and Child Health Translation Research Team, Indigenous Lactation Counselor Program

Project overview: Breastfeeding provides significant health benefits for both mother and child and increasing its prevalence is a goal in the Arizona Department of Health Services’ Healthy People 2030 plan. The Arizona Maternal Health Policy Coalition, co-led by 4th Trimester Arizona, Arizona Birthworkers of Color, Arizona State University Maternal and Child Health Translation Research Team’s Policy Core, and the Indigenous Lactation Counselor Program are collaborating with partners to change systems and improve supports to ensure parents and children receive the help they need to continue breastfeeding. The Coalition is also working to expand AHCCCS policies to provide coverage for breastfeeding support and lactation consultation for low-income families. Finally, the Coalition plans to focus on expanding access to certified lactation consultants in Indigenous and majority-Black communities.

Material Resource System Coalition

Coalition Project Partners: Assistance League of Phoenix, Nourish Phoenix, Stardust Building Supplies, St. Vincent de Paul Phoenix

Project overview: Material donation procurement, management, and distribution is a complex and tangled process within the nonprofit sector. Arizona’s 28,000 nonprofit organizations, 16,000 in Maricopa County alone, approach material donations in a similar, yet inefficient and ineffective fashion and face challenges in procuring, storing, and distributing donated materials resulting in wasted financial resources. Many organizations pass up high-quality donations because they lack the capacity to handle large-scale offerings. Stardust, along with The Assistance League of Phoenix, Nourish Phoenix, and St. Vincent de Paul are collaborating to make deeper community impact through material donations. This group of community leaders are developing a first-of-its-kind large-scale, Material Resource System that includes sourcing, procuring, storing and distributing new high quality, large quantity donated materials from retailers and manufacturers outside of Arizona to support the Arizona nonprofit sector and the communities they serve.

Congratulations to all coalitions working to improve our communities.