The Coalition to Transform Advanced Care (C-TAC) is proud to launch its new Resource Road Map, made possible through the generous vision and financial support of the John and Wauna Harman Foundation and the Arthur Vining Davis Foundation.
This Resource Road Map is designed specifically for faith communities serving underserved populations—particularly those deeply engaged in grassroots advocacy and day-to-day support for individuals, families, and surrounding communities facing serious illness, hardship, and inequity.
At its core, the Road Map reflects C-TAC’s mission: to ensure everyone facing a serious illness has the care they need, when and where they need it—care that is respectful, culturally responsive, and grounded in community trust.
Why a Resource Road Map for Faith Communities?
Faith communities are often the first place people turn during moments of illness, loss, and crisis. Yet traditional evidence-based models of care are not always designed to meet the needs of communities that differ from White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP) populations or to reflect the spiritual and cultural values that shape how people experience illness, caregiving, and decision-making.
The Resource Road Map acknowledges a critical truth: innovation is just as essential as evidence-based practice. Sustainable, effective care models must integrate spiritual beliefs, cultural traditions, and lived experience alongside clinical knowledge.
Listening First: What We Heard from Community Leaders
In preparation for the Road Map’s launch, C-TAC convened a diverse group of faith and community-based leaders from across the country. Representing a wide range of religious traditions, cultures, and geographies, these leaders shared candid insights drawn from their lived experiences serving congregants and surrounding communities.
We listened closely as they described both the essential services they provide and the challenges they face sustaining those efforts.
Many faith communities are already delivering critical supports, including:
- Food pantries to address gaps in food assistance and financial insecurity
- Financial support for utilities, housing, and transportation
- Volunteer-led respite and sustenance for emotionally and physically exhausted caregivers
- Educational forums on advance care planning, grief, trauma, and financial literacy
- Ongoing training and collaboration between clinicians, faith leaders, and congregations
- Disease-specific education and health interventions to reduce disparities in conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer
- Serving as trusted liaisons between health systems and communities to expand access to care
- Intermittent counseling services for individuals navigating major life transitions and crises
While these efforts provide meaningful short-term relief, leaders consistently emphasized that their greatest challenge is sustainability.
From Short-Term Support to Long-Term Impact
Faith leaders voiced a shared need for:
- Clear strategies to secure and diversify funding
- Stronger partnerships across health systems, community organizations, and philanthropy
- Organizational planning tools that support long-term growth
- Models that align with their faith traditions, cultural values, and community priorities
Without these supports, even the most impactful programs risk being episodic rather than enduring.
What the Resource Road Map Provides
The C-TAC Resource Road Map is designed to equip community faith leaders with practical insights and guidance to help them:
- Develop strategic plans that reflect community values and lived experience
- Build sustainable programs that extend beyond short-term funding cycles
- Strengthen partnerships with health systems, policymakers, and local organizations
- Align care delivery with cultural, spiritual, and community-defined needs
- Move toward holistic, person-centered models of care that honor dignity, trust, and choice
By grounding strategy in community voice and faith-based leadership, the Road Map supports care models that are not only effective—but enduring.
Advancing Care, Together
Faith communities play an indispensable role in supporting people facing serious illness, often filling gaps where the health system cannot reach alone. Through the Resource Road Map, C-TAC is honored to support these leaders with tools that strengthen sustainability, amplify impact, and ensure care reaches people when and where they need it most.
This work reflects C-TAC’s continued commitment to advancing person-centered, community-driven solutions that elevate lived experience, respect cultural and spiritual traditions, and improve outcomes for underserved populations nationwide.
Visit our Resource Section to download the set of resources
