Engagement Opportunities
In partnership with community, we identify a knot - a specific health problem that is showing up in a local area, from lack of access to clean water to poor maternal health outcomes, and engage in both the problem and solution space.
We actively explore problems, through research and understanding with community expertise, and actively solve problems, through community co-design and testing of equity-centered solutions.
Exploring the Problem
Queer and Trans Pacific Islanders (QTPIs) in the Pacific Northwest are not accurately represented in health and wellness data due to the lack of disaggregated data collection and analysis metrics to fully understand, assess, and authentically address their specific needs.
Misrepresentation of Queer and Trans Pacific Islanders
Indigenous women in Arizona, especially in tribal communities, are at increased risk of severe maternal morbidity and mortality due to racial and place-based inequities that disproportionately impact their access to quality care.
Inequities in Maternal Health for Native Women
Rural communities in New Mexico, experiencing high levels of poverty and reliance on critical federal support including SNAP and Medicaid, are living in constant fear of deportation and loss of dignity, essential supports, and critical services due to current federal policies that are contributing to their destabilization.
Destabilization of Rural Communities
Displaced immigrant communities now living in the US have been struggling to preserve and practice their traditions and share their knowledge and perspectives in secure sustainable ways due to the on-going political persecution and censorship of the communities, leading to lasting negative impacts on their mental health.
Displacement and Destruction of Immigrant Communities
Mutual aid organizations that support undocumented day laborers who work and/or live in the areas impacted by the Eaton fire in Los Angeles do not have access to air quality data that measures the presence of dangerous air particulates that are byproducts of the Eaton fire because of the inequitable distribution of air quality sensors in BIPOC communities.
Day Laborers in Altadena Impacted by Poor Air Quality
Due to the lack of culturally relevant models of care, South Asian adults (ages 30-60) are not able to engage in their own and their families healthcare, which exacerbates the risk of chronic health conditions because the westernized approach in our current ethnocentric system of care disempowers them to stay actively engaged with their providers.
Ethnocentric Primary Care Practices Isolate South Asian Adults
Indigenous communities in the Colorado Basin are experiencing inequities in access to water, which are exacerbated by climate-related crises such as droughts, because of the lack of acknowledgment of basic rights and lack of enforcement of legal rights due to the colonial history of erasure and racism.
Indigenous Communities in Colorado Basin Area Lack Access to Water
Exploring the Solution
Inclusive Integration of Promoter Workforce in Local Government
We collaborated with Para Los Niños Community Transformation Collective to co-design a power-shifting assessment tool to support the integration of promoters in healthcare institutions. We are now actively redesigning for government, exploring how might we adapt the assessment tool to support local government agencies to strengthen their workplace policies and practices to equitably integrate monolingual, non-English-speaking promoters.
