FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 20, 2025

Contact: Jack Cardinal, jcardinal@communitycatalyst.org

A powerful chapter closes—but the movement it helped build is only growing stronger. 

BOSTON, MA — Community Catalyst proudly honors the Restuccia Health Justice Fellowship as it concludes its final cohort, marking a powerful chapter in leadership development and movement-building for race equity and health justice. Created in memory of Community Catalyst’s former executive director, Rob Restuccia, the Fellowship was designed to support advocacy leaders from systemically excluded communities — while building the power of people to reshape the U.S. health system.

At its core, the Fellowship was about growing leadership rooted in community, engaging 32 Fellows across 12 communities in nine states and Puerto Rico.

The following organizations graduated from the final cohort of the Restuccia Health Justice Fellowship:  

  • Taller Salud (Puerto Rico), a community-based feminist organization dedicated to improving women’s access to health care, reducing violence within the community and encouraging economic growth through education and activism.
  • Arkansas Coalition of Marshallese (Arkansas), an organization that empowers the Marshallese community through culturally sensitive programs on education, leadership, policy advocacy and holistic services.
  • Be Inc. Collective (New Jersey & Pennsylvania), an organization supporting the mental health and well-being of Black and Brown communities by cultivating healing-centered spaces where families can embark on their journey toward collective healing and thrive, rather than simply survive.

Over four years and four cohorts, the Fellowship helped catalyze transformative work at the intersection of race equity and health justice by supporting personal and professional growth, organizational transformation, and partnerships that may not have otherwise merged.

“This Fellowship was built for the leaders often overlooked and under-resourced, yet closest to the solutions we need. It created space not just to lead, but to heal, reflect and grow in community,” said Alexis B. Major, Director of the Restuccia Health Justice Fellowship at Community Catalyst. “It taught us that leadership development is most powerful when accompanied by a practice community — offering both structure and space to test, grow, and adapt leadership in real time.”

Fellows developed shared strategies and a powerful peer community, deepening their capacity to lead through a race equity lens. Together, they launched new initiatives like an immigrant health academy, expanded organizational leadership, and built networks across movements. They also explored the impact of stress and burnout in justice work — and how wellness and healing, radical candor, and accountability can be embedded in change efforts.

Reflections from graduates of the Fellowship can be seen here.

“The biggest takeaway the Fellowship has taught me is learning to navigate difficult conversations about racism, discrimination and microaggressions. How to sit with it and listen to different opinions and perspectives,” said Michelle Pedro, a member of the final cohort with the Arkansas Coalition of Marshallese (ACOM). “The Fellowship was about unlearning corporate culture and relearning my cultural roots that tie into the mission and vision of ACOM, our organization, that is for and by the Marshallese community.” 

“Too often, advocacy spaces demand labor from marginalized leaders without addressing the burnout and trauma they carry. This Fellowship flips that script by embedding radical self-care and race equity into its framework—because sustainable change requires more than strategy; it requires nourishment,” shared Tory Stephens, Deep South Solidarity Fund.

“Community Catalyst isn’t just training advocates; it’s cultivating a movement of leaders who can dismantle structural barriers while forging unlikely partnerships, reimagining organizational cultures, and centering the voices of those most impacted. In a moment when health justice is under threat, this Fellowship doesn’t just feel necessary—it’s a blueprint for the future we need.”

Community Catalyst will continue to carry the Fellowship’s learnings and values into its leadership development and power-building strategies, ensuring its legacy remains an integral part of the movement for health justice.

Learn more about the Fellowship’s legacy.

The Fellowship showed what’s possible when we invest not only in ideas, but in the people and organizations closest to the work. That kind of investment—especially in this moment of crisis—is urgently needed.

If you are a funder or philanthropic partner interested in sustaining leadership rooted in equity and community, contact Jillian Leslie at jleslie@communitycatalyst.org. Community Catalyst welcomes conversations on how to extend the impact of the Fellowship model into future investments.

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About Community Catalyst:  

Community Catalyst is a national organization dedicated to building the power of people to create a health system rooted in race equity and health justice, and a society where health is a right for all. We’re an experienced, trusted partner to organizations across the country, a change agent to policymakers at the local, state, and national level, and both an adversary and a collaborator to health systems in our efforts to advance health justice. We partner with local, state and national organizations and leaders to leverage and build power so that people are at the center of important decisions about health and health care, whether they are made by health care executives, in state houses, or on Capitol Hill. Together with partners, we’re building a powerful, united movement with a shared vision of and strategy for a health system accountable to all people. Learn more at communitycatalyst.org.