Transcript A Few Key Definitions

Introduction to the Equity &
Empowerment Lens
(Racial Justice Focus)
SUN Coordinating Council
July 6, 2012
Purpose of Presentation:
Basic education on history of Lens, foundational
models and definitions, racial justice focus,
focusing on definitions of ‘diversity’
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"To raise new questions, new
possibilities, to regard old
problems from a new angle,
requires creative imagination and
marks real advance in science.”
--Albert Einstein
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How are Health
and Positive Community Outcomes
Connected to Social Justice?
• Health and positive community outcomes are
basic human needs
• Human development is dependent on health
Source: Tackling Health Inequities through Public Health Practice:
Theory to Action (2010) Richard Hofrichter and Rajiv Bhatia
How are Health
and Positive Community Outcomes
Connected to Social Justice?
• Health inequities are health disparities that
result from preventable, systemic conditions,
policies, and institutional practices
• Action to eliminate inequities requires a
perspective and a conceptual framework
grounded in principles of social justice
SUN System Outcomes
•
•
•
•
•
Children Ready to Enter School (0-5 years)
Academic Success
Healthy Kids & Families
Prosperity
Desirable places to live
Why Are We Focusing on
Race / Ethnicity?
• The SUN Service System (SUN) vision is for a
system that realizes the potential of those served
through inclusive access to an array of effective
services and initiatives delivered through a
collaborative approach and integrated across
agencies, jurisdictions and funders.
• Racial and ethnic inequities prevent our
organization and community from fulfilling our
overall potential
• We move toward our vision by eliminating the
root causes of such inequities
Why Are We Focusing on
Race / Ethnicity?
• We have made strides in reducing some
health inequities in recent years, but research
still shows:
• Overall, people of color have worse outcomes
than Whites in Oregon.
• In Oregon, Blacks / African Americans are
significantly more likely than Whites to die from
heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer.
• Imperative to address inequities with the
greatest prevalence
A Few Key Definitions
• Quality Improvement: Continuous and
ongoing effort to achieve measurable
improvements in efficiency, effectiveness,
performance, accountability, outcomes, and
other indicators of quality in services or
processes which achieve equity and improve
the health of the community.
Source: Journal of Public Health Management and Practice,
2010, 16(1), 5-7.
“In every work of genius, we
recognize our once rejected
thoughts.“
Ralph Waldo Emerson
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A Few Key Definitions
• Equity: An ideal and a goal.
--Ensures that everyone has the resources to
succeed
--Fair and just distribution of resources
--Just decision-making and involvement
processes, leading to greater shared power
and involvement of communities most
affected by inequities
A Few Key Definitions
• Inequities: Systemic, avoidable, unfair
and unjust differences in indicators of
success
A Few Key Definitions
• Root Causes: The underlying causes of health
inequities, and include:
--unjust decision-making;
--disempowering engagement processes;
--inequities in living and working
conditions, access to transportation and
proper food sources; and
--racism, classism, and other forms of
discrimination (sexism, homophobia,
ableism, ageism, etc.)
A Few Key Definitions
• Empowerment: A social-action process in
which individuals and groups act to gain
mastery over their lives in the context of
changing their social and political
environment.
Source: Wallerstein, 1992
A Few Key Definitions
• Racism:
*Conduct, words, or practices which
advantage or disadvantage people because of
their culture, ethnic origin, language, or color.
*It is just as damaging in obvious forms as it is
in less obvious and subtle forms, and is still
called racism whether intentional or
unintentional.
Source: United Nations general reports as well as Learning / Teaching
Scotland (www.ltscotland.org.uk/raceequality)
A Few Key Definitions
• Racism, continued:
“Only members of the dominant social group
can exhibit racism because racism is prejudice
plus the institutional power to enforce it.”
Source: American Medical Students Association,
Power & Privilege Definitions.
www.amsa.org/AMSA/.../Power_Privilege_Definitions.sflb.ashx
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A Few Key Definitions
• Structural Racism:
“…a system in which public policies, institutional
practices, cultural representations, and other
norms work to reinforce and perpetuate racial
group inequity. It identifies dimensions of our
history and culture that have allowed
privileges associated with ‘whiteness’
and disadvantages associated with ‘color’ to
endure and adapt over time.”
Source: PolicyLink,
2011
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Causes of Health Inequities
Root Factors
Poverty
Discrimination
Immigration status
Institutional power
--the ‘-isms’
Upstream
Neighborhood
Conditions
Toxic contaminants
Joblessness
Unequal education
Poor transportation
Inadequate access to
food and exercise
Marketing of
unhealthy products
Unhealthy housing
Land use
Access to healthy food
Voter participation
Risk Behaviors
Nutrition
Physical activity
Tobacco use
Alcohol use
Violence
Hopelessness
Disease, Injury,
Mortality
Infectious disease
Chronic disease
Injury
Infant mortality
Life expectancy
Funding for
•Health Care Services
•Health Education
•Individual Services
Downstream
Adapted from: Prevention Institute. The Imperative of Reducing Health Disparities through Prevention:
Challenges, Implications, and Opportunities, October, 2006.
Solutions to Health Inequities
Root Factors
Poverty
Racial discrimination
Immigration status
Institutional power
--the ‘-isms’
Neighborhood
Conditions
Toxic contaminants
Joblessness
Unequal education
Poor transportation
Inadequate access to
food and exercise
Risk Behaviors
Nutrition
Physical activity
Tobacco use
Alcohol use
Violence
Hopelessness
Disease, Injury,
Mortality
Infectious disease
Chronic disease
Injury
Infant mortality
Life expectancy
Resources for
•Community capacity-building
•Policy advocacy
•Social and economic policy change
•Dismantling institutional privilege training
Upstream
Downstream
Adapted from: Prevention Institute. The Imperative of Reducing Health Disparities through Prevention:
Challenges, Implications, and Opportunities, October, 2006.
Relational Worldview Model
Values:
Balance
Inclusion
Systems
Empowerment
Relationship
CONTEXT
MIND
Sustainability
Connects:
SPIRIT
BODY
Land
Resources
People
Shared power
Spirit and21purpose
Why an Equity AND Empowerment Lens?
• Equity is an ideal and a goal, not a process
• Connection to definition of equity: improved
and just distribution of resources and voice /
power
• Individual, organizational, and community
empowerment are the means to achieving
equity
• Keeps critical thinking about the social,
economic, and environmental context at the
forefront
We are better together!
For more information, contact:
Sonali S. Balajee, Senior Policy Advisor
On the Equity and Empowerment Lens
[email protected]
503-988-4008