The inequalities laid bare by COVID-19 simply flow from the existing pandemic of racism and racial violence we are witnessing today.
RWJF President and CEO Richard Besser
Building Community Power to Advance Health Equity
How do local community power-building organizations advance health and racial equity?
Community power is the ability of communities most impacted by inequity to act together to voice their needs and hopes for the future and to collectively drive structural change, hold decision-makers accountable, and advance health equity.
For more than 20 years, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has supported community power organizations and advocacy networks that engage in grassroots organizing, particularly with people who are low-income, of color, and/or youths. The Foundation has supported communities in their power-building efforts to mitigate tobacco use and childhood obesity and, most recently, to improve community conditions and confront structural racism.
Elevating Community Power and Community Voice
As the pandemic and recent uprisings against racial injustice have laid bare, structural barriers and systemic racism remain persistent obstacles to achieving health equity. Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) are leading vital movements that are galvanizing their communities and seeding transformative change. Building power within communities is essential to the health and well-being of people that have endured decades of racial injustice, economic exclusion, social marginalization, and health inequities.
Low-income people and communities of color have been excluded from decision-making on the policies and practices that impact their health and prosperity, through generations of systemic exclusion and disinvestment. Our learning has shown that the people most directly affected by systemic barriers and inequities are best positioned to identify the solutions and actions needed to drive change.
That’s why community power is important to how RWJF contributes to transformative change, in a variety of areas—from housing, to healthcare, to birthing, to family caregiving. The evaluation of this work, which will center on the principles of equitable evaluation, should begin to shed light on the impact we can have in community power-building and support our learning efforts to hone our strategies.
Strategies
This effort is helping grow capacities of local organizations who organize and advocate for low-income, BIPOC community members (with a focus on youth and the South) to build power. The work is also deepening relationships, focusing collective attention on action to address health inequities, and driving grassroots solutions that dismantle structural racism. Local community power-building organizations are working with state and national partners to advance policy, narrative and systems changes across multiple issues, including housing, education, healthcare, and economic justice.
This work is supporting and building power among low-income renters of color to combat the effects of systemic racism in housing policy that fosters residential segregation and continues to drive health disparities. The effort to advance housing justice will ensure renters’ priorities and needs are being honored in local decision-making to improve housing affordability, community conditions, and residents’ wellbeing.
This effort will support historically underfunded birth justice organizations championing Black, Indigenous, and other birthing people of color. The work will build power by advancing network and coalition building, shifting narratives, amplifying and spreading solutions, and promoting policies and practices that address implicit bias and structural racism that impact maternal and infant health outcomes.
Protestors marching down Lucas-Hunt Rd. in Northern St. Louis County during the 2016 Walk for Justice. People came from throughout the county to participate in the walk, which was held in memory of Michael Brown, Jr. two years after his death.
Editor's Pick
To end America’s maternal mortality crisis, dismantle the racism that fuels it
March of Dimes President and CEO Stacey Stewart and RWJF President and CEO Richard Besser write that we must dismantle structural racism and address health inequities to ensure that all pregnant people—regardless of skin color, income, or zip code—can have healthy pregnancies, healthy babies and the ability to thrive. That's birth justice. By prioritizing critical federal and state policy changes and centering the voices and experiences of Black, Indigenous and other people of color, we can save lives and end suffering now.
Featured Grantees
From the Blog
Closing the Medicaid Coverage Gap is a Health, Economic, and Moral Imperative
Closing the Medicaid coverage gap would save lives, reduce costs, and help eliminate racial and ethnic health disparities such as maternal mortality rates among women of color.
Related Content
What is Health Equity
This RWJF report defines health equity and identifies crucial elements to guide effective action to reduce disparities in health status.
Grantee Resource
How does community power catalyze, create, and sustain conditions for healthy communities?
To answer this question, Lead Local brought together well-respected local power-building leaders and practitioners in the fields of community organizing, advocacy, public health, and science to lift up and document how power is built in low-income communities and communities of color.
Related News and Insights
Read expert perspectives and the latest research from RWJF to explore the opportunities and complexities of this topic.
Blog Post
Researchers Build Community Power to Influence Health in Gentrifying Neighborhoods
“Ownership of change”—which refers to the decisionmaking power community members have over changes in their neighborhood—is linked to better health and happiness.
5-min read
Blog Post
Raising Voices, Breaking Barriers: Another Piece of the Caregiving Puzzle
Barriers exist for some families that make it harder to access child care that meets their needs, and early educators and care providers aren’t paid enough to keep their doors open and support their own families. It doesn’t have to be this way.
5-min read
News Release
Equitable Policy Change Can Power Health Improvement in New Jersey
A report by RWJF recommends equity-based policies to transition New Jersey to a place where everyone has a just opportunity to achieve their healthiest life possible—without roadblocks based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, ability, or class.
8-min read