Moonshot Press
Igniting Change. Empowering Citizens. Reimagining Our Future.
The People's Commission to Make Our Children Healthy
Our Guiding Principle: Fulfilling America's Promise
The Declaration of Independence isn't just a historical document; it's our nation's enduring promise: the right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. For this promise to truly resonate, we must ensure the health and well-being of America’s youngest citizens. Their flourishing is absolutely vital to our nation's future—to our prosperity, our strength, and the very resilience of our democracy.
The Challenge: An Unmet Promise for Many
Despite these foundational ideals, the American promise remains out of reach for too many. For a complex array of reasons, including persistent health disparities and challenging social and political landscapes, countless Americans aren't experiencing the full measure of life, liberty, and happiness our nation envisions. This shortfall is particularly acute for our children, shaping their potential from their earliest days.
The Questions That Guide Us
This urgent reality led us to fundamental questions:
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What are the essential factors that truly contribute to thriving Americans?
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As a society, what do we owe the new generation to ensure they can achieve their full potential?
Our Mandate: Building a Foundation for Flourishing
The People's Commission is here to answer these questions with action. Our mandate is clear: to develop a comprehensive, citizen-driven strategy that provides a robust foundation for a healthy, thriving future generation in a vibrant, democratic country. We're committed to turning the promise of our founding into a lived reality for every child.
Background
The People’s Commission to Make Our Children Healthy is a citizen-led response to America’s ongoing child health crisis. But it is more than a reaction to chronic disease trends. It is a bold experiment in renewing the American project itself—reaffirming the founding principle that all people are entitled not only to life and liberty, but to the genuine opportunity to thrive.
This Commission does not simply react to federal policy—it reimagines what our founding principles demand in today’s context. It seeks to cultivate a bio-social-political environment that fosters health and human potential from the very start of life. It mobilizes citizens, parents, practitioners, and local leaders to contribute knowledge, experience, and vision to one of the greatest moral tasks of our time: ensuring that every child in America—regardless of race, class, or zip code—is born into a society designed to support their full potential.
This is more than a commission. It is a public recommitment. A declaration that child well-being is the first act of democracy. And that every newborn in America must be not only protected—but empowered to thrive and become a steward of the common good.
The Current State of the Health of Our Children
American children today face rising rates of chronic disease, obesity, mental health disorders, and preventable developmental delays. Many are born into structural disadvantage that manifest as toxic stress, food insecurity, or poor access to prenatal care. The United States lags behind peer nations on key indicators of infant and maternal health, despite spending more per capita on healthcare.
The Life Trajectory of Newborns
From birth, the conditions into which a child is born—nutritional support, responsive caregiving, secure environments—shape biological systems and cognitive pathways. These trajectories are not fixed, but they are highly sensitive to early interventions. Investment in the first 1000 days pays dividends across a lifetime, influencing academic success, economic mobility, and social-emotional competence.
Our Action Plan
America’s future depends intimately on the health and well-being of its youngest citizens. But ensuring that every child has the opportunity to flourish requires all of us—parents, educators, healthcare professionals, community leaders, and engaged citizens from every walk of life.
The time for action is now. We cannot wait for top-down solutions alone. Join The People’s Make America’s Children Healthy Commission and Project 2026 in a bold, citizen-driven movement to reshape the future of American child health. Let us work together to ensure that the principles of democracy, opportunity, and citizenship are not just celebrated, but are actively realized in the foundational health and capabilities of every child, thereby securing the future of our Republic. Together, we can make America’s children healthy again—and in doing so, build a stronger nation for generations to come.
Our Theory of Change
The theory of change guiding The People’s Commission to Make Our Children Healthy is rooted in the understanding that real transformation requires a shift in paradigm—a fundamental change in how we see the world, define problems, and imagine solutions. A paradigm is more than a model or method; it is a shared lens that shapes what we value, what we notice, and how we act. Today’s health and political systems often operate from outdated paradigms of control, treatment, and top-down authority.
The People’s Commission embraces two interconnected paradigm shifts: a citizen engagement paradigm, which views everyday people as co-creators of policy and stewards of democracy, and a health creation paradigm, known as the salutogenic approach, which focuses not just on preventing disease but on cultivating the conditions for lifelong well-being. These shifts are essential to building a society where all children can flourish. Guided by Project 2026, the Commission draws on systems thinking, behavioral psychology, political theory, and design—but its moral foundation lies in the radical promise of the Declaration of Independence: that all people are created equal and endowed with rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. To fulfill that promise, we must redesign our institutions, policies, and civic culture around human flourishing, starting with the first 1000 days of life.
What Do We Owe the Next Generations?
We owe them clean air and nourishing food. We owe them safe homes and public spaces. We owe them families and communities capable of love and support. Most of all, we owe them a society committed to their full humanity—and ready to equip them with the capabilities to lead, create, and care.
What Are the Core Capabilities Required for a Thriving Life?
The People’s Commission is dedicated to identifying and fostering the core capabilities—such as planning, focus, self-control, awareness, and flexibility—that neuroscience and psychological research show are essential for managing work, parenting, and other life demands. By integrating these foundational skills into early-life policies and programs, we aim to empower individuals with the tools they need for personal growth, well-being, and long-term success, ensuring that every policy decision supports the conditions for a truly flourishing life.
Comparing the People’s Commission to the MAHA Commission
On February 14, President Trump signed the Executive Order 14212, links to an external website establishing the president’s Make America Healthy Again Commission which aims to end the childhood chronic disease epidemic. On May 24, The MAHA Commission submitted an initial Make our Children Healthy Again Assessment and Strategy outlining the potential root causes of the childhood chronic disease epidemic. On August 12, The MAHA Commission will submit a Make our Children Healthy Again Strategy to the President.
As the Trump administration's Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission released its report on childhood chronic diseases this Thursday, a citizen-led initiative, the People's Commission to Make Our Children Healthy, is poised to offer an alternative vision. While the MAHA Commission, established by Executive Order 14212 and chaired by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., focuses on identifying and addressing the root causes of chronic health issues among children, the People's Commission emphasizes a bottom-up approach, rooted in community engagement and participatory governance.
The Commission Within Moonshot Press & Project 2026
The Commission is a flagship initiative within Project 2026, Moonshot Press’s long-term effort to renew democracy, opportunity, and citizenship by America’s 250th birthday. It acts as a living laboratory to test how democratic engagement, technology, and local action can together advance the common good—beginning with children.
Project 2026
Project 2026 is a far-reaching, citizen-powered experiment to renew the Declaration of Independence for the 21st century. Inspired by the claim that all people are created equal and endowed with unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, we aim to translate those timeless principles into modern tools, data, and participatory frameworks. By equipping everyday Americans—from newborns’ caregivers to elder statespeople—with the means to shape public life, we’re proving that democracy’s unfinished work depends on informed, sustained, purposeful engagement. The real question isn’t merely What’s broken? It’s What can we build—together—to create the future we were promised?
Moonshot Press
Moonshot Press is a dynamic civic media platform dedicated to amplifying community voices and driving evidence-based dialogue, and it powers The People’s Commission to Make America’s Children Healthy by collecting grassroots insights, sharing real-time data, and co-creating solutions rooted in democracy, opportunity, and citizenship. Through engaging storytelling, interactive forums, and AI-enhanced reporting, Moonshot Press helps position child health as a collective responsibility rather than a siloed issue. By blending rigorous analysis with lived experiences, the partnership ensures that every parent, professional, and policymaker can access the resources and context needed to transform early-life health into a true democratic imperative.
The First 1000 Days of Life Initiative
Our mission is to explore the First 1,000 Days of Life, identify what fosters lifelong health and flourishing, and mobilize citizen-led solutions to safeguard the next generation. Commission uses the First 1000 Days framework as its central organizing principle. It incorporates prenatal, perinatal, and postnatal factors that are proven to influence health across the lifespan. It aligns this focus with federal, state, and local health policy reforms.
The Citizen Toolbox for the First 1000 Days
The Citizen Toolbox for the First 1000 Days of Life introduces a set of “tools” to improve citizen engagement. These tools allow unprecedented opportunity to get access to information, mobilize, challenge misinformation and provide for a more deliberative dialogue.
The First 1000 Day of life Local Platform
Thrive in Montco PA
The community that is best situated to provide an environment for wellbeing is the combination of social, economic, environmental, cultural, and political conditions identified as essential for them to flourish and fulfill their potential.” When we look at the community as a whole, we find three attributes that play a large role in wellbeing: connectedness, livability, and equity.
First 1000 Days of Life Montco PA (Google DOC)
Moonshot Press: Firs 1000 Days in Montco PA
Harnessing Technology and AI for the Common Good
The People’s Commission is committed to using technology—and especially artificial intelligence—as a force for public good. We believe that AI can help empower citizens, improve health outcomes, and strengthen democracy when designed and deployed with care, transparency, and ethical intention.
At the heart of our work is a commitment to exploring how emerging technologies can support the well-being of children, families, and communities. This includes developing and implementing AI-powered tools such as personal health assistants and the My Healthy Montco PA platform, which offer accessible, real-time support for navigating healthcare, services, and early childhood development.
In addition to public-facing tools, the Commission integrates AI into its internal operations. We use AI to support research, strategic planning, writing, image generation, and communications—enhancing our ability to synthesize knowledge, generate new insights, and communicate effectively with diverse audiences.
We are equally committed to transparency in how these technologies are used, ensuring that the tools we build and apply are understandable, trustworthy, and aligned with our values. As AI continues to evolve, so too will our approach—guided always by the principle that technology should serve people, not the other way around.
The Salutogenic Assistant Knowledge Base: Powering Informed, Holistic Health
At the heart of the People’s Commission’s innovation is the Salutogenic Assistant’s Knowledge Base—a dynamic, ever-evolving resource designed to support smarter, more holistic healthcare decisions. Built on the principles of salutogenesis, this digital repository integrates the latest evidence across key areas such as prenatal care, nutrition, physical activity, emotional well-being, and early childhood development.
More than just a database, it’s a living system—constantly updated with new research, expert insights, and evolving best practices. By combining advanced technology with a whole-person approach to health, the Knowledge Base helps individuals, caregivers, and professionals make decisions that promote resilience, vitality, and lifelong flourishing.
Whether you're a parent, practitioner, policymaker, or health advocate, this tool offers clarity in complexity—putting trustworthy, up-to-date information at your fingertips to guide healthier choices and better outcomes for every child and community.
The Whole Person Salutogenic Assistant
The Whole Person Salutogenic Assistant provides an organizing framework that translates available knowledge in a timely manner about the factors that contribute to citizen flourishing and sets the foundation for an action plan.
. An AI-powered, personalized tool to help parents, clinicians, and communities promote flourishing du
ring the first 1000 days. It provides support grounded in the salutogenic model of health.
Citizen Participation in the Commission
As Moonshot Press and The People’s Commission launch their first collaborative efforts, we want you at the table. Share your experiences, help us refine our research, and co-author the next chapter of America’s child-health story. Together, we’ll build a future where every child—no matter their background—has a fair shot at thriving, and every community has the power to hold systems accountable.
Stay Connected
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Subscribe to our newsletter for monthly insights, event invitations, and exclusive “behind-the-scenes” updates on PMACHC’s progress.
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Attend a virtual town hall or pilot kickoff in your region—details appear in each newsletter and on Moonshot Press’s website.
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Contribute to our Citizen Toolbox: submit feedback, suggest resources, or propose a local story for our community journalism section.
Agenda & Timeline (June 2025 – November 2026)
Below is a consolidated, four‐phase roadmap that aligns directly with the Executive Order’s mandates and core strategic components. Each phase includes high‐level goals, key deliverables, and major activities.
Phase One: June 15 – August 1, 2025
Overarching Goal:
Launch PCMOCH; establish governance, data infrastructure, and foundational strategy.
Phase Two: August 26 – December 31, 2025
Overarching Goal:
Consolidate and publish interim findings; refine the national strategy; begin baseline community engagement and AI prototyping.
Phase Three: January 1 – July 4, 2026
Overarching Goal:
Launch and evaluate pilot projects; finalize national strategic framework; advance AI deployment; deepen community‐driven design.
Phase Four: July 5 – November 4, 2026
Overarching Goal:
Scale demonstrated innovations; institutionalize PCMOCH recommendations; integrate into state/federal systems; finalize Election 2026 strategy.