The Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative (BARHII) is the coalition of the Bay Area’s governmental public health departments. This unique collaboration of public health officials, senior managers, and staff have come together to transform public health practice in order to eliminate health inequities. BARHII is a forum in which health departments teach and learn from each other, as well as use the principles of evidence-based public health and the collective influence of local public health officials to advance policies that promote health equity. Last year, Rise Together, the region’s coalition to end poverty, joined our team. Together, we advance health equity, economic opportunity, and racial justice.

 BARHII is actively involved in COVID-19 response and recovery efforts. Immediately after the “shelter in place” orders began, BARHII health departments and Rise Together’s core community partners developed the BARHII-Rise Together COVID-19 Health and Economic Equity Response platform. The platform includes recommendations for immediate housing stability and homelessness prevention activities, emergency financial aid for impacted individuals, support for small business and social enterprises, protections for undocumented communities, and strategies to address racial health disparities. BARHII supports region wide implementation of these policy solutions through landscape analysis on adoption strategies, production of data briefs and reports, as well as sophisticated coordination with health departments, elected officials, and community partners to pass and implement new policies. We also offer training and support for implementation.

• Communications or Public Information Officer to create and implement messages on health-protective strategies for communities experiencing racial and ethnic health outcome inequities. This work will focus on creating and implementing messaging and identifying and securing effective messengers to reach those most highly impacted by COVID-19, including African American, Pacific Islander, and Latinx communities.
• Family Financial Assistance and Public Benefits Administration to develop and implement a regional plan to address the surge in financial assistance needs for Bay Area individuals and families. Will require significant coordination with social service agencies, public health, and community partners.
• Policy/Program Management for small community-based businesses and social enterprises to scan the needs in the nine-county Bay Area and coordinate with cultural chambers of commerce, and other support providers to stabilize small businesses and connect them to resources such as payroll support and strategies to maintain their commercial space.
• Community Mental Health and Wellness Surge Support to develop and implement a regional plan to meet the community mental health and wellness needs in the region that have emerged related to social isolation, increased family violence and child abuse, and trauma and adverse childhood experiences.
• Fair Chance Support: People who are incarcerated are facing acute COVID-19 health challenges. Escalated unemployment poses significant threats to people with histories of incarceration, who already face discrimination when seeking housing and employment. This strategy partner will develop a response effort to mitigate discrimination and advance equity in this area.
• Data Analysis and Epidemiological Capacity to identify and track trends in COVID-19 impacts and produce materials to guide response and recovery.

• Experience in one of the function areas above (communications/public information, small business support or development, community wellness/mental health, social services, fair chance, or epidemiological data analysis)
• Strong analysis skills and ability to complete landscape analysis quickly in a dynamic environment
• Excellent writing skills with strong attention to detail. Experience in writing government staff reports or other highly detailed, yet brief analyses
• Experience creating policy impact, health impact, or related social analyses
• Existing networks with community partners, elected officials, and/or community leaders relevant to program area
• Knowledge of health equity, economic opportunity, or racial justice
• A minimum of 15 years of experience in management and analysis, preferred by not required
• Experience implementing policy and programs in local governments including designing plans for financial resources needed to deliver, desired but not required