Racial Justice and Health Equity

Racial Justice and Health Equity

Graphic with the words Moving Equity Forward

Boston’s residents are majority people of color, and Boston continues to be on the list of most racially segregated cities. There are persistent disparities in health outcomes for Black and Latinx Bostonians as compared to White Bostonians for many health indicators, including birth outcomes, asthma, diabetes, hypertension, and other chronic conditions (Health of Boston Report). This racial segregation results in great differences in health outcomes by zip code. Furthering its commitment to improving the health of communities of color, BPHC has been devoted to advancing racial justice and health equity since 2000. 

The timeline below shows BPHC’s organizational change process to address racial and ethnic health inequities. This process is not linear. The learning is ongoing and there is no one best way to go about this work.

2000	BPHC, community activists, public health officials, scholars, and others form the REACH Boston 2010 Breast and Cervical Cancer Coalition to address the unequal rates of breast and cervical cancer deaths for black women.
2005	BPHC’s Anti-Racism Internal Working Group is formed following a BPHC-wide "Undoing Racism" Training. The Anti-Racism Advisory Committee is formally established in 2008.
2008	BPHC Professional Development Series is created to help staff apply the principles and practices of health equity and racial justice in their work.
2011	The Racial Justice and Health Equity Initiative, an organizational change model is created. Since then, the Initiative has evolved into a strategic priority for BPHC.
2016	Office of Health Equity (OHE) relaunches, including our organizational approach to Community Engagement.
2017	OHE launches the first cohort of the Health Equity Advisory Committee.
2018	The Health Equity in All Policies Initiative is established.
2019	The Guide to Advance Racial Justice and Health Equity is released.
	BPHC makes Racial Justice and Health Equity its priority in the 2019-2021 Strategic Plan.
	The first Health Equity Champions cohort is formed.