For the last installment of our three-part series, we are further exploring how radical shifts in policies and practices can transform our systems and elevate healing. Here, we will outline recommendations and working principles for positively impacting health justice and racial equity.
The information that follows, originally from The Praxis Project, is a resource from the Working Principles for Health Justice and Racial Equity report. A webinar featuring this resource can also be accessed here.
To make a positive impact on health inequities, radical shifts need to occur in many of our day-to-day activities, practices and approaches. The current status quo is not working; we see health and racial disparities continue to increase across sectors, geography, and issues. As such, Praxis’ underlying goal is to promote the authentic engagement of base building community organizers in health- and justice-affirming transformative policies and practices while acknowledging and learning from the historical and contemporary unjustness of policy processes and outcomes shaping where we are today. This includes acknowledging that:
- Inequity has been intentionally created and protected over centuries through the imposition of racist, discriminatory practices and systems targeting underrepresented, oppressed communities. We must deliberately and affirmatively take stock of and address past injustices while working for a future filled with opportunities for health and justice for all. Unless there are interventions or course corrections, many contemporary policies and practices will continue to perpetuate the inequitable status quo.
- Historical repair and reparations are necessary for making amends with communities that have been harmed. This approach encompasses the intentional and affirmative redistribution of resources, power, and opportunity to communities impacted by systemic and structural failures in a manner that accounts for past and present injustices.
- We cannot take a one-size-fits-all approach. The capacities, resources, and opportunities necessary to build a better world for health justice and racial equity are as diverse as our communities. Our unique conditions, histories, and contexts require intentional and meaningful solutions.
- Meaningful solutions need to simultaneously serve as compassionate, intentional community investment. Developing solutions in partnership with community partners should build community and programmatic capacity and infrastructure, ultimately strengthening the community beyond the initial engagement or financial support.
To help us get to a place where everyone has the same opportunity for health justice and racial equity, Praxis offers these Working Principles for Health Justice and Racial Equity to ensure that our programmatic, community, and policy work aligns with our intended impact of supporting health justice and racial equity for all.
To help us get to a place where everyone has the same opportunity for health justice and racial equity, Praxis offers these Working Principles for Health Justice and Racial Equity to ensure that our programmatic, community, and policy work aligns with our intended impact of supporting health justice and racial equity for all.
1. ACT WITH CARE: Proceed thoughtfully. Be deliberate. Seek to understand. Build trusting relationships. Lead with Love.
2. INCLUSIVITY: Those most affected by inequities are in the best position to define the problem, design appropriate solutions, and define success.
3. AUTHENTIC COMMUNITY COLLABORATION: Builds dignity and allows for all perspectives to be considered, integrated, and recognized; solutions should be co-designed, co-implemented, and co-measured/evaluated.
4. SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS: Solutions should be community-driven, build community capacity and resident knowledge, deepen relationships, increase programmatic capacity, build lasting infrastructure, and ensure respect for all.
5. COMMITMENT TO TRANSFORMATION: All participants can learn from one another, reflect on their own structures and practices, and find areas to continuously improve organizational culture and practices.
After reading our three-part healing centered practices series, what have you learned and how you can see yourself applying these principles and practices in your community or organizations? Has your mindset shifted in any way? We’d love to hear from you in the comment section below.
Comments (0)