Supporting a Movement for Health and Health Equity Lessons from Social Movements: Workshop Summary (2014) / Chapter Skim
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4 Investing in Healthy Communities: One Foundation's Approach
4 Investing in Healthy Communities: One Foundation's Approach
Pages 39-44
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From page 39... ...
The ingredients described above are key factors in fueling a movement for health improvement and equity, Iton said, because facilitating opportunities for vulnerable populations is critical to assuring equity. Also, as he and several other speakers noted, there is a need to build a "movement narrative" that shapes public recognition of the social determinants of health.
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From page 40... ...
defines health equity as occurring when all people have the opportunity to attain their full health potential and no one is disadvantaged from achieving this potential because of his or her social position or other socially determined circumstance.1 In order to achieve health equity, it is not enough simply to define the goal, Iton argued; it is equally critical to understand the roots of health inequity, which can be found in intentional policies and practices. It is also critical that those who have suffered injustices take control of the movement for health equity, he said, recalling Ganz's assertion that "agency is good for you." Being in control provides "a sense of help and hope and future" that counteracts stressors and discourages unhealthy behaviors, Iton emphasized.
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From page 41... ...
Management of the health consequences of socioeconomic inequity is expensive and potentially unending, Iton said. "We have to figure out how we address some of the conditions and do it in an organized, evidence-based, intelligent, rational way that takes into consideration the historical patterns and legacies." Although interventions exist to prevent death and disease and change behavior, he said, "we don't have great interventions for communities that are on life support." Identifying such interventions should be a key mission of public health [practitioners and researchers]
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From page 42... ...
To fuel action toward these goals, the Endowment hires community organizers; provides opportunities for collective, multisectoral discussion of community needs; attempts to recruit leaders within communities, particularly among the youth; and seeks private funding and investment to support local programs and economies. "We have 14 sites across the state of California where we are spending about $1 billion over the next 10 years," Iton reported, but the money is not being spent to build a movement for health equity because that is not the purview of foundations such as The California Endowment.
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From page 43... ...
Given that many rural communities lack a diversified economic base with which to build public–private partnerships, an audience member asked, how might such communities harness their resources or tap into national funding streams to support local efforts in support of health equity? Iton replied that about half of the 14 communities in which the endowment works are rural and that in these settings -- while there is indeed a lack of infrastructure and economic diversity as compared with urban communities -- it is relatively easily to organize across sectors and to collaborate because local officials tend to wear several hats.
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