Over the past 12 years, the Center for Health Equity (CHE)
has worked within Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness (LMPHW)
to ensure that policies, practices, and outcomes are meeting the needs of all
people in every community.
Under the direction of Dr. Sarah Moyer, LMPHW continues to elevate
health equity through the revamped vision and mission for the entire
department. In addition, she tasked Dr. Brandy Kelly Pryor to holistically operationalize the work of
health equity in the everyday work of LMPHW staff. Today, we are aligning ourselves internally
to enhance our outreach into the community, build the capacity of partners and
policymakers to make strategic change, and advocate for equitable practices
that undo the harmful impact of systems of power for Louisville residents. In order to drive this work forward, we know
we have to make some big changes. In the
past six months, CHE has trained LMPHW staff to build capacity and knowledge
around the relationship between their existing work and advancing health
equity. Formalizing this commitment, the
Center for Health Equity staff is officially growing - from a staff of 5
to 40 – as these employees are realigned into the CHE team.
While new to CHE, everyone joining us has been LMPHW staff
for a wide spectrum of years and brings expertise in various public health
topics. We are excited to welcome each person!
Employees will be joining existing CHE projects as well as
taking on new work, including the formation of new Root Cause Teams and Skillset
Labs. These teams are focusing on six root causes that were prominent in our Health
Equity Report:
- Early Childhood Development
- Social & Cultural Capital
- Food and the Built Environment
- Environmental Quality
- Housing and Economic Development
- Criminal Justice
Staff are also building their capacity and sharing their
expertise with others through these Skillset Labs:
- Policy Development
- Data Analysis
- Community Engagement
- Strategic Partnerships
We know that systems of power, like racism and ableism,
create ineffective practices which mean we must do our work differently to
achieve different outcomes. We believe aligning ourselves in this way will
allow us to have an increased, strategic focus to ensure residents experience
these root causes of health in ways that improve their quality of life, rather
than have a negative impact. We look forward to serving each of you in this way
and sharing more about our endeavors in future communication!
 "I have always thought that what is needed is the development of people who are interested not in being leaders as much as in developing leadership in others." ~Ella Jo Baker
Now, we have some bittersweet news to share with you. On May
25, 2018, Dr. Brandy N. Kelly Pryor will step down from her position as Center for
Health Equity (CHE) Director and take an exciting position at the Humana
Foundation.
Dr. Kelly Pryor joined CHE as the Director in December 2015
in a newly created joint role between the University of Louisville and
Louisville Metro Government. Filling the
position after it was vacant for one year, she prioritized having conversations
across the county to impart the message that health equity is everywhere and is
everybody’s business. What became most clear is residents--all of you--felt a
strong sense of understanding that root causes shape our health outcomes and
racism shapes root causes. You were also clear you wanted CHE to prioritize
institutional change and build capacity of systems to advance equity, rather
than just community education on its concepts. With Dr. Kelly Pryor’s
leadership, we did just that.
In her time here, CHE has grown exponentially in knowledge,
skills, and advocacy to ensure each of you experience the Louisville you
deserve, where you can find hope, happiness, and wellness. Some of these
highlights include:
- In 2016, we hosted My Dream for Lou, a
policy summit where all 26 districts in our county were represented and YOU
shaped the agenda and eventual policy recommendations needed to create the
Louisville you dream of. Two out of four groups recommended participatory
budgeting. We are currently building a pilot project for that and will be
sharing more information soon.
- We have trained over 4000 Metro employees in ways
to undo the impact of racism on our roles and responsibilities. Through
partnership with other Metro agencies and our work with Living
Cities Foundation, CHE also advocated for the creation of a Chief Equity
Officer to be housed in the Mayor’s Office and be responsible for advancing
equity across LMG.
- We have shared the work that we are doing as a
community all over the country through our RWJF
Culture of Health Prize recognition and even brought international
recognition to the work of CHE by
sharing the work of health equity with amazing partners in London
We are sad to see Dr. Kelly Pryor move into another position
but thrilled that the work of equity continues. Equity is a skillset that we are
learning to build, and Dr. Kelly Pryor is who you want on your team helping to
develop that skill. We know we will continue to call her a partner in this work
and grow the seeds she has spent so much time planting.
T Gonzales, who has been leading CHE with great enthusiasm, will
be stepping in as interim Director of our new CHE team. T is a natural leader
and facilitator that has led advocacy efforts for policy change both at the
local and national level. T has written up academic research and
communicated to lay audiences on challenging topics. We are ready for T to
lead this exciting challenge of helping to move our department forward.
In Community,
The staff of the Center for Health Equity |
