The Growth in Operations, Administration, and Leadership Society (GOALS) employee resource group hosted its quarterly meeting, bringing together about 20 Black men from across the Mount Sinai community to discuss environmental and systematic racism and how it affects the work atmosphere.
The session was held Wednesday, December 6, at the Annenberg Building on the campus of The Mount Sinai Hospital. Anthony Smalls, MBA, Financial Analyst and Program Manager at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, organized the event.
The GOALS employee resource group aims to address issues that can affect change and meets quarterly to discuss various topics and provide networking opportunities for its members. Members have the opportunity to meet with those with experience and longevity at Mount Sinai Health System, which is vital to fostering mentorship.
Christopher W. Bland, MPH, AE-C, was the keynote speaker and led the discussion. He presented at Mount Sinai Health System’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Summit in October 2023 on climate change and environmental racism.
Christopher W. Bland, MPH, AE-C, talks at a meeting of the Growth in Operations, Administration, and Leadership Society (GOALS) employee resource group.
“The word ‘system’ derives from the idea of placing together in an organized and arranged form,” he said. “Thus, a system isn’t something that occurs but is a well-thought process to achieve a specific outcome. Unfortunately, the communities that house the Black and Latino populations are affected worst by some systems that are in place.”
Mr. Bland discussed the effects of health insurance and health care, food deserts, pollution, and trash pickups in Black and Brown communities. He said that Mount Sinai has continued to serve the community with the highest form of medical care and fosters community relationships with organizations like One Hundred Black Men Inc.
Still, more work needs to occur to end these systematic cycles, he said, adding a quote from Martin Luther King, Jr.: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Added Mr. Smalls: “From redlining to income gaps to predatory lending to home loan discrimination to the racial wealth gap, our communities have had so many obstructions in our paths that if they were ever to be removed permanently from our course, we might hit levels that most could not fathom.”
Retention of staff of color is essential to diversity. With GOALS, members get an opportunity see others from our communities at different levels within Mount Sinai. A motto of One Hundred Black Men is “They will be what they see.”
To learn more about the GOALS ERG, email GOALS@mssm.edu or visit the website GOALS (Growth in Operations, Administrations and Leadership Society).