State-Of-Black-Oregon-2015

But our Black community has been erodedover the past 20 years. In the name of urbanrenewal, the Black community has beendisplaced so that our zip codes no longerconnect us. The implications are powerful. If,as the research suggests, nutritional and stressrisk factors reflect our community environment,we can and must improve these conditionsthrough changes in public policy and innovativepublic health programming.For the sake of our future generations, we need tofocus on the well-being of our young Black womentoday, particularly those whose families are lowerincome.We need to tackle health problems thatlimit educational, economic and social opportunityfor individuals and communities.As a first step, we need to build efforts inculturally affirming prevention, maternal andchild health, early childhood education, housingand economic development into a larger social/health equity movement. We have to thinkbigger, bolder and more comprehensively.THE RESPONSIBILITIES OFOUR LEADERSOur city, county, regional and state governmentsmust demolish the silos that limit theireffectiveness. Our elected officials, businessexecutives, faith leaders, educators and healthprofessionals need a common understanding ofthe cross-cutting factors that increase risks for alifetime of health and social problems.Because we know that social factors likeracism contribute in a significant and tragicway to disability and early death, social changeneeds to be at the center of health promotion.Sustainable funding is critical for the culturallyspecific faith and community organizations thatstrengthen connected, empowered and involvedcommunity networks.the members of the dominant culture whosethinking has perpetuated it. This is not thecross-burning of not so long ago; it has evolvedinto subtle, subconscious thinking that deniesor minimizes people of color in leadershipand dismisses indigenous ways of knowing,gathering, addressing problems and healing.Those who ignore or downplay, for example,how gentrification and unemployment havedeep health and mental health impacts, diminishthe humanity of themselves as well as others.Our leaders cannot be neutral, sitting by as thechronic stress of racism takes years off of ourlives. They cannot be afraid to empathize withimpacted communities and to feel the depth ofdamage and loss.Solutions must be tailored to the communitiesexperiencing the greatest need and fundedto facilitate effectiveness. In developing them,leaders must include those who’ve beenprivileged and those who’ve been oppressed.To achieve equity, everyone must committo chart (and fund) a new course for theinstitutions and systems that exist to promotehealth. And we must share a more humanefocus on our collective future that recognizesthe pivotal role of our mothers and daughters,who may one day become mothers themselves,in our community’s health.Just as the mother isthe environment of thedeveloping fetus, thecommunity is theenvironment of the mother.These organizations must be at the heart ofour collective healing—not just for the peopleof color who’ve experienced racism, but for718