On September 18th, EverThrive Illinois hosted our Advancing Courageous Change Gala at Venue West. We were thrilled to celebrate and share a powerful night honoring the courage, commitment, and community that fuel our movement. During the event, we celebrated Arden Handler, DrPH, recipient of the 2025 Renee Friedman-Druzinsky Health Equity Champion Award, and Dr. Ellen Mason, recipient of the 2025 Changemaker Award, for their unwavering dedication to health equity in Illinois. Their leadership inspires all of us to continue pushing for systemic change.
Our Advancing Courageous Change Gala focused on community resistance as a response to federal aggression during a time when reproductive justice is under attack and unjust policies are stripping away funding from life-saving programs like Medicaid. “Today, marginalized communities are enduring the brunt of federal policies that deepen inequity and threaten the health and well-being of Illinoisans. Whether through restricted access to reproductive care or disinvestment in social programs, these policies often amplify long-standing structural injustices,” said Chi Chi Okwu, Executive Director of EverThrive IL.
During dinner, we presented a video spotlighting Hailey Steele, Birth Equity Manager, who spoke about community resistance and why it is necessary to stand up for ourselves. “For EverThrive IL, community resistance looks like not allowing perceived limitations to stop us from doing what is right for our communities,” said Hailey.
Hosting this gala every year is vital to ensure that EverThrive IL can continue advancing reproductive justice and inspire others to continue or start the work in their communities, especially at this time. “Caring for pregnant people is foundational to who we are as a society,” said Kathy Waligora, Deputy Director of External Affairs. “Caring for kids determines how we treat everyone else”, and this applies to efforts outside of the campaigns, awareness, advocacy, and outreach that EverThrive Illinois does.
In the past year, EverThrive Illinois has successfully advocated for new laws to make it easier for birthing people to access the doula of their choice. Through our National Infant Immunization Campaign, we educated over 60,000 individuals on why infant vaccines are safe and essential. We are committed to ensuring that communities most impacted by health injustices have access to the resources and health care necessary to create and sustain healthy families on their own terms.
Special thank you to our guests, sponsors, Changemakers Circle, event committee, board of directors, staff, Brooks Media, Artist Jose Alfredo, Wesley Kinard, and Venue West staff.
If you want to help us achieve reproductive justice, you can do the following: