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Holistic Evolution was founded on the principles of health equity. The H.E. People 2030 strategic plan incorporates the nation’s Healthy People 2030 public health objectives to advance health equity in Indiana and Healthy People’s 2030 vision of people achieving their full health potential by 2030 through a variety of targeted actions related to the social determinants of health (SODH) that affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality-of-life outcomes and risks, contributing to health disparities in our communities.
Founded in 2019 under the visionary leadership of Esther J. Lewis, Holistic Evolution (H.E.) is in its sixth year of delivering highly effective equity-advancing programs. Our model utilizes Evidence Based and/or Promising Practices, while supporting grassroots community organizations that address the issues of substance misuse, suicide, risky sexual behavior, and community violence. We do this by providing member organizations with a holistic range of services and incentives that encourage the adoption and implementation of Evidence Based and/or Promising Practices. Member organizations receive funding, administrative support, training, recruitment, screening, assessments, and opportunities for collaborations. These wraparound services ensure successful implementation of effective strategies that will sustainably reduce the incidence of negative health behaviors of young men of color. Holistic Evolution (H.E.) was founded with a focus in three areas:prevention, health equity and male mentoring, and a systematic approach to community level change. This involved researching successful collective impact models and leveraging the critical work already being done by community organizations. The founder, Esther Lewis, drawing upon 20+ years of experience in youth development, identified a need for systemic support that would positively impact YMC. Since our inception we’ve worked consistently with 6 member organizations building their capacity to serve YMC. We've partnered with 36 organizations that offer services aligned with the SDOH, engaging them in our primary prevention efforts and increasing their direct reach to YMC. We've engaged 645 YMC in individual based primary prevention strategies (e.g., life skills curriculum and mentoring), and over 949,000 individuals in population-based primary prevention outcomes (e.g., billboards, social messaging campaigns). We support rigorous research partnering with academics, including a recent research study published in Sage Journals. We've secured funding in excess of $515,000 and we have so much more to come!
We truly believe in the principles of collective impact’ without strong trusting relationships with the community we serve, we would not have been able to do any of this work. We will continue to use a systems approach as we build for the future using our H.E. 2030 Strategic Plan.
Our mission is to build a community that encourages the positive evolution of young men of color ages 16- 24 by supporting mentoring, health equity, and other prevention efforts and providing resources to remove unforeseen barriers to the evolution of young men of color.
