Health departments are building power for health equity
After years of struggling to close health disparities, a new movement has taken root: health departments are using a set of strategic practices to confront the power imbalances and forms of oppression at the root of health inequities, change the conversation about what creates health equity, develop leadership and support innovation, and build a movement for health equity.
Strategic Practices
Mobilize Data, Research, & Evaluation
Build Organizational Capacity
Change Internal Practices and Processes
Prioritize Upstream Policy Change
Allocate Resources
Build Government Alliances
Develop a Shared Analysis
Broaden Regulatory Scope
Share Power with Communities
Build Community Alliances
Engage in Movements
Confront the Root Causes
Develop Leadership and Support Innovation
Change the Conversation
Build a Health Equity Movement
We want to scale up this transformation
This website is structured around a set of strategic practices that health departments can apply to more meaningfully and comprehensively advance health equity. Over and over, more health departments are asking “What are the strategic steps we can take to advance health equity at our health department?” This resource showcases success stories from across the United States to answer this question.
Local health departments are championing transformational change by:
Building internal capacity and infrastructure and taking strategic risks to advance equity
Fostering strategic community partnerships to build power and engage in social justice movements
Working across government agencies to develop shared ownership for health equity
Get to know our case studies
King County Transforms County Practice to Advance Equity
Using a social determinants framework, King County, Washington, transformed its practice across all departments and agencies to advance equity throughout the jurisdiction. The countywide equity and social justice strategic plan is tied to the county’s biennial budget schedule, and departments and agencies set individual implementation plans to work toward shared equity goals.
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Kansas City Develops MOU and Shares Space with Community Organizers
The Kansas City, Missouri Health Department has developed a long-term close and synergistic relationship with Communities Creating Opportunity, a largely faith-based community organizing group. The relationship has enriched both organizations’ capacity to do meaningful community engagement and enact upstream policy change.
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What underlies our approach?
To systematically dismantle the patterns of othering and exclusion in government practice, we must pursue a wall-to-wall transformation of how local health departments work internally, with communities, and alongside other government agencies.
This inside/outside approach requires health departments to build internal capacity and a will to act on the social determinants of health and health equity. It also requires developing relationships with and mobilizing communities and government to advocate for action on health equity.
Check out our webinar series
To learn more about the Health Equity Guide and how health departments are advancing health equity, check out this 4-part webinar series with national experts and local health departments profiled in the Health Equity Guide. Each webinar focused on a set of strategic practices that health departments can take to pursue a wall-to-wall transformation of how they work internally, with communities, and alongside other government agencies. Organized by HIP, these webinars were co-sponsored with GARE, NCHE, and NACCHO. Learn more about the webinar series
