- [April] Good afternoon.
Thank you for joining the Voices for Healthy Kids webinar
for applicants on the topic of health equity.
Voices for Healthy Kids is committed to creating
health equity through our campaigns and policies.
It is a core value of ours, and so we want to ensure
that all of our grantees and partners
are aligned in this goal.
The purpose of this webinar is to provide you
with some information about our health equity vision,
approach, and expectations to help inform your proposal.
I would like to read our "Health Equity Vision" statement
to help ground this conversation.
"Voices for Healthy Kids is deeply committed
"to health equity through changes in public policy
"that address barriers to health,
"including racism and oppression within systems,
"which disproportionately burden people
"who are socially and/or economically disadvantaged.
"We use the science-based strategies
"of the American Heart Association
"and expert advisory groups
"to guide our policy and decision making.
"By changing laws to achieve equity in public policy,
"we believe all people can have better opportunities
"to access wholesome foods and to be active,
"which can lead to making optimal health
"a possibility for everyone."
Now, we recognize that each organization
may have a different approach
or a different definition to health equity.
We welcome hearing more abour your approach
and the alignment with ours in your proposal.
We want to provide you with some high-level values
that Voices for Healthy Kids believes
makes a successful and equitable campaign.
It is up to you to determine the best way to incorporate
these values in your campaign plan and grant proposal.
First, a participatory approach
is one in which everyone who has a stake in the policy
has a voice and a role in the campaign.
We fully believe that the most impactful campaigns
and the best implemented policies
are those that take a participatory approach
and include the community members, organizations,
and businesses that will most impacted by the policy.
Again, inclusive of communities most impacted.
To take the participatory approach one step further,
we also believe that an intentional inclusion
of communities most impacted or most vulnerable is required
in the campaign-planning process and implementation.
Engagement of these communities is key to the development
of a policy that reduces disparities, and most importantly,
is embraced by those it is intended to serve.
Third, reduce disparities for priority populations.
Voices for Healthy Kids
has identified three priority populations.
People of color, specifically Black and LatinX,
Native Americans, and rural communities.
A specific effort should be made to design
campaigns and policies that address barriers to health
for one or all of these priority populations.
While our policies are designed to increase health
for all populations, we do have a specific focus
on removing barriers and creating pathways to health
for these priority populations.
These populations have been identified as priorities
for Voices for Healthy Kids in an effort
to eliminate disparities in health outcomes.
Four, sub-grantees and partnerships.
We require and highly encourage
all applicants to identify sub-grantees
or partners that diversify their team.
Our goal is to have comprehensive and diverse campaigns.
Therefore, if you are a minority-led organization,
we encourage you to find partners
that represent other communities impacted by the issue area.
If you are a majority-led organization,
we encourage you to find partners that are lead by
or represent communities most impacted by your policy.
Five, diverse coalitions.
In addition to having a diverse grant team,
we highly encourage diversity amongst your coalitions.
Often, well-funded, majority-led popular organizations
and leaders are included in coalitions.
While we encourage you to include these groups,
we also encourage you to include
all of the different stakeholders
that will be impacted by the policy.
These can include priority populations,
communities of color, disabilities community,
and other marginalized communities.
This could also include other diverse groups
that can help your campaign to be successful.
As you can see, there is a common bridge
through each of these five values.
In order to create policies that are implemented
in way that reduces the disparities
in health outcomes for priority populations,
we must ensure these populations are included
in the campaign through partnerships,
coalitions, and a participatory approach.
While we won't be too prescriptive on how to incorporate
these health equity values and goals in your proposal,
we can say that we encourage you to incorporate it
throughout your entire proposal.
We firmly believe that health equity
is not just an add-on or a check box.
It is intentional action, strategies,
and goals within your entire proposal.
Different areas that health equity values and concepts
can be incorporated in your proposal
include within your timeline, budget, approach,
strategies, partnerships, coalitions,
within your communication plan, and policy goals.
Thank you for joining us today
as we walked through the Voices for Healthy Kids'
"Health Equities Values and Approach
"to Inclusion in Your Proposals."
If you have any additional questions,
please feel free to reach out to Shannon Melluzzo
at Shannon.Melluzzo@heart.org.
Thank you very much.