Annual Speak Life! Health Equity Conference Returns

ROCHESTER, NY —The annual Speak Life! Health Equity Conference will be held Thursday, April 16, 2026, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Monroe Community Hospital auditorium. Tickets are $35 and on sale now and include breakfast and lunch. With the theme “Stronger Together” the 2026 conference features a timely keynote by Anthony M. Jimenez, Ph.D. (sociology), associate professor of sociology at Rochester Institute of Technology. Jimenez, co-author of “The Third Net: The Hidden System of Migrant Health Care,” will explore how borders can enact violence—and how solidarity and community help build healthier, more equitable systems.

“Health access alone is commendable, but it’s not sustainable, not while the entire healthcare system is governed by structurally violent logics of racial capitalism and settler colonial ideas about who is and isn't deserving of care,” said Jimenez. “If we want true health equity, if we want health justice, we need to engage with the scarier, complicated, yet far more transformative project of creating something new, something bold, something that actually has all of us in mind.”

The Speak Life! Health Equity conference convenes community members, clinicians, advocates, and public health leaders to advance healing, equity, and culturally grounded solutions across the Finger Lakes region. A special panel discussion with local leaders and community members will highlight innovations that have risen from the current sociopolitical environment, and what is needed so that health care can truly meet the needs of everyone.

“When neighbors, providers, and systems come together to find culturally appropriate solutions, we can create real impact,” said Jeffrey Freeman, Health Coalition program manager at Common Ground Health. “Speak Life!—and the ongoing work of our health coalitions—combine robust data and powerful stories of lived experiences with practical tools so that the greater health community can make meaningful changes that improve individual health and well-being in our region.”

Two awards will be announced at the conference: The Dr. Constantino Fernandez Community Leadership and Advocacy Award honors the legacy of a Rochester OB/GYN dedicated to Latina women's health and Latino health equity. The Edgar Santa Cruz Outstanding Coalition Member Award honors the legacy of a Rochester social worker and community advocate who championed food access and health equity until his passing in 2022.

New this year Speak Life! will introduce music and dance performances, a racial healing activity, and small facilitated discussions to deepen learning and connection across communities and sectors. “We know that practicing and celebrating our cultures contributes to overall health and wellbeing,” said Hannah Shippee, program manager for the Indigenous Health Coalition. “We are intentionally bringing cultural performances representing each of the coalitions to the conference this year and centering those practices into our work.”

Planned by community leaders from the health coalitions convened by Common Ground Health—including the African American Health Coalition, the Latino Health Coalition, the Indigenous Health Coalition, and the New American Health Advisory Group—the conference invites participants to build relationships, affirm cultural strengths, and advance policies and practices that improve health across the life course.

Event Details:

Date: Thursday, April 16, 2026

Time: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Where: Monroe Community Hospital auditorium

Tickets: $35, breakfast and lunch are included. On sale now at https://www.commongroundhealth.org/speaklife26tix