I am a Black woman who has spent my career in public health. Every project I have led, every advisory board I’ve sat on, every change I have driven, each step forward has come at a great personal cost rarely discussed in equity-focused improvement initiatives: the burden placed on the people of color who work on them.
In recent years, there’s been an influx of organizations speaking up against racism and bias and their impact on health outcomes. These welcome declarations have been followed by improvement projects paired with new public health measures focused specifically on eliminating health disparities.
While laudable, these projects and those who spearhead them, have often focused on external outcomes, unintentionally overlooking a pressing first step: assessing how internal structures, policies, and practices impact their own employees.
If you don’t treat the people within your organization with fairness, how do you expect those same people to promote fair and just methods in their projects? I ask. How can you expect me, as a Black woman, to address racism on behalf of an organization while dealing with organizational racism myself?
Medical schools and teaching hospitals can support an inclusive democracy by encouraging civic engagement among students, staff, and patients. Nonpartisan voter registration is a simple yet effective way for these …
Understanding Black grief requires taking a long look at the historical and contemporary experiences around the issues of death. But troublingly, there is very little research conducted on Black grief …
Apr 07, 2023 BLACK MATERNAL HEALTH WEEK 2023 CAMPAIGN APRIL 11 – 17, 2023 The Black Maternal Health Week (#BMHW23) is an annual week-long public health campaign founded and led by the …
In the U.S., maternal mortality is nearly four times more likely for black women compared to their white counterparts, and three times more black babies die before their first birthday. Why is the system failing?
Public health practitioners play an important role in uprooting internalized, interpersonal, and institutional inequities. Scott and Desrosiers, two public health professionals, share their journeys of being white and black women in America as they help individuals and organizations understand the impact of implicit bias and develop strategies through ally-ship to drive sustainable changes in systems such as healthcare.
For more information, availability and rates, contact us at 1-888-367-1110, Ext. 1.
“The conversations were excellent at raising points and new perspectives”
“[I] was engaged the entire time – clearly people are wanting to talk about this and explore their experiences”
“Best session I went to in the conference”
