Visesha Ainapudi, MPH, CHES, left, Program Facilitator, and Lesly Sanchez, Program Participant
The Mount Sinai Department of Health Education hosted its second in-person cohort of the Public Health and Racial Justice Program for youth ages 15-18 years in July and August. During the six-week program, 28 participants—selected from nearly 300 applicants—learned about a variety of public health topics through a racial justice lens.
The Department of Health Education created the Public Health and Racial Justice Program in the spring of 2020 in direct response to the Black Lives Matter movement and the COVID-19 pandemic. Emphasizing the power and importance of civic engagement, community advocacy, youth activism, and the cultivation of a diverse public health workforce, the program builds skills, fosters pride, and nurtures community connection so that all participants see themselves as powerful agents of change.
With generous support from the Helen Gurley Brown Foundation, the program provided participant stipends, MetroCards, and lunch vouchers to offset financial barriers to participation.
The program’s hospital-community partnerships highlighted how clinical medicine and health care access are complemented by the advocacy and activism of community-based movements, often spearheaded by leaders of color. Participants heard from more than 45 guest presenters, including community experts from community-based health care collectives, city government, and non-profits.
Mount Sinai Health System leaders offered their educational, personal, and professional wisdom to participants, with representation from a variety of departments including Emergency Medicine, the Institute for Health Equity Research, Graduate Medical Education, the Raquel and Jaime Gilinski Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Science, the Office for Diversity and Inclusion, and more. Through a partnership with the Mount Sinai Simulation Teaching and Research Center, participants gained concrete skills through hands-on trainings in adult and infant CPR, naloxone administration, tourniquet application, and birthing simulation.
One program participant said, “I learned a lot from people from the hospital who would come talk to us and tell us about their career and how they got where they were… Sometimes they fell down and got back up. Their stories were rocky but they ended up in a good position they enjoyed, and that gives me hope.”
This year’s cohort was the largest in the program’s history. The facilitators took great care to prioritize group cohesion, building in time for engaging and fun activities, individual check-ins, and small group activities to develop relationships between the youth.
One participant shared, “My favorite thing from the summer were the icebreakers and games. It wasn’t like school where you go straight to working or watching or listening. You get to learn different things about the people around you. It starts a conversation.”
As the program progressed, some of the participants even felt encouraged to step into peer leadership roles with group activities. “I felt like I really belonged, and I don’t feel that way often,” said one participant. Another added, “It felt empowering being surrounded by a group of girls my age who were so intelligent, kind, and dependable.”
The 2024 Public Health and Racial Justice Program youth cohort and facilitators
Participants completed a final “Photovoice” project, applying what they learned throughout the program to a community health issue that mattered to them. Each young person had the platform to voice their perspective, educate Mount Sinai staff and representatives from New York City government and community-based organizations, and facilitate critical dialogue to encourage action as youth leaders. Participants shared their Photovoice project at a culminating event, attended by Mount Sinai staff, community partners, family, and friends.
One participant said the most meaningful aspect of the program was “being able to present everything we’d been working on and learning about for 6 weeks. I loved hearing the things people found to be impactful in their communities during the Photovoice presentations.”
Another young person, reflecting on their experience, said, “This program has helped me to speak up about the way that I feel about certain issues and to become more educated about issues that I didn’t know too much about. With the knowledge I’ve gained from this program I can go out into the world and be an activist.”