Events

Sonya Shah (she, her, hers) is a social justice educator who works to seed models of restorative justice and trauma healing in her community and across the United States. In 2016 she initiated the Ahimsa Collective, an organization that works to respond to harm in ways that foster wholeness for everyone. Her experiences as a survivor of child sexual abuse are critical in her analysis and approach to this work. In her talk, Shah spoke about types of sexual harm, their specific connections to sexism and patriarchy, and considered ways to address and heal this harm through restorative, transformative and healing justice.

In addition to her other work, Shah is a founding member of Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice with Californians for Safety and Justice. She has served on the advisory board for Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth and the board of trustees for the California Institute of Integral Studies, where she is an associate professor. Shah publishes regularly on Huffington Post and has appeared on NPR and various radio programs.

Sonya Renee Taylor (she, her, hers) is an award-winning performance poet, activist and transformational leader, and author of The Body Is Not An Apology: The Power of Radical Self Love. In her talk, Taylor delves into an exploration of sizeism and fatphobia as well as patriarchy and sexism, side-by-side with other oppressions and considerations of health and health equity. This recording is part of Community Leaders in Health Equity in partnership with Transformative Alliances LLC.

Miguel De La Torre, PhD, professor of Social Ethics and Latinx Studies at Iliff School of Theology in Denver, presented on the concept of hope as a uniquely Eurocentric phenomenon, and how and why he believes that hopelessness, as a state of mind, can actually fuel social-justice work.

Andrea Cristina Mercado, executive director of Florida Rising and the New Florida Majority Education Fund, shared her experiences organizing alongside women in immigrant and low-income communities, and moving hearts and minds to reimagine what is possible.

Taté Walker presented on the violence and marginalization faced by Indigenous women, primarily due to the ongoing, chronic impacts of settler colonialism. Walker, who is Lakota and a citizen of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe of South Dakota, is an Indigenous rights activist and award-winning multimedia storyteller.

Niki Okuk founded RCO Tires in 2012. The Compton, California-based company has recycled more than 300 million pounds of rubber, diverting 70 million gallons of oil from landfills, and provides stable jobs for Black and Latino residents who struggle to find employment because of past criminal convictions or legal status. Okuk’s talk explored the way systemic class oppression operates to make and keep people poor, and the toll this can take.

Harriet A. Washington is a science writer, editor and ethicist. Ms. Washington discussed health inequities from the lens of structural racism, including an examination of medical experimentation on people of color, gene patenting and other topics. Recordings with English subtitles provided.

Ian Haney López, JD, the Earl Warren Professor of Public Law at University of California, Berkeley, presented on how coded language and racial pandering among politicians has led to public policies that reinforce racism and inequities in the United States. Recordings with English and Spanish subtitles provided.

Lydia X. Z. Brown, past president of TASH New England, chairperson of the Massachusetts Developmental Disabilities Council and a board member of the Autism Women’s Network, presented on inequities in health services for disabled people with an intersectional focus on race, sexual orientation and gender identity. Recordings with English and Spanish subtitles provided.

Rachel Hardeman, PhD, MPH of the University of Minnesota School of Public Health and Partners in Equity and Inclusion (Minneapolis, Minn.), explored the historical context of structural racism, its role in creating health inequities in the United States, and the importance of naming and recognizing racism in order to mitigate its impact on society and health. Recordings with English and Spanish subtitles provided.

Deliana Garcia, MA of the Migrant Clinicians Network presented on the health challenges facing migrant workers and how these issues are related to health equity. Recordings with English and Spanish subtitles provided.

john a. powell, JD, director of the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society at University of California, Berkeley, discussed structural racialization, the concept of “targeted universalism” and more. Spanish and English recordings provided.

Denise Gonzales, program director at the Con Alma Health Foundation, and Susan Wilger, MPAff, director of programs at the National Center for Frontier Communities, discussed health equity challenges and opportunities in rural communities of New Mexico, and how lessons learned from recent work can be applied to rural Colorado. Spanish and English recordings provided.

Doran Schrantz, executive director of ISAIAH in Minnesota, discussed community organizing, political power and other topics. Spanish and English recordings provided.

Mildred Thompson, director at the PolicyLink Center for Health Equity and Place, presented PolicyLink’s plan for creating a more equitable society where everyone can participate and thrive. She discussed how reducing inequality is essential to creating health equity.

Manuel Pastor, PhD, a professor of sociology, American studies and ethnicity at the University of Southern California, presented on how building a social movement can help achieve health equity and how communities can be involved. His presentation included recent success stories and a list of 10 key elements to building an effective social movement, such as the need for scale, a viable economic model and a pragmatic policy package.

Laura Frank, president and general manager of news for Rocky Mountain PBS, and Llewellyn Smith, director of media for production at BlueSpark Collaborative, presented how they have told the story of health disparities through video, print and photos, as well as the importance of sharing compelling health equity stories.

Paula Braveman, MD, MPH, a leading national expert on health equity, discussed barriers to achieving optimal health faced by racial and ethnic minorities, low-income and other disadvantaged populations. Dr. Braveman serves as director of the Center on Social Disparities in Health within the School of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.

Elizabeth Myung Sook Krause, ScM, Vice President of Policy and Communications at the Connecticut Health Foundation; Nichole June Maher, MPH, President and CEO from the Northwest Health Foundation in Oregon; and Yanique Redwood, PhD, President and CEO at the Consumer Health Foundation in Washington, DC, shared their challenges, successes and lessons for communities in Colorado working toward health equity. (L. to r.: Nichole June Maher, MPH; Elizabeth Myung Sook Krause, ScM; Yanique Redwood, PhD.)

Adewale Troutman, MD, MPH, CPH, associate dean of health equity and community engagement at the University of South Florida and past president of the American Public Health Association, shared insights about how social determinants of health affect health, and what we can do to address these factors.

Brian Smedley, PhD, MA, a leading national expert on health equity, shared information about how states can address health equity through the Affordable Care Act, as well as other ways through which states and local communities can advance health equity. Dr. Smedley is vice president and director of the Health Policy Institute of the Joint Centerfor Political and Economic Studies in Washington, DC.

Anthony Iton, MD, JD, MPH, senior vice president at The California Endowment and Winston Wong, MD, medical director at Kaiser Permanente, shared their experiences working toward solutions to achieve health equity in communities.