 Youth Council Works to Advance Racial Equity
by DOPEYC - Quintez Brown, Roxana Castillo, Isabella Contarino, Immaya Hughes, Christian Jones,Clara
Kinnett, Mahogany Mayfield, Jada Peden, Lisandra Plana, Stephanie Solis and JoDae Whitfield
The
Despite Oppression Pursue Excellence Youth Council (D.O.P.E.Y.C.), officially
known as the Racial Equity Youth Council, is a group of 10 like-minded youth
between the ages of 16-19 with the goal of empowering our community by
advancing racial equity. As
a strategic initiative of the Center for Health Equity, and in partnership with
Mayor’s SummerWorks initiative, we undertook the ambitious, yet necessary
goal of creating two action plans over the course of seven weeks. Through our
action plans we are empowering communities to challenge racial inequities
through awareness and action. Through our efforts, we aspire to amplify the
voices of the unheard to implement equitable change regarding underrepresented
youth.
In order
to implement change we learned from a curriculum of engaging in open dialogue,
analyzing documentaries, discussing articles while also interacting with guest
speakers. This curriculum enabled us to develop our foundation of awareness
on mass incarceration, food injustice, gentrification, redlining, and other
forms of racial inequities.
Our first
action plan was to engage in youth participatory action research. We used this method of research because we believe that the people who are being most
impacted should have the chance to have their voice amplified. We strive to
help lessen the impact that institutional and systemic practices have on
youth.
In our
second action plan we conducted a racial equity training that allowed us
to delve into how deeply rooted institutional and structural racism affects
society. Participants walked away with an enhanced view of how the world
works, how it intertwines with race, power dynamics, and social standing.
Participants will share what they will have learned from attending this training
through communicating with others and acting as a racial equity advocate in the
community.
Collectively
we have realized that despite oppression, our community can pursue excellence!
 What We're Reading (and listening to)
- Check out this article, "Living in a poor neighborhood changes everything about your life," for some great graphics on the impact of poverty and housing patterns on health and quality of life.
- NPR's Code Switch Podcast: Episode, 'The U.S. Census and Our Sense of Us.' "The Census is so much more than cold, hard data. It's about what we call ourselves, the ways we see ourselves and how we're represented. On this episode we ask the former head of the Census bureau why he quit. We talk about how the Census helped create 'Hispanic' identity. And we talk through some of the proposed race and ethnicity categories that may show up on the 2020 questionnaire."
 COMING SOON! The 2017 Health Equity Report is on the way! Health equity means that your choice to enjoy a life with hope, happiness, and wellness will be the easy choice. This means environments, economic development, and government work in everyone’s favor, and a person’s identities, whatever they may be, do not determine how healthy one can be or how long one will live. The new report will have new health outcomes not covered in previous reports, disaggregated data, and new community recommendations. You'll be among the first to know when the report is released! |
