Why Cities Must Keep Equity a Central Focus in Building a Culture of Health

Cross-posted from Cities Speak

Where you live determines your health as well as your proximity to opportunity. However, deep patterns of discrimination, racial segregation, and decades of federal, state and local policies have dictated where people live and the opportunities to which they have access. Despite advances in public health and improved economic prosperity, poor health outcomes disproportionately affect low-income communities and communities of color.

We cannot ignore how historical, systemic and structural racism has also shaped our nation’s cities and towns, resulting in disparities in education, housing, employment and health. Low-income communities and communities of color are still feeling the impacts of those decades-old decisions today. For these communities, the lack of key resources and services results in poor and costlier health outcomes, which are referred to as health inequities. Simply put, race and place matter when it comes to health and well-being.

In addition to having serious health consequences for individuals and families, health inequities negatively impact the economic competitiveness and vitality of cities through lost potential and productivity.

  • In 2000, the infant mortality among African Americans occurred at a rate of 14.1 deaths per 1,000 live births, which is more than twice the national average of 6.9 deaths per 1,000 live births that same year
  • Children who experience hunger are more likely to be in poor health and have behavioral and emotional problems in schools. Additionally, children experiencing hunger are more likely to repeat a grade and require special education services
  • Researchers estimate that childhood lead exposure in homes costs society over $50 billion per year due to lost economic productivity resulting from reduced cognitive potential

 

Now more than ever, municipal leaders have a responsibility to lead the way in partnering with communities to reimagine, design, and plan healthy places for residents to live, learn, work, and thrive.

 “Economic development is integral to having a healthy community. If we can address the economic issues in our neighborhoods, we can help people live healthier lifestyles,” says Mayor Mark Holland, Unified Government of Wyandotte County, Kansas City, Kansas.

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#Distruptive25 - Angela Glover Blackwell

Cross-posted from Living Cities

Living Cities unveils 25 Disruptive Leaders list, recognizing remarkable individuals who are shaking up the status quo and creating new approaches to address our nation’s most stubborn challenges.
 
Angela Glover Blackwell is the founder and CEO of PolicyLink, and continues to drive its mission of advancing economic and social equity. Under Angela’s leadership, PolicyLink has become a leading voice in the movement to use public policy to improve access and opportunity for all low-income people and communities of color, particularly in the areas of health, housing, transportation, education and infrastructure.
Angela Glover Blackwell has spent her career advocating for practical, sustainable ways to promote equity and ensure that everyone has access to opportunity.
 
A lawyer by training, Angela was a partner at Public Advocates, a nationally renowned public interest law firm representing the underrepresented, from 1977 to 1987. As she litigated class action suits, she developed innovative non-litigation strategies around employment, education, health and consumer affairs. Angela gained national recognition as the founder of Urban Strategies Council in Oakland, California, and led its pioneering approach to social change through community building.
 
Prior to founding PolicyLink, Angela served as Senior Vice President at the Rockefeller Foundation. While there, she developed the Next Generation Leadership and Building Democracy programs, centered on issues of inclusion, race and policy.
 
What does disruptive leadership mean to Angela? Watch the video here.

Our Response: Resistance!

After a moment of reflection, we are comforted by the strength, resilience, and unconquerable nature of the equity movement. We are also clear on our next steps. Our purpose —  just and fair inclusion into a society in which all can participate, prosper, and reach their full potential — was the right purpose before November 8, and it will remain the right purpose until we unlock the promise of the nation by unleashing the promise in us all. To this end:

WE ARE RESISTING! We are fighting to defend and advance hard-fought gains to design an equitable economy, build healthy communities of opportunity, and create a just and fair society. We must keep the momentum going on police reform and expanding opportunity for women, boys and girls of color, and the LGBTQ community. The immediate targets of the incoming administration will likely be Muslims and Mexicans. If that happens, we will stand together and mount a forceful and sustained resistance. When one is attacked or reviled, we all are.

WE ARE CREATING OUR OWN HOPE! We draw sustenance from the Equity Manifesto, which urges us to join together, believing in the potency of inclusion and building from a common bond. We will continue partnering with local leaders to build an equitable economy where everyone benefits. We will dismantle oppressive, racist systems, and we will steadfastly advocate for policies that benefit those who are being left behind, who some describe as the "forgotten." We have never forgotten our tribal, rural, and urban brothers and sisters who are struggling to get by. In fact, PolicyLink was founded to lift up their voice, wisdom, and experience and to translate their hopes and aspirations into policy. We will not allow them to be exploited and divided by pitting one group’s pain against the pain of others. We will use our summits and daily walkabouts to redouble our efforts to create safer and more inclusive spaces for our economically struggling White brothers and sisters to see themselves as an essential part, and beneficiary of, the equity movement. We find hope in knowing that we will not participate in small plans and feckless actions. We are going to get results that are commensurate with the scale of our nation’s challenges.

WE WILL HEAL IN OUR OWN TIME! Talk of healing is premature. We cannot heal until the pain inflicted ceases, is acknowledged, and reconciliation occurs. Calls to be patient and calm fall on deaf ears. Even though we do not expect a genuine effort to repair the breach, we will move forward with the determination and grace that our ancestors expect, and the dignity that this moment requires. James Baldwin wrote: “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” We will face this moment with urgency and steely resolve. We will persist in the struggle for freedom, dignity, and equity. And with the nation’s children as our witnesses, we will prevail and make America great — for All, for the first time. 

In solidarity,
The PolicyLink Family

We Are The Humanities

Cross-posted from California Humanities

What are the humanities, why do they matter? How have they made a difference in your life?

To celebrate our 40th year anniversary of grant making, programming, and partnerships that connect Californians to each other, we invited a group of 40 prominent Californians to explore what the humanities mean to them. 
 
We invite you to watch, listen, and read as they dig into the deep importance of the humanities in shaping their lives and understanding the world. We are sharing what they have to say every week via our website, and social media channels, and invite you to tell us why the humanities are important to you!
 
 

In 30 States, Ex-Offenders Who Still Owe Fines or Fees Have Their Voting Rights Restricted

This op-ed, written by Karin Martin Anne Stuhldreher, is cross-posted from the Washington Post.

Forty-eight-year-old Treva Thompson won’t be voting on Election Day. It’s not that she’s turned off by the choice of candidates. It’s that she can’t.

She owes around $8,000 in fines and fees, plus more than $30,000 in victim restitution related to her felony theft conviction in 2005. And she’d have to pay it all off before starting the process to have her voting rights restored. A herculean task, she explains, because she often doesn’t “even have money to get gas to go look for a job.” Speaking for individuals with criminal histories and debt, Thompson says: “We shouldn’t lose our rights as if we’re nothing.”

She’s the lead plaintiff in a voting rights case aimed at preventing the state of Alabama from “barring any ex-offenders from voting on the basis of their past felony convictions — or their inability to pay ‘any legal financial obligations’ as a result of their incarceration.” Alabama is one of 30 states that restrict the voting rights of those who owe debts from their involvement in the criminal justice system. An estimated 10 million Americans owe $50 billion in such debt.

READ THE FULL OP-ED>>>

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