Thomas Silvera Launches PolicyPantry, a New Platform Aimed at Making Health Policy Easier to Navigate
- Mateo Rivera
- 17 hours ago
- 3 min read
The independent project, launched in beta in July 2026, grew out of Silvera’s years of advocacy following the death of his son, Elijah-Alavi, and his work with lawmakers, advocates and organizations across the country.
Thomas Silvera has spent years navigating the often complicated world of health policy, working with legislators, advocacy organizations, policy advisors and families seeking stronger protections for children and communities.
Now, he is taking what he has learned and putting it into a new digital resource.
In July 2026, Silvera launched the beta version of PolicyPantry, an independent platform designed to help users find, explore and better understand health-related laws and legislation across the United States.
The idea, Silvera said, had been developing for more than a year. Through his work with advocates, legislative advisors and organizations, he repeatedly encountered the same challenge: important policy information was often scattered across state websites, government databases and organizational resources, making it difficult for the public to understand what laws existed, what legislation was pending and how protections differed from one state to another.
PolicyPantry was created to help address that gap.
The platform brings together information on health-related laws and policies involving areas such as food allergies, anaphylaxis, asthma, childcare, schools, colleges and universities, restaurants, airlines and other public settings. It also includes resources focused on enacted and pending legislation, state comparisons, policy gaps, legislative directories and explanations of how bills move through the state and federal legislative process. Additional features include advocacy resources, letter templates, health equity information, emergency preparedness materials, legal rights, insurance policy information, allergen-related resources and other tools intended to make policy easier to navigate.
For Silvera, however, the project is rooted in something deeply personal.
His son, Elijah-Alavi, died in 2017 at the age of three following a severe allergic reaction while attending a New York City childcare program. Elijah had a documented food allergy, but his emergency plan was not properly followed.
The loss led Silvera and Elijah’s mother to co-found the Elijah-Alavi Foundation, an organization focused on food allergy and anaphylaxis education, training and policy reform.
Silvera has since become heavily involved in legislative advocacy, including efforts connected to Elijah’s Law, which seeks stronger food allergy protections in childcare settings.
Those experiences ultimately helped shape the idea for PolicyPantry.
“Over the years, I have had the opportunity to work with legislative advisors, advocates, organizations, lawmakers and families, and I learned so much from those conversations,” Silvera said. “I kept thinking about how difficult it can be for someone to simply find a law, understand what it means or compare what is happening from one state to another.” While Silvera’s advocacy work and the legacy of Elijah-Alavi helped inspire the project, he emphasizes that PolicyPantry is not part of the Elijah-Alavi Foundation. Instead, he describes it as an independent passion project that combines his interest in public health, legislation, advocacy, education and technology.
“The foundation has its own mission and work,” Silvera said. “PolicyPantry is something I created independently because policy has become a real passion of mine. I wanted to take what I have learned and try to build something that could be useful to other people.”
The platform remains in beta, and Silvera said public feedback will play an important role in determining how it develops.
He is encouraging families, advocates, educators, healthcare professionals, researchers, organizations and others interested in health policy to explore the website, test its tools and provide suggestions.
That includes identifying missing laws, reporting information that may need to be updated, recommending new features or simply sharing whether the platform is easy to navigate.
“I would love for people to try it out and tell me what they think,” Silvera said. “Every piece of feedback, whether it is a suggestion, a correction or an idea for something we should add, means a lot to me. This is still growing, and I want the people who may actually use it to help shape what it becomes.”
For Silvera, PolicyPantry represents another evolution of a journey that began with the loss of his son and grew into years of advocacy and legislative work.
While the platform is separate from the Elijah-Alavi Foundation, the motivation behind it remains closely connected to what Silvera has learned since Elijah’s death: laws and policies can have a direct impact on the safety and well-being of families, but only if people can find them, understand them and know how to engage with them.
PolicyPantry is Silvera’s attempt to make that process a little easier.
PolicyPantry is currently available in beta at PolicyPantry.com, and Silvera is inviting users to explore the platform and share their feedback as development continues.
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