William Navarrete Moreno is the founder and director of TheCHANGEproject, a youth-led nonprofit advancing health equity through community-driven advocacy, research, and storytelling. He also founded CHANGE Media, a media company that amplifies youth voices on issues of health, economic, and social justice. Under his leadership, TheCHANGEproject has launched initiatives such as the Health Equity Incubator, supporting grassroots leaders with mentorship and resources, and multimedia projects that translate community priorities intopolicy-relevant narratives.
William is an undergraduate at the University of Colorado Denver studying public health, with minors in biology and cognitive behavioral neuroscience. Recognized for leadership and public service, he is a Boettcher Scholar and an Obama-Chesky Voyager Scholar. His research experience includes work at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where he examined how socioeconomic inequities shape access, patient experience, and outcomes, especially for immigrant and low-income communities.
Rooted in his upbringing as the son of immigrants from Guerrero, Mexico, William approaches equity as both a professional mission and a personal imperative. He believes health care is a human right and builds solutions with, not for, the communities most affected by inequity. As a member of the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program’s Community Advisory Group, William brings a youth and grassroots perspective, working to bridge policy and lived experience and to align financial security and health equity so families can thrive.