Our History

Community Catalyst was founded on a simple but powerful idea: lasting health system change requires community voice, state leadership, and real authority in decision-making — not just good policy on paper.

For more than 25 years, we have worked alongside partners across the country to help communities shape health systems that work better for people, families, and local economies.

Our Beginning

Community Catalyst was founded in 1998 by Kate Villers to ensure that real community experience informed health policy decisions at every level.

From the start, the organization focused on state-based leadership — recognizing that durable reform happens when communities and states have the tools, power, and coordination to lead change. Rob Restuccia, then a founding leader at Health Care For All in Massachusetts, joined Villers to bring this vision to life.

Together, they helped scale a model of community-led advocacy that had already transformed health care in Massachusetts into a national approach.

Building a National Movement

In the years that followed, Community Catalyst partnered with organizations across the country to strengthen state advocacy capacity, incubate new organizations, and build shared strategy across states.

This network played a central role in advancing major health reforms — including the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010 — and in defending those gains through repeated efforts to repeal or weaken the law.

By grounding national reform in state and community leadership, Community Catalyst helped ensure that coverage expansions and protections reached millions of people and held up over time.

Leadership and Legacy

Rob Restuccia served as Executive Director of Community Catalyst for 18 years, guiding the organization through a period of significant growth and national impact. Under his leadership, Community Catalyst helped raise tens of millions of dollars to build state-based advocacy infrastructure and support coordinated reform across more than 40 states.

Before his passing in 2018, Rob reflected on the long-term purpose of the work — imagining a future where health care is a right, not a privilege, because of the people and partnerships carrying the work forward.

That legacy continues to shape how Community Catalyst approaches change: by building power, investing in leadership, and staying focused on outcomes that last.

Evolving to Meet the Moment

Over time, the health system has grown more complex — and the stakes have grown higher.

Rising costs, consolidation, service closures, caregiving pressures, and widening inequities have made clear that access to care alone is not enough. How systems are financed, governed, and held accountable matters just as much.

Community Catalyst has evolved to meet these challenges by expanding its focus on affordability, accountability, and implementation — and strengthening the infrastructure that allows communities to intervene before harm occurs.

Our Work Today

Today, Community Catalyst works with more than 350 partner organizations across over 45 states.

We bring together community insight, real-world data, and policy expertise to help partners:

• Protect access to care
• Reduce financial harm
• Strengthen accountability in health system decision-making
• Shape reforms that work in practice, not just in theory

Our current work is guided by four strategic priorities that reflect where the health system is breaking down — and where early, coordinated action can make the greatest difference.

Looking Ahead

Our history is not a closed chapter. It is the foundation for what comes next.

As health and economic pressures intensify, Community Catalyst remains focused on the same core principle that shaped our founding: people most affected by the health system must have real authority in shaping it.

That belief continues to guide our work — and our partnerships — as we build toward a health system that is accessible, affordable, and accountable to all.