February ‘22: Program Launch

Over the last two Wednesdays (Feb 23, Mar 2), with great excitement, we launched our first Health Equity program! Our 32 members came from across the Greater Boston community (63% BIPOC, 38% are from a household with income less than $35,000 per capita, 56% female, 6% nonbinary, 31% LBGTQ+) and began to share their lived experiences with health inequity and the stories that brought them to this cohort. Michael Curry, CEO of Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers, shared a powerful keynote address that exemplified the kind of proximate leadership we aspire to cultivate this spring. Our lead facilitator, Jeff Rogers, then led a masterclass workshop on understanding racism.

Over the next 12 weeks, our members will build their capacity to critically evaluate, navigate, and drive change on health equity issues - a capacity we call 'civic wellbeing'. We're deeply grateful to each of you - our 30+ community partners who will be engaging with our members over the next 12 weeks - from frontline healthcare workers to policymakers.

We are also excited to share our new partner portal with you, where you can see our program calendar, our evolving community partner catalog, member bios, and recordings/resources from select sessions. Given the sensitivity of some of this information, we ask that you keep the information on the portal confidential. In addition, we look forward to sharing periodic updates of our members' learning journey with you.

Finally, we want to recognize that less than 3 hours after our Feb 23rd kickoff concluded, we heard the news of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. During this difficult time for many, we are reflecting on some of Martin Luther King Jr's remarks from his 1964 Nobel Peace Prize Lecture,

"We will not build a peaceful world by following a negative path. It is not enough to say 'We must not wage war.' It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it. We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war, but on the positive affirmation of peace."

As we head into this week, we are grateful to each of you for being our partners, as we all do our best to practice and promote love and peace here in our community and abroad.

In partnership,

The GenUnity Team

March’22: People Module

Last month (March), our GenUnity members completed the first step in our Health Equity community leadership program, the People Module! And, we're excited to share a few highlights that inspired us!

What is the People Module?

Our program starts by centering the lived experiences of those affected by or experiencing health inequities in the Greater Boston community today. Members collectively invested over 150 hours in dialogue and discussion with our 12 community partners representing a diversity of experiences - from patients to frontline healthcare workers to local community leaders. By sharing those experiences with each other and bringing their own lived experiences into the space, our members deepened their understanding of the health equity challenges people are grappling with in our communities.

What did our members learn?

Below are a few of the reflections members shared with us from their People Module learning experiences!

• Proximity produces passion and perspective
  • “In my work I recognize that I also tend to stay in my "bubble" of people. After talking to Rev Mariama, I hope to seek out more opportunities to step outside of my bubble or comfort zone, and this made me really grateful for this program because I feel like I'm getting so many great opportunities to start that work now."
  • “I think that reading about how covid affected communities of color versus speaking with patients didn't fully paint the picture of how different covid was for me. I think that it's time for a step up and more active engagement from my end. I have resources that I can share with the community.”
• Solidarity across difference can emerge through dialogue
  • "A similarity I did draw between myself, and these [partners] was the fact that we are all on a mission to promote health justice and equity. Their stories were heartbreaking, but at the same time, I felt charged from each perspective to want to make more of a difference in this space and speak up for individuals and groups of people who are silenced."
  • “I found that despite our differences - race, faith, and so on, there was a shared desire to contribute and make Boston a better place. I also learned, particularly from Rochelle, that our differences are OK…What I do need to do is not sit out. To understand that I come from a different set of experiences, which I can use for good, and to do so.”
• Equity demands Effort
  • “Dr. Robyn Riseberg's presentation made me think a lot about agency in healthcare (particularly the ways traditional systems fail to provide agency), dignity, and the importance of addressing the root causes of problems rather than applying a general one-size-fits-all approach. Our group came back to [Michael Curry’s keynote] that equity often comes at a cost…and how there are many barriers to providing truly supportive, inclusive, and thorough care.”
  • “While Charlene spoke I kept questioning her safety and peace as a Black woman. If she gave up, what would happen? Advocating for your safety and wellbeing is a full time job.”