Editor's Note:
It gives our organization, and me personally, as an African-American woman who serves as the first Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Community Catalyst, great pleasure to honor and celebrate the contributions and achievements of Black and African-American communities and individuals within the health justice movement.
Recently, we launched a health equity and racial justice framework, which we are working to apply to our work and use in providing the necessary technical assistance to our partners across the country. We still have a lot to learn and are looking forward to advancing health equity and racial justice for years to come. While accomplishments such as the passage of the Affordable Care Act have produced considerable gains, many communities continue to experience high uninsurance rates, limited access to needed health care and suffering from persistent health disparities caused by poverty, substandard housing, stress related to racism, environmental toxins and other factors. In honor of Black History Month, Community Catalyst recognizes important change makers who have dedicated their lives and careers to addressing these issues while promoting health equity.
The country has come a long way in improving access to health care. However, Black and African-American populations in the U.S. still experience worse health outcomes than white people. We recognize the long road ahead to ensure that everyone has accessible, affordable and quality health care. Celebrating the achievements of these change makers in health, along with acknowledging current disparities, is a reminder that we have leaders to guide the way to a healthier future for communities of color – and therefore for us all.
Our hope is that people and organizations use this page to learn and educate others by downloading the graphics and using them on their own social media pages. To download any of the graphics, click the button below.
And to learn more about Community Catalyst’s health equity work, please feel free to contact me directly at dtaylor@communitycatalyst.org.
In Solidarity—Dara S. Taylor, Director, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Black Change Maker Graphics
“Childhood adversity literally gets under our skin and has the potential to change our health. The corollary is that it’s something we can do something about.”—Dr. Nadine Burke Harris
“Understanding that racism - structural, personally mediated, and internalized, as well as implicit bias, causes inequities in birth outcomes and maternal morbidity is imperative. Once we start with some historical truths...we can build policy and culture that, finally, values us all.”—Dr. Joia Creer-Perry
Health Disparities the Black Community Experiences
“Racism is not about hate alone…institutional racism is about public policy.”—Reverend Dr. William J. Barber II, Political Activist, Author, and President of the North Carolina NAACP