Health inequities are finally getting the attention they deserve, but public health professionals have few resources and little support in building a community of peers committed to social justice in public health practice. Recognizing this gap, the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO, pronounced "nay-cho") set out to create a free educational website that helps public health practitioners recognize and act more effectively on the social injustices at the root of health inequity.
The overarching aim of NACCHO's Health Equity program was to move education about health inequities beyond the structure of typical online professional development courses and towards an interactive, group experience. NACCHO wanted to inspire insight, self-awareness, and progressive social change.
As a Senior Analyst in Health Equity, I led web/digital content creation for Roots of Health Inequity under a two-year, $1.2 million grant from the National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities at the National Institutes of Health.
During the daunting process of crystallizing a project vision and learning objectives, I championed a cohesive vision and strategy for Roots of Health Inequity, while coordinating team development strategies. I invited participation at all levels, supporting effective workflow, and helping to deliver the project on-time and on-budget. I helped to source, manage and coordinate the work of researchers, graphic designers, web developers, and interns. I continually integrated dozens of design and copy drafts to produce final curriculum content.
By the end of the project, I had researched, organized, curated, and written three course units and edited two others, including concept drafts, interactive presentation scripts, flow and layout. My work on this project included strategic planning, curriculum design and development, web content development and management, implementation planning and technical assistance as well as promotion and marketing.
Approach
Our project objectives and vision of success were informed by critical theory and popular education.
Rather than “teach” users, we aimed to inspire insight by connecting key issues to their personal and professional experiences. At the same time, since the project is grounded in a particular view of public health, we wanted to guide dialogue towards a “structural” and systems-based analysis of underlying causes. To do this, we carefully crafted digital presentations, stories, activities and discussion prompts to kickstart open-ended dialogue.
Course Experience
The site structure supports self-directed learning.
Participants are able to explore the curriculum content at their own pace, in any order. The content is geared people with a basic understanding of social justice and health inequities, but links beginners to more information. We also developed extension activities and collaboration tools for more advanced users.
We planned for the site to grow and evolve through new and returning user participation and contributions. Although the networking components are secondary to the educational experience, we hoped that participants will stay engaged long after they completed the “course.”
"Polluting Sites in Northern Manhattan"
reveals a pattern of environmental injustice through the power of interactive storytelling. Based on documentation provided by by West Harlem Environmental Action, a community-based environmental justice organization, the map outlines the locations of 20 diesel polluting sites, set against start inequities in neighborhood poverty and race. Following an animated presentation, users are able to click on each polluting site to see a brief description of its community impact and history.
I translated the concept and figured out a plan to execute it. I worked with and supervised a team that captured oral histories and documentation from community leaders, researched the extensive histories of each polluting site, analyzed data describing the proportional impact of each site, sourced and licensed neighborhood images from community members, and wrote and edited copy.
"A Neighborhood Fights Back: West Harlem's Battle for Clean Air"
tells the story of how and why the North River Wastewater Treatment Plant ended up in West Harlem, New York. Inspired by an issue paper, the presentation includes a chronological account of events and decisions leading to the plant's placement and features some of the key players on both sides of the struggle.
I analyzed the issue paper, fact-checked the chronology of events, helped to craft the narrative, developed the presentation script, and worked with community leaders to review the content.
The "Evolving Role of Public Health"
describes changes in the priorities and scope of public health since the 1840s. The presentation describes how changes in public health practice link to a broader social history. The presentation is a central tool in a course unit about expanding the scope of public health practice and the role of public health practitioners since the 19th century.
I came up with the concept and analyzed more than 200 years of public health and social movement history, curating artwork, mapping and designing the presentation, crafting the narrative, managing the work of two external researchers and other NACCHO team members.
"Anatomy of an Un-Natural Disaster"
describes how patterns of residential segregation leave some communities more vulnerable than others after natural disasters. The presentation was inspired by the provocative statement, “There is no such thing as a natural disaster”—the title of a collection of essays edited by Chester Hartman and Gregory Squires.
I built on the original concepts, collected and analyzed data, reviewed and summarized more than 200 years of New Orleans's history, sourced maps and images, and wrote copy.
Unit 1: Where Do We Start?
is among three course units that I developed and wrote. The unit invites learners to explore how to change the culture of our organizations, engage community members, and negotiate political pressures strategically.
I developed the core curriculum (including the concepts, research, and scripts for the interactive presentations and activities for individuals and learning groups) and curated the resource library.