Why We’re Releasing the U.S. Playbook to Address Social Determinants of Health—Again
At Powered to Rise, we believe the pursuit of health justice must not shift with the political winds. Our commitment builds across administrations and across seasons of silence and momentum.
Today, we are re-releasing The U.S. Playbook to Address Social Determinants of Health, originally issued by the White House Domestic Policy Council and the Office of Science and Technology Policy in November 2023.
The current administration removed it from public access. This act may have been quiet, but the implications are loud. The Playbook, built through cross-sector collaboration, was never meant to be final. It was designed as scaffolding—a starting point for something stronger, more rooted in truth, and shaped by those closest to the ground.
What’s at Stake
This document outlines how health is not just shaped in clinics or hospitals but in the homes we live in, the air we breathe, the schools our children attend, and the food systems that surround us. For communities navigating the compounding effects of systemic inequity, these conditions are not abstract. They are daily determinants of life and death.
The Playbook offers more than a list of problems. It introduces solutions that include funding flexibility, investment in backbone organizations, and infrastructure for better data sharing. Each strategy centers communities that have too often been sidelined in public health planning.
Why This Still Matters
We are not releasing this to claim credit. We are doing this to protect continuity and possibility.
Removal from a federal website does not erase the collective effort it took to build this guidance. Frontline providers, community-based leaders, and policy advocates need this framework to keep momentum going. They deserve access to the knowledge that was created with them and for them.
We are preserving this Playbook so that it can continue to serve. It deserves to be studied, improved, shared, and implemented—not shelved.
Our Call
Health equity cannot wait for political consensus. It must be protected and practiced daily.
If your work touches housing, food access, transportation, education, environmental health, or community well-being, this Playbook belongs in your hands. Share it with your team. Cite it in your proposals. Teach it in your trainings. Use it to spark dialogue with your elected officials.
The pursuit of health equity is not a passing moment. It is a mandate. This Playbook is one more bridge guiding us toward that collective future.
