A new partnership between Mount Sinai’s Department of Health Education and The Blavatnik Family Women’s Health Institute has received funding from the Helen Gurley Brown Foundation to significantly expand the Public Health and Racial Justice Program. One of many robust youth education and empowerment offerings at Mount Sinai, the Public Health and Racial Justice Program seeks to cultivate the next cadre of young female scientists, community advocates, and health care workers from under-represented racial and ethnic groups, engaging girls of color, ages 16-18 years.
Alyssa Gale, MPH, Director of the Department of Health Education, explained how the program was created.
Alyssa Gale, MPH
“The Department of Health Education developed the Public Health and Racial Justice Program in the spring of 2020, in direct response to the parallel crises of the COVID-19 pandemic and state-sanctioned violence against people of color, both of which served as critical issues illuminating racism’s impact on public health,” she says. “We understood that young people were aware of and engaging in the discourse around racism and public health, and we wanted to provide a safe space in which they could learn about these issues and, more importantly, learn about how to get involved.”
Through a six-week summer program, participants are provided with an affirming and empowering space in which they can learn about the expansive field of public health and medicine through a racial justice lens, safely dialogue about challenging topics, and build skills and confidence around critical analysis, civic engagement, creative expression, and emotional processing. Senior researchers from the Blavatnik Institute and guest speakers from city agencies, community-based organizations, and across the Mount Sinai Health System provide mentorship and introduce participants to various areas of study and work.
Lajeanna Haughton, LMSW
Lajeanna Haughton, LMSW, Health Educator, has been facilitating this program since its inception and spoke about the importance of making the connection between learning and action. “I am so excited about and proud of our expansion. By introducing our participants to an even broader range of topics, community partners, and health system colleagues, we are hoping to expose our young people to a range of individuals, organizations, and movements who are working to address inequities, who reflect the communities our girls come from, and who can speak to the many different paths that can be taken in this work.”
The new partnership between the Department of Health Education and the Blavatnik Institute draws on the resources and strengths of both institutions, with a continued focus on seeking to address inequities in community health by cultivating a deep interest in science, medicine, and civic engagement among underrepresented youth.
Katharine McCarthy, PhD, MPH
The research team at the Blavatnik Institute, led by Leslee Shaw, PhD, the Institute’s Director, seeks to transform women’s health through discovering unique biological differences affecting women across their life span and devising pathways aimed to rectify racial and ethnic inequity for all women. Katharine McCarthy, PhD, MPH, an Assistant Professor in the Blavatnik Institute spoke about how this internal collaboration came about in the interest of better serving the community. “The underrepresentation of medical researchers and practitioners from backgrounds most affected by health disparities contributes to persistent health inequalities among women of color,” she says. “A diverse public health workforce that prioritizes community engagement is essential to translate research findings into effective interventions with a meaningful scientific and public health impact.”
Participants from previous cohorts of the Public Health and Racial Justice Program have shared the impact of their participation.
“The most meaningful thing about participating in the program is understanding the importance of youth activists and advocates. I was able to learn many new ideas from my peers and unlearn bias and stereotypes from other people’s experiences,” said one participant in the public health program. “Every moment of this program shaped my mind in the best way possible, and I am now able to identify the flaws in my community and the system through a reproductive and racial justice lens. This program is definitely something that I will take along with me in life forever and I hope to make a difference and impact many lives in the same way.”
“This program literally made me change my perspective on the issues I see,” added another. “Once you really analyze problems Black, queer, pregnant, low-income, etc. people face, it all leads back to some form of racism/oppression. And I am very grateful to have learned about these issues from this program. The discussions we had were so insightful…It was probably one of the most fulfilling experiences of my summer.”