Established by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the National Day of Racial Healing, presents an opportunity to come together in the name of healing to combat the divisiveness that racism and racist practices perpetuate. The COVID-19 pandemic revealed that structural and systemic racism are drivers of stark death disparities between Black, Indigenous communities and non-Hispanic whites. According to the American Public Health Association, 246 public health entities have declared racism a public health emergency, which includes 21 state health departments, 94 county health departments and 149 city declarations. This data suggests some progress toward recognizing the impact of systemic and structural racist practices and policies on health and mortality outcomes, including lack of proper medical equipment, limited staffing, and poor infrastructure to provide outreach to isolated communities. However, there is still much work to be done to eradicate over 400 years of multigenerational health disparities within our nation.
Tuesday, January 16, 2024, marks the 8th annual National Day of Racial Healing. NACDD calls on Members and partners across the country to engage in activities, events, or strategies that promote healing and foster engagement around the issues of racism, bias, inequity, injustice, and social justice in our nation. NACDD began its racial equity journey in 2020 when the Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (REDI) Alliance was born. The REDI Alliance strives to build and leverage a diverse and inclusive workforce and workplace through committing to advancing, cultivating, and preserving a culture of diversity, inclusion and belonging, so we can ultimately strengthen our work in serving U.S. states and territories in reducing chronic disease disparities.
We firmly believe that through the promotion of the NACDD Social Justice Framework and cross collaboration amongst team members, we will gain incisive insights to better serve and successfully improving the overall health and well-being of communities. The REDI Alliance is also leading NACDD’s journey toward a racial equity mindset via trainings, focus group discussions, a racial equity, diversity, and inclusion assessment and many other activities to support our goal of becoming a model anti-racist public health organization. Will you join us on this journey? How can your health department advance racial equity and social justice?
For questions about REDI Alliance and its efforts, please feel free to contact Chairperson Sandte Stanley at sstanley@chronicdisease.org.