2019 Awardee | Stanislaus County Health Services Agency

The involvement of Stanislaus County Health Services Agency Public Health leadership and staff, including the Public Health Director, in the Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE) learning cohort was key to the advancement of building an equity practice. A Health and Racial Equity Committee was created to build internal infrastructure through its charter and action plan, utilize the Racial Equity Toolkit to change internal practices, policies and procedures, and build internal capacity to operate through a health and racial equity lens across all budgets and other initiatives. The PHD will also embed strategies to address equity and power imbalances into the 2020 Community Health Improvement Plan. A powerful example of the department’s community power building work is the Powerful People (Gente Poderosa) Program, a partnership with the Nutrition Education and Obesity Prevention Program and Cultiva la Salud, to empower Latinx residents with advocacy skills and working with systems leaders.