The day after the Communications Team at GHC published our contributions to AMPLIFY’s ‘It’s On Us: White Women Undoing White Supremacy’ series, we received a thoughtful email from Lazenya Weekes-Richemond, a UK-based Black woman who has had a long career in global development. She shared her journey navigating the daily micro and macro aggressions made against her by white women and the detrimental effects that a decade’s worth of white supremacy in global development work has had on her wellbeing. Soon after our initial correspondence, we met with her to discuss a proposed series in response to “It’s On Us” called “It’s On You.”

Black women, Indigenous women, and women of color (BIWOC) have long been betrayed by white women who choose power or self-preservation over true solidarity. “It’s On You” is a series where those of you who identify as BIWOC are encouraged to share your experiences being faced with white women perpetuating white supremacy in the global health and development sectors. What do you want white women to know? What actions do you hope to see white women take to address their participation in racism? Our hope is that this series will foster difficult but necessary conversations, pressure white women to take tangible steps to redistribute the power that centuries of white supremacy and colonization have afforded them, and eliminate the harm they cause BIWOC through their actions.

When AMPLIFY was launched, the decision to exclusively feature those from within the Global Health Corps’ network was made to ensure that community members with historically silenced identities had a place to write about the intersection of health equity, racial equity, gender equity, and beyond. That being said, to create space for a much-needed dialogue between BIWOC and white women, we’ve chosen to open up submissions for “It’s On You” to any individual working in the global development sector who identifies as a Black woman, Indigenous woman, or woman of color.

What can you submit?

• Your words, your format. We welcome personal reflections, photo essays, in-depth analysis, interviews, op-eds, and more. Check out AMPLIFY for inspiration on format types.
• Between 500–1200 words. Check out our guide to writing for AMPLIFY.
• Still have questions? Ready to submit? Reach out to bailey@ghcorps.org.

*Editor’s note: If you wish to submit a contribution but fear retaliation from your employer, please reach out to bailey@ghcorps.org so that we can work to publish your piece anonymously.

Happy reflecting and writing!

Global Health Corps (GHC) is a leadership development organization building the next generation of health equity leaders around the world. All GHC fellows, partners, and supporters are united in a common belief: health is a human right. There is a role for everyone in the movement for health equity. To learn more, visit our website and connect with us on Twitter/Instagram/Facebook.

Call For Submissions: “It’s On You.” was originally published in AMPLIFY on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

This post was authored by DEI Task Force Phase 2 members: Brittany Cesarini, Hannah Wood, Heather Anderson, Jean René Shema, Gabriela Lopez, and Mera Boulus Grozier.

On May 25, a video of George Floyd being killed by a white Minnesota police officer began to circulate and spark protests in major U.S. cities and across the world. In the following week, our team at Global Health Corps (GHC) responded by adding our organizational voice to the chorus of voices rightfully affirming that Black Lives Matter and condemning white supremacy. We issued a statement responding to the murder and curated and shared anti-racism and mental health resources with our community, many of whom are Black.

In the days that followed, we examined our broader institutional response to what was proving to be a widespread, long overdue reckoning with centuries of dehumanization of Black people, Indigenous people, and people of color (BIPOC) in the U.S. and far beyond. We reflected on and acknowledged that our record as an institution included some important progress as well as some significant missteps in the realm of racial justice and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) more broadly. We vowed to do better and to allow this period to be a serious inflection point for us to take a more intersectional approach to our work.

Throughout June, July, and August, we engaged in a series of formal and informal conversations, internally as a team and with our fellows and alumni, about GHC’s role in promoting racial justice and advancing DEI. Some of the conversations were painful as we processed grief and hurt; grappled with moments in our 10 year history where our actions (or lack thereof) caused harm; and uncovered a need for healing. Many of the conversations were productive, sparking ideas and connections to build out our racial justice programming, support and strengthen our community, and build on our foundation. All of the conversations were important for catalyzing efforts to deepen our anti-racism and DEI practices as an organization and a diverse global community.

A Two-Pronged Approach: External & Internal Focuses

Through this dialogue and reflection, our team agreed that ramping up our ongoing efforts to advance DEI would require a two-pronged approach focusing on more deeply integrating DEI internally in our organizational operations, culture, and policies and externally in our programming, communications, partnerships, and community engagement efforts.

These areas are deeply intertwined in important ways. For organizations like GHC — that is, those operating globally and trying to promote equity in the world around us — ensuring our own house is in order is a critical aspect of living out our mission. And because we at GHC are also building a community, ensuring our internal processes and team culture align with the values we espouse in our work is paramount.

Specifically, we believe that fostering DEI within our organization will directly impact our ability to advance DEI in global health more broadly. For too long, global health and development organizations have disproportionately focused on pursuing ambitious aims to make the world a more equitable place without examining how an internal lack of diversity, equity, and inclusion actually hinders that work. This tendency partially explains why a sector that strives to do good in the world often falls short or even causes harm.

External Focus: Partnerships, Programming & Platforms

Our Community Impact and Programs Teams primarily work to establish and strengthen a wide range of partnerships and programming at the intersection of health equity, racial justice, and DEI for our fellows and alumni. In building out new programming to respond to current needs, the team is navigating the reality that our diverse community has varied levels of understanding and personal connections to issues of racism, white supremacy, and DEI more broadly. Building on an intensive feedback gathering process with our community in 2020, the team rolled out a suite of ongoing programs to support mindful, courageous, and inclusive anti-racist leadership. The following programs have already gotten underway in 2020 and early 2021:

• Juneteenth Celebration. We commemorated this holiday as a community with RAPtivism artist and activist Aisha Fukushima, who performed original songs, delivered a keynote address, and facilitated a guided meditation and freedom poem activity.
• PSiCHArt x Health Equity and Racial Justice. This virtual event provided a space for the GHC community to explore the intersection of health equity and racial justice through art. It was hosted on a digital platform created by alumna Georgina Denis’ tech start-up SURU Together and facilitated by alumna Eliza Ramos’ coaching start-up Circles International.
• Black Leadership Academy with McKinsey. 40 Black GHC alumni of varying nationalities received access to world-class management training through this initiative.
• Courageous Leadership Across Discord, Difference and Distance, led by Dr. Georgette Ledgister. This inclusion workshop will support community members to engage in transformative conversations with one another.
• Sonder for Equitable Leadership, led by Natalie Patterson. Three sessions on radical honesty, decompression, and allyship will support community healing through authentic connection.
• Mindful Leadership, led by Ghylian Bell. This six-part series will use a sustainable leadership framework rooted in awareness-based, trauma-informed, and indigenous practices to equip community members to be more mindful within their activism.
• Racial Justice Hub on the Community Portal. This is a digital space for GHC staff and community members to share resources and engage in dialogue on racial justice issues.

Our Communications and Development Teams primarily manage our external platforms and messaging to key stakeholders. As we reflected, we acknowledged that GHC as an institution has infrequently leveraged the power of our platforms to take a strong stance against white supremacy, and we vowed to be more vocal and explicit. Our November 2020 statement on protecting the right to civic engagement to advance public health is a recent example of this.

More broadly, we pledged to thoughtfully consider how/when/if to respond to current events that indirectly impact health equity, given our long-standing commitment to social justice and intersectionality. We agreed to center one key question in our decision making in this realm: Can we respond in a way that allows us to practice moral courage, honor the diversity of our community, live out our value of sustainable resilience, and advance our mission?

Internal Focus: DEI Task Force

In 2019, some members of the GHC team launched our first-ever internal DEI task force. Despite initial momentum, the task force was stifled by members’ high workloads and full schedules, reflecting the need for a broader organization-wide conversation on how to prioritize DEI and ensure buy-in to the work at all levels. In 2020, with these learnings in mind, we decided by consensus to revitalize these efforts. We restarted the internal task force, this time with an increased focus on ensuring that our DEI work remained a priority. We agreed by consensus that the task force would meet weekly and operate in phases, with rotating groups of staff from across teams and countries participating on a volunteer basis.

Phase I of the task force began to meet in August 2020, at the beginning of our Fiscal Year 2021, and outlined key areas of focus for each of the phases:

Phase I also aligned on the following task force structure and norms:

• Each phase should include participation from at least two members of GHC’s senior leadership team, at least two African country staff, at least two American staff, and at least one person from the prior phase for continuity. No limit on participants.
• DEI meetings should be prioritized over other meetings and must have more than 50 percent of all participants in attendance to proceed.
• Each phase will have a coordinator to set recurring meetings, prepare meeting agendas, and project manage the group to achieve the phase’s desired outcomes.
• Task force members will send out high level outcome notes to all staff to build transparency and trust.
• The task force will make decisions by building consensus wherever possible.
• The task force will act in an advisory role (alongside GHC’s senior leadership team) to recommend action items to the CEO for decision making. Senior leadership team members in each phase should act as a liaison and ensure there is alignment for proposals put forth by the DEI task force.
• Staff will hold the leadership accountable for their action, and leadership will hold staff accountable for their participation. Top level DEI outcomes will be reported to the Board.
• For added transparency and accountability, if a proposal is turned down or put on pause, a clear understanding or conversation on how the decision is made should take place with the DEI task force and be documented for record keeping.

Looking Ahead: Assessment, Actions, & Benchmarks for Success

While much work remains, we believe our DEI task force and our guiding Vision will help us accelerate meaningful and sustainable progress on integrating DEI in our internal and external operations. This is critical to realizing our vision for a world where every person lives a healthy, dignified life.

As we dive deeper into this work, we commit to documenting and sharing a behind-the-scenes look at our journey to assess internal alignment with DEI, design and implement an action plan to improve, and monitor and evaluate our progress. While we won’t ever “arrive” in this work and will inevitably weather obstacles, setbacks, and missteps, we believe this kind of transparency will allow our community, partners, and supporters to both learn from our efforts and join us as accountability partners if they —you— choose.

Read GHC’s collective DEI Vision here and the steps we took to create it here.

Later in February, we’ll be launching a partnership with a DEI consultancy firm to support our work in Phase 3 of the task force and beyond. Stay tuned for updates.

Global Health Corps (GHC) is a leadership development organization building the next generation of health equity leaders around the world. All GHC fellows, partners, and supporters are united in a common belief: health is a human right. There is a role for everyone in the movement for health equity. To learn more, visit our website and connect with us on Twitter/Instagram/Facebook.

Deepening Global Health Corps’ Commitment to Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion was originally published in AMPLIFY on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Editor’s note: Global Health Corps’ (GHC) Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI) Task Force was initially created in 2019 and revitalized in 2020 with renewed vigor. In the spirit of transparency and collaboration to advance DEI within global health organizations, we are sharing this behind-the-scenes look at how we created our collective DEI Vision. While our journey isn’t perfect and we’ll never arrive, we hope our reflections can guide others looking to embark on similar initiatives and we invite inquiries or feedback at deitaskforce@ghcorps.org.

This post was authored by DEI Task Force Phase 2 members: Brittany Cesarini, Hannah Wood, Heather Anderson, Jean René Shema, Gabriela Lopez, and Mera Boulus Grozier.

Global Health Corps’ internal Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI) task force launched the process of creating a DEI Vision in September 2020. Our goal was to craft a statement that could provide inspiration, context, and coordination for our ongoing DEI efforts.

After discussion with key team members beyond the task force, we intentionally decided to solely engage staff and Board members in the collaborative creation process. This was primarily because we intended the Vision to represent a commitment to each other as a team as well as a commitment to our community of fellows, alumni, and partners. As the individuals directly charged with upholding and advancing GHC’s mission, staff and Board members are responsible for living out the Vision in their roles within the institution of GHC.

Step 1: To gather initial input from all staff and Board members, we co-drafted and posed a set of questions to be answered by each individual via Google form:

• What words come to mind when you think of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)?
• What does diversity mean to you?
• What does equity mean to you?
• What does inclusion mean to you?
• In your view, how is advancing DEI important to achieving GHC’s mission to mobilize a diverse community of leaders to build the movement for global health equity?
• Consider where you work within the organization and the processes and projects you own and/or influence. What’s your vision for your functional area (ops, programs, comms, fundraising, people) operating in a way that advances DEI?

Step 2: Each member of the task force did research, identified, and then collectively discussed resources and other organization/company DEI visions that resonated with us:

• The Independent Sector’s definitions of diversity, equity, and inclusion, which are based on language from the D5 Coalition, Racial Equity Tools Glossary, and UC Berkeley.
• How to Define Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Work by Culture Amp
• Americans for the Arts Statement on Cultural Equity
• Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion: Justice for people and the environment by EarthJustice
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Mission Statement by Endangered Species Coalition
• Diversity, equity, and inclusion by the Ford Foundation

Step 3: Through discussion of the trends and commonalities in the case studies we selected, we created a short list of parameters to guide us in creating our vision:

• Short & readable: Approximately 800–1000 words, with sections.
• Guiding, but not proscriptive: Outlines clear focus areas but leaves the specific actions and tactics to future phases to determine in future phases.
• Contextualized: Acknowledges realities of power dynamics within the global health sector and within GHC.
• Aspirational & realistic: Articulating goals for the future of GHC while acknowledging others’ expertise, work they’re already done to pave the way, & the ongoing nature of this work
• Internal & external orientation: In pursuit of DEI within GHC, within the global health sector, and within the communities our leaders work in globally
• Aligned with our mission & expertise: In order to be most impactful.

Step 4: Draft vision integrating staff and board input, edit, discuss, solicit feedback, edit, discuss, edit, discuss, edit…finalize.

Members of the task force reviewed all staff and board input and used an informal thematic coding process to summarize key themes, concepts, and phrases. We then mapped out an outline of the vision with section headings and wrote draft language in each section. Each task force member individually reviewed and shared written feedback on the overall draft. We discussed outstanding points and arrived at a consensus on a draft version during subsequent task force meetings.

Upon completion of our draft, we presented it during our next all staff meeting and invited each team member to review it and share verbal or written feedback. In subsequent task force meetings, we reviewed the feedback, made more edits, and arrived at a final version through consensus. At each choice point, we reviewed our agreed-upon parameters to help us make a collective decision.

Read GHC’s collective DEI Vision here.

Read about our journey to deepening our commitment to DEI in 2020 here.

Later in February, we’ll be launching a partnership with a DEI consultancy firm to support our work in Phase 3 of the task force and beyond. Stay tuned for updates.

Global Health Corps (GHC) is a leadership development organization building the next generation of health equity leaders around the world. All GHC fellows, partners, and supporters are united in a common belief: health is a human right. There is a role for everyone in the movement for health equity. To learn more, visit our website and connect with us on Twitter/Instagram/Facebook.

Step-by-Step: Crafting Global Health Corps’ Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Vision was originally published in AMPLIFY on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Global Health Corps commits to working toward a more inclusive, equitable world where all people can live healthy, dignified lives.

We are deeply grateful to the many bold activists and leaders, especially those with historically marginalized identities, who have relentlessly advocated for greater diversity, equity, and inclusion in the global health sector and our world. We honor their expertise and follow their lead.

Key Definitions

Diversity is the richness of difference on a collective scale. It is the presence of a breadth of lived experiences, perspectives, and identities.

Equity is allocating resources in a way that allows everyone to thrive. It goes beyond equal treatment to meeting the varying levels and types of needs that exist within diverse groups impacted by systemic power imbalances.

Inclusion is an active and intentional practice. It is fostering an environment where all people are valued, safe from discrimination, and equipped to contribute as their full selves. It is letting people lead the way in defining, vocalizing, and shaping decisions about meeting their needs in a dignified way.

Health equity is all people everywhere having the opportunity to attain their full health potential and live a dignified life. It requires both the removal of systemic obstacles and the provision of quality, accessible healthcare to all people. It is the founding principle and uniting belief of the Global Health Corps community.

Acknowledgments

“Colonial aspirations were often the crucible of efforts to improve health in order to reach other, usually extractive, goals.” —Paul Farmer, Peter Drobac, and Zoe Agoos

We acknowledge the following contextual realities within the global sector and our own organization:

• The global health sector emerged during the colonial period and continues to reproduce historical patterns of unequal power relations today.
• Health inequities fundamentally persist because diversity, equity, and inclusion have not been realized and translated into lived realities in many spaces around the world.
• The same individuals who are disproportionately impacted by health inequities — including but not limited to those who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC), women, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and others (LGBTQ+), differently-abled, and/or poor — are also under-represented in leadership within global health organizations and institutions.
• Activists who have been historically oppressed have advanced diversity, equity, and inclusion in global health even at great risk to their own careers and lives.
• Individuals and institutions that are privileged by systems of oppression — including but not limited to those who are white, wealthy, able-bodied, cisgender, heterosexual, and/or educated — in global health have a responsibility to yield power and to hold their counterparts across the sector accountable to do the same.
• The ongoing effects of white supremacy culture and its attendant oppressions reside within our own organization.

Our Commitments

To cultivate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within GHC as an institution, we commit to:

• Listen, reflect, learn, grow, repeat.
• Dedicate human and capital resources to cultivate an inclusive team culture with structured feedback mechanisms to allow for ongoing evolution.
• Provide structured opportunities for staff to engage in an ongoing DEI learning journey.
• Identify and acknowledge instances of harm in GHC’s history as a first step to promote healing.
• Acknowledge and dismantle any inequities within our policies, practices, systems, and programs; report and monitor progress.
• Intentionally cultivate board, staff, partners, and vendors who are collectively diverse.

To catalyze systemic change towards greater diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the global health sector, we commit to:

• Continue to foster a more diverse leadership pipeline in global health through intentional recruitment and selection practices for our fellowship program.
• Strengthen inclusivity among our growing community of 1000+ leaders to optimize collaboration and, ultimately, impact on health systems.
• Document, measure, curate, and share learnings, resources, and progress made towards increasing DEI in global health to inspire and inform others — including other NGOs, governments, individual funders, and foundations — on the journey.
• Showcase and contribute to the evidence of how advancing DEI in global health leadership strengthens health systems.

Read about our journey to deepening our commitment to DEI in 2020 here.

Read about the steps we took to create our Vision here.

Later in February, we’ll be launching a partnership with a DEI consultancy firm to support our work in Phase 3 of the task force and beyond. Stay tuned for updates.

Global Health Corps (GHC) is a leadership development organization building the next generation of health equity leaders around the world. All GHC fellows, partners, and supporters are united in a common belief: health is a human right. There is a role for everyone in the movement for health equity. To learn more, visit our website and connect with us on Twitter/Instagram/Facebook.

Global Health Corps’ Vision for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion was originally published in AMPLIFY on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

In February and March, Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR) and The Lancet are calling for diverse perspectives on how racism functions within nonprofit organizations and whose voices are valued in global health academia. For those interested in submitting drafts, GHC’s communications team will provide editing support and commit to publishing all pieces to AMPLIFY (whether or not they are accepted by the outlets).

See below for full details and deadlines, and reach out to the GHC Communications Team (brittany@ghcorps.org & bailey@ghcorps.org). We are eager to hear from you!

Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR) DEI Series Part II: This Is What Racism Looks Like

• Deadline for Submission to SSIR: February 28th
• Deadline for GHC-assisted-edits: February 16th

“This open call for our next series is for articles that demonstrate how racism operates within an organizational structure. These articles can be presented in a variety of forms: as an anonymous, personal account of how an individual experienced racism within their organization; or an article that examines a mainstream example of workplace racism, textured with research and data, to illustrate how this experience is not unique but systemic.

Some questions that may be considered are: What does racism look like in an all-digital, remote workplace? How do organizational practices enable or entrenched racism?

While not essential, articles should endeavor to include research-based scaffolding and conclude with pathways forward for creating organizations that value belonging, dignity, and justice. In this way, the series not only endeavors to provide SSIR readers with evidence of what racism looks like within organizations but how those issues were addressed and resolved, if at all.

Please submit an article between 1,000 and 2,000 words, using the form below, by February 28, 2021. It is required to include a Microsoft Word .docx file version of your article draft. If you are unable to see the form below, please visit it directly at https://airtable.com/shrNwfsfGP9NC4Pvo. Please do not submit executive summaries or advertorials. Hyperlink source material in the body of the text in your Word document. If you lack Microsoft Word, LibreOffice and Google Docs are free and can export .docx files. In your Word document, please include a headline and a one-sentence synopsis of your article.”

The Lancet — Global Health 2021: Who Tells The Story?

• Deadline for submissions to The Lancet: March 30th
• Deadline for GHC-assisted-edits: March 15th

“In an Art of Medicine essay published in The Lancet in November 2020, Seye Abimbola and Madhukar Pai set out a vision for the future of academic global health. In their promised land they imagine, among other changes, a transformation of journals — “No longer exclusive, high-impact western journals now exist among a multitude of go-to places, most of which are now based in the Global South” — and imbalances in authorship within high-income country and low-income or middle-income country (LMIC) collaborations are “a thing of the past”…

We, therefore, invite readers, particularly those who are not regular contributors to our pages, to share their expertise and experiences with us in the form of Correspondence, Viewpoints, and Comments on the theme: What is wrong with global health? Open the debate. Ask the hard questions. Offer solutions based on your own experiences. We will welcome frank, open discussion about the problems in academic global health throughout the year.

Please submit your piece through The Lancet Global Health’s online manuscript submission system and mention in your covering letter that your submission is in response to this call for papers. We look forward to hearing from you and for the opportunity for all our readers to learn from you.”

Global Health Corps (GHC) is a leadership development organization building the next generation of health equity leaders around the world. All GHC fellows, partners, and supporters are united in a common belief: health is a human right. There is a role for everyone in the movement for health equity. To learn more, visit our website and connect with us on Twitter/Instagram/Facebook.

GHC Community Call For Submissions: Stanford Social Innovation Review + The Lancet Series was originally published in AMPLIFY on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

We are deeply troubled that a violent insurrection led by armed extremists unfolded in the U.S. Capitol this afternoon, disrupting the proceedings to complete the process of recognizing the lawful election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

As a global health and leadership development organization, Global Health Corps condemns violence unequivocally as an affront to human dignity, health, and wellbeing. We also condemn law enforcement practices that continue to disproportionately penalize and enact violence on BIPOC individuals, perpetuating white supremacy. Finally, we condemn ongoing attempts to obstruct the peaceful transfer of power by President Trump and his allies. They are primarily responsible for today’s violence and must be held accountable for their profound abuse of power and failure of leadership.

A critical antidote to violence and power hoarding is leaders who are driven by the values of equity, collaboration, humility, and empathy. We are proud that our global community of 1000+ health equity leaders live out these values in their corners of the world, from the U.S. to East and Southern Africa and beyond.

We strengthen our resolve to intentionally practice and develop values-driven leadership in these uncertain times. May we all strive to live and lead in accordance with Martin Luther King Jr.’s timeless reminder that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.”

Global Health Corps (GHC) is a leadership development organization building the next generation of health equity leaders around the world. All GHC fellows, partners, and supporters are united in a common belief: health is a human right. There is a role for everyone in the movement for health equity. To learn more, visit our website and connect with us on Twitter/Instagram/Facebook.

Strengthening Our Web of Mutuality in the Face of Violence & Divisiveness was originally published in AMPLIFY on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Participation in civil society is vital to safeguarding public health. As a leadership development organization founded on the belief that health is a human right, we at Global Health Corps (GHC) recognize the right to health and the right to participating in civic life as fundamentally interdependent.

In the United States, the impending Election Day is an event both ripe with promise and fraught with threats to human rights and health, especially for Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) and other marginalized people living in the U.S. Reports from across the U.S. show record weapons purchases, police forces preparing for disruptions, and rising concerns about the threat of white nationalist violence during and after the 2020 election.

Beyond the U.S., already contested presidential elections are underway or scheduled to be held in 10 African nations, including Global Health Corps’ operating countries of Uganda and Zambia, over the next five months. In numerous (though certainly not all) African elections in recent years, violence and rights infringements have negatively impacted citizens’ health and wellbeing.

Leaders at all levels and sectors must make every effort to protect voters’ health, safety, and right to civic participation throughout this election season. Those entrusted to lead governments have a particular responsibility to protect civic participation in order to build and maintain a high level of public confidence, a key factor in protecting and advancing public health. The public’s ability to trust and participate in government also tends to correlate with a higher rate of trust in scientists and health professionals, which positively impacts public health.

At the same time, protecting voting rights and building trust in public institutions are just two tools in a vast toolbox to eradicate health inequities and the intersecting systems of oppression that perpetuate them: white supremacy, patriarchy, neocolonialism, and others. Indeed, these very systems of oppression disenfranchise or otherwise frustrate civic participation for many in the U.S. and worldwide.

As an organization and institution operating within global health, a sector rooted in harmful colonial dynamics that persist today, we vow to keep doing our part to build a more equitable and healthy world. Our global community of 1000+ leaders is diverse in perspective and skillset but united in a commitment to transform systems so that they deliver for all. Regardless of what sector or spheres of influence we inhabit, a brighter future depends on us all joining them in accelerating progress.

Global Health Corps (GHC) is a nonpartisan 501(c)3 organization committed to building a generation of health equity leaders to transform health systems. While GHC has infrequently weighed in on major current events in our history, 2020 has been an inflection point in many ways. The year’s cross-cutting health, political, and socioeconomic crises have underscored the urgency of our work while also raising the stakes for failing to acknowledge the deep intersections between long-standing inequities around the world.

Protecting Civic Participation to Advance Public Health was originally published in AMPLIFY on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Read our full statement condemning racism in all its forms.

Writing is a critical tool for eradicating white supremacy. We’re inviting our community to raise their voices on this platform in this historic moment to drive change.

While we’ll give first priority to reviewing, editing, and publishing pieces from black community members, we fully encourage others to write, too. Just like sexism is not a problem for women alone to solve, racism is not a problem for black people/people of color alone to solve.

Here are some questions to consider addressing:

1. What does the term anti-racism mean to you? Why does it matter for health equity?
2. At this moment, many people, including some in our community, are starting to engage more deeply in anti-racism learning and action. What does it look like to call people into this work?
3. The concept that some racial/ethnic groups are superior to others has been at the heart of state-sponsored violence around the world. What is required for transformation and healing?
4. Single narratives or “single stories” are incredibly dangerous and often spark deeper distrust or prejudice towards another person or group. Tell us about a single story you have rejected and how you came to unlearn a deep-seeded thought or idea.

Relevant links / other opportunities:

• Anti-racism and mental health resources from the GHC community.
• Read what others in the GHC community have written about race here, here, here, and here for inspiration.
• Take over GHC’s social media accounts (@ghcorps / @globalhealthcorps) to raise awareness, challenge assumptions, share resources and reflections about racial justice right now.

Questions? Email Advocacy & Communications Manager Brittany Cesarini (brittany@ghcorps.org).

Global Health Corps (GHC) is a leadership development organization building the next generation of health equity leaders around the world. All GHC fellows, partners, and supporters are united in a common belief: health is a human right. There is a role for everyone in the movement for health equity. To learn more, visit our website and connect with us on Twitter/Instagram/Facebook.

Creating a World Without Racism was originally published in AMPLIFY on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Anti-racism Resources

Donate/act:

• Funders For Justice: Six Ways To Support Black Lives
• 75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice
• 5 Ways White People Can Take Action
• How to Support the Struggle Against Police Brutality
• New Era of Public Safety Toolkit: An Advocacy Toolkit for Fair, Safe, and Effective Community Policing
• Black Lives Matter List *#blacklivesmatter- includes regularly updated actions against specific instances of police brutality
• #Blacklivesmatter- Includes contacts and direct actions
• Resources to help Black people/Communities
• 26 Ways to Be in the Struggle Beyond the Streets
• Natl Resource List #GeorgeFloyd
• Protocols for minimizing risk of Covid while demonstrating

Educate:

• READ: “The Death of George Floyd, In Context,” by Jelani Cobb of The New Yorker
• READ: “Of Course There Are Protests. The State Is Failing Black People,” by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor for the New York Times
• READ: “Why is this happening?” — an introduction to police brutality from 100 Year Hoodie
• READ: “America’s Racial Contract Is Killing Us” by Adam Serwer | Atlantic (May 8, 2020)
• READ: Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement (Mentoring a New Generation of Activists
• READ: Your Black Colleagues May Look Like They’re Okay — Chances Are They’re Not
• READ: How to Talk to Your Family About Racism
• READ: Where do I donate? Why is the uprising violent? Should I go protest?
• READ: The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
• READ: White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo, PhD
• READ: So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
• READ: Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
• READ: Patia’s Fantasy World Master List of Resources on How to Dismantle Systemic Racism
• READ: Justice in June: Allyship resources in a lesson plan format
• READ: Institutionalized Racism: A Syllabus by JSTOR Daily
• WATCH: When They See Us, a Netflix miniseries from Ava DuVernay about the Central Park Five
• WATCH: 13th, a Netflix documentary exposing racial inequality within the criminal justice system
• WATCH: I Am Not Your Negro, a documentary envisioning the book James Baldwin was never able to finish
• WATCH: Selma, a film that chronicles the marches of the Civil Rights Movement
• WATCH: Rachel Cargle’s TED Talk: Coming to Terms With Racism’s Inertia
• WATCH: Why Rioting Makes Sense via Trevor Noah
• WATCH: Why White People Need to Use Their Bodies to Defend Black People, by Sonya Renee Taylor
• WATCH: Who Killed Malcom X, a Netflix docu-series about the assassination of Malcom X
• WATCH: How Studying Privilege Systems Can Strengthen Compassion
• WATCH: Explained: The Racial Wealth Gap, an episode from a Vox Media explainer series
• WATCH: Time: The Kalief Browder Story , a Neflix docu-series about unjust crime in the United States
• LISTEN: Still Processing, a New York Times culture podcast with Jenna Wortham and Wesley Morrison
• LISTEN: Seeing White, a Scene on the Radio podcast
• LISTEN: Code Switch, an NPR podcast tackling race from all angles
• LISTEN: Momentum: A Race Forward Podcast
• LISTEN: Jemele Hill is Unbothered, a podcast with award-winning journalist Jemele Hill
• LISTEN: Hear To Slay, “the black feminist podcast of your dreams,” with Roxane Gay and Tressie McMillan Cottom
• FOLLOW: Rachel Cargle, a writer and lecturer who explores the intersection between race and womanhood
• FOLLOW: Brittany Packnett Cunningham, co-founder of Campaign Zero, a policy platform to end police violence, and a host of Pod Save The People
• FOLLOW: Ibram X. Kendi, the author of How To Be An Antiracist and Director of the Antiracism Center

Mental Health + Support Resources

• Resilience on the Frontlines: Resources curated in partnership with Thrive Global, Johnson & Johnson, and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
• Free Counseling for Healthcare Workers through Give An Hour and #FirstRespondersFirst: free and confidential counseling (up to six sessions) by a Give an Hour provider independent of insurance providers
• Free InnerHour App for First Responders: free six-month membership to InnerHour Plus for #FirstRespondersFirst’s network of first responders
• NAMI Frontline Wellness Resources: resources tailored to healthcare professionals including techniques to build resilience, confidential and professional support, peer support, support for family members, and information on how to identify signs of a potential mental health emergency
• The Garrison Institute Care for Caregivers: Skills for Resilience Through Meditation and Mindful Movement: this free app provides eight guided meditations led by Sharon Salzberg and Gayla Marie Styles that you can watch anytime, anywhere, and at your own pace, each between 5–6 minutes long
• Dive in Well: Founded by Maryam Ajayi, offers digital classes on wellness practices + donation-based digital events like breathwork classes and therapy sessions aimed at centering self care.
• PopWorks Africa’s #BlackWomeninDev community, via Facebook
• Sista Afya: This Chicago-based, community-driven organization provides women from across the Black diaspora with low-cost group therapy sessions, workshops, and free online conversations known as Online Sista Support Groups on topics like managing the stress sparked by consuming news.
• The Politics of Self Care and Feminism
• Yoga with Adriene: Free yoga videos with a focus on alleviating stress and anxiety.
• Headspace: An app that provides guided courses on meditation and stress relief.
• Therapy for Black Girls: An organization founded by Dr. Joy Harden Bradford to combat the stigma around therapy. Resources included a podcast, a directory to connect women with culturally competent therapists, a private community Facebook support group, and free group support sessions weekly on Thursday nights at 7 p.m. EST.
• Circles International: Resilience coaching for social justice and health equity leaders, currently offering free resilience coaching to Black leaders working towards racial justice.
• 7 Cups of Tea: Online services that connects you to a trained active listener for anonymous and confidential conversations.
• BetterHelp: Therapy resource through live chats and video confrencing. Match you to a counselor that best fits your needs and objectives.
• Breakthrough: Online therapy resource, HIPAA compliant.
• Ginger: On-demand access to behavioral health coaching, video therapy, and self-guided content. Requires subscription.
• Joyable: App that provides digital therapy that guides you through daily activites, and develops skills to overcome anxiety and depression.
• Insight Timer: App to help manage sleep, anxiety, or stress.
• Stop, Breathe & Think: Free meditations to “get your daily piece of mind.”
• Calm: App that provides guided meditations focused on slowing down, stressing less, and living more mindful.
• Moodgym: Interactive online program that provides games, assessments, and feedback to improve stress relief.
• Regain: Specialized relationship counseling.
• Sanvello: On-demand help for stress, anxiety, and depression. They also teach mindfulness and provide mood and health tracking tools. Free access during COVID-19.
• TalkSpace: Online therapy resource, HIPAA conpliant.
• The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI): Provide free classes, advocacy and listening. Offer a 24/7 HelpLine for intimidate support.
• Truman Group: Therapy for Americans living abroad.
• Heal Haus: A black-led wellness space in Clinton Hill, New York. They offer daily meditations, yoga classes, facilitated therapy sessions for residence of NY, and host a variety of wellness workshops.
• Black Female Therapists: An online directory of black female therapists (primarily US-based). Free access and option to browse by insurance plan, location, and specialty areas.
• Melanin & Mental Health: Resource to search for “DOPE” therapists in your area who are showing up for minority communities.
• Healing Resources for BIPOC Organizers & Allies Taking Action for Black Lives: A list of BIPOC-led resources to support healing admist action, creating a mindset for change, healing racialized trauma, and orienting for the long haul.
• AvoCoach: A mental health and wellness coaching service based in NYC that offers free personalized coaching matches and affordable sessions for women and LGBTQ+ community.
• Many other mental health resources, including apps, groups, call centers, podcasts, and more can be found here.

Global Health Corps (GHC) is a leadership development organization building the next generation of health equity leaders around the world. All GHC fellows, partners, and supporters are united in a common belief: health is a human right. There is a role for everyone in the movement for health equity. To learn more, visit our website and connect with us on Twitter/Instagram/Facebook.

Read GHC’s statement Global Health Equity *Still* Requires Racial Justice.

Anti-racism + Mental Health Resources from/for the GHC Community was originally published in AMPLIFY on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

“Race is a leading social determinant of health in the United States and worldwide, and thus health equity is inextricably tied to racial justice.”

We wrote the above as part of a statement on how Global Health Equity Requires Racial Justice in June 2016, when the U.S. erupted in public showings of grief and calls to action following the violent, unjust deaths of Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, and so many others before them.

Fast forward to today, four years later: too little has changed. We are in the midst of a monumental health crisis that is illuminating the depths of systemic racism in the U.S. COVID-19 is infecting and killing black and brown Americans at far higher rates than white Americans. At the same time, the police in the U.S. continue to target and kill black people — most recently George Floyd — robbing them of their dignity and their lives.

These dynamics are inextricably linked. The threat of state-sanctioned violence and other dangerous manifestations of racism that black people in America must live with produces toxic trauma that poses serious health dangers through a process referred to as weathering. Black Americans are significantly more likely than white Americans to have underlying conditions including high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, and kidney failure. While black Americans have lower rates of being insured and accessing quality healthcare than their white counterparts, when they do find themselves in hospitals or doctors offices, they often receive subpar treatment solely because of their skin color.

Black lives matter. The lives of our community members who are black matter.

We must ask ourselves: Why are police officers armed with a wealth of gear and weapons, even as essential workers — who are disproportionately people of color — lack protective gear? And even as the poor working class — again, who are disproportionately people of color — face dire threats to their wellbeing and livelihoods?

As a leadership development organization committed to realizing health as a human right for all human beings worldwide, we unequivocally condemn police violence, racism, neocolonialism, and white supremacy in all its forms. We are grateful for our diverse, vocal community who relentlessly pursue an equitable world and challenge each other in that process where necessary.

“You have to act as if it were possible to radically transform the world. And you have to do it all the time.” -Angela Davis, American activist, author, and political organizer

We affirm our commitment to doing the hard, important work of social justice in its many forms, including owning our privilege, fostering inclusion and amplifying unheard voices, allocating resources equitably, and eradicating violence. We envision and will continue to work towards a healthier, more just world for all because none of us are free until all of us are free.

Global Health Corps (GHC) is a leadership development organization building the next generation of health equity leaders around the world. All GHC fellows, partners, and supporters are united in a common belief: health is a human right. There is a role for everyone in the movement for health equity. To learn more, visit our website and connect with us on Twitter/Instagram/Facebook.

Global Health Equity *Still* Requires Racial Justice was originally published in AMPLIFY on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.