The County of Santa Clara Public Health Department’s Racial and Health Equity team has facilitated the transformation of policies, practices and procedures across the department. They intentionally moved beyond the data to action, authentic community partnerships, and talking explicitly about race.
The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department is working in close partnership with community organizing group Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE) to address the need for a regulatory inspection program to ensure a healthy work environment for farmworkers, specifically accessible, safe, and clean toilets.
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.
Calaveras has deepened its understanding of a silent “rural morbidity penalty”, defined as the true morbidity in a rural population with more health disparities than their urban counterpart, even when controlling for education, income, poverty and race. While limited resources, higher margins of error, and limited access to skilled health professionals to analyze the data present challenges, Calaveras utilized an Oral Health Needs Assessment focused on high poverty, rural areas in creative ways.
Since 2014, the San Francisco Department of Public Health has been running the Black/African American Health Initiative (BAAHI) to address selected health disparities in the local Black/African American community. The initiative has been innovative in two distinct ways: (1) The focus on inter-divisional coordination as a strategy, which has led to inclusion of a substantial community focus and patient involvement in clinical quality improvement; and (2) The explicit anti-racist and institutional focus of the initiative, which has necessitated the development of a broad racial equity infrastructure.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has embarked on a transformational journey to build health equity and racial justice within the department. In collaboration with other county departments, labor partners and community-based organizations, the Center for Health Equity follows an equity framework. DPH is collaborating with labor partners to create a “Just Culture” work environment that calls for shared accountability, recognizing both organizational and individual responsibilities.
Since 2017, the City of Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services has been working closely with immigrant rights advocates to build community power and foster healthier and safer communities. The City is home to immigrants from Mexico, the Philippines, Cambodia, El Salvador, and many other countries, making up 26% of the its total population. With reports of immigration enforcement raids and deportation threats, it is no surprise that communities are experiencing increasing levels of toxic stress and trauma.
Affordable housing barriers are one of many discriminatory policies and systems that prevent formerly incarcerated individuals from re-entering society and thriving. The Riverside County Department of Public Health partnered with the community-based organization Starting Over Inc. through the Power-Building Partnerships for Health pilot project to advance health equity by reducing housing discrimination for formerly incarcerated populations and changing dominant narratives about the justice system.
