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Early Resources

Banner for Early Development Level Resources

All the resources in this page fall under the "Early" Development Level, which corresponds with a 1-2 on the Equity Development scale. A "1" means work from each competency has not yet started or is in a learning stage. A "2" can be interpreted as activities that have been planned but not started, or in initial/pilot stages of implementation. Any of these resources can be helpful with work in each competency that is in "Early" stages.

Type Title Description
Examples CDPH HRD Recruitment and Hiring Tips and Tricks The California Department of Public Health (CDPH), Human Resources Division (HRD) shares recruitment and hiring tips and tricks with an equity & diversity inclusive lens. This document includes information on crafting job descriptions, developing equity, diversity, and inclusive statements, and creative ways to promote job listings.
Examples Health Equity Bank of Job Applicant Interview Questions List of health equity interview questions that can be asked for any position and desired skills and abilities to look for in a candidate.
Templates Universal Policy Equity Diversity and Inclusion in State Employment The Universal Policy Equity Diversity and Inclusion in State Employment document outlines the State of Colorado's commitment to fostering a diverse and inclusive workforce by implementing equitable hiring and retention practices. It emphasizes the importance of creating a workplace where all individuals feel comfortable bringing their full selves to work, and details the responsibilities of various state personnel in promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion.
Trainings New Resources and Creative Strategies for Recruiting Candidates for Health Departments This training has an emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion in recruitment for health departments. The training covers understanding candidate motivation, developing effective recruitment materials, and how emphasizing the mission-driven work of public health agencies can help attract the best candidates.
Webinars CDPH Equity TA Team Office Hours: Hiring This CDPH Equity Technical Assistance Team Office Hour has two guest panelists from Marin and Madera County who share successful practices in hiring, working with human resources (HR) to remove barriers, and ideal places to advertise your job listings.
Guides Creating a Culture of Belonging : A Guide for Retention This guide, from the State of Colorado, provides information on why retaining a diverse workforce is important, initial steps and measurements organizations can take, and onboarding new employees into a culture of belonging.
Guides Ensuring a Diverse Workforce : A Guide for Inclusive Hiring Practices This guide, from the State of Colorado, provides several recommendations to ensure the workforce represents the community it serves. Included are resource such as a position description checklist, job announcement checklist, sample interview questions and more.
Guides Ready For Equity In Workforce Development- Racial Equity Readiness Assessment Tool This is a comprehensive racial equity readiness assessment tool designed to help workforce development organizations evaluate and improve their programs, operations, and culture to advance racial equity. It provides practical solutions, guiding principles, and a detailed assessment framework to address racial inequities and enhance service delivery for clients of color.
Type Title Description
Examples Public Health Alliance - Health Equity Coordinator Job Description An example of a Health Equity Coordinator job description from the Public Health Alliance of Southern California.
Articles Get Serious About Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion : 4 Reasons You Need a Dedicated DEI Team This article may be helpful for organizations that are looking into forming a dedicated equity team. A section on how to support your dedicated equity team upon formation is also included.
Type Title Description
Trainings Prevention Institute Health Equity and Prevention Toolkit The Health Equity and Prevention Primer (HEPP) leverages expertise from state and LHJ employees and equity leaders to build seven different training modules including Community Factors & How They Influence Health Equity; Enhancing Effective Partnerships for Health Equity; and Measurement and Evaluation for Health Equity. The toolkit focuses on how equity and prevention interventions can be combined to increase the health and safety of the community.
Trainings Western Region Public Health Training Center - Health Equity Course This training is a short (estimated 30 minutes) introduction on the concept of health equity with powerful resources and learning tools.
Webinars Health Equity in Rural Communities This webinar discusses rural health equity efforts in the state of Colorado and contains supplemental documents of real-life examples of equity work. While this resource is Colorado-centric, it is a helpful introduction to the concept of rural health equity and multi-partner collaboration necessary when addressing inequities in small, rural communities. Rural Resource
Guides ASTHO Health Equity and Public Health Accreditation Guide This is an introduction to equity from the Association of State and Territorial Health Offices (ASTHO) during the process of public health accreditation. The guide reviews how to integrate equity into your health department for accreditation, with real world examples from other health departments.
Frameworks The Health Equity Framework This article describes a Health Equity Framework (HEF) model to understand how health outcomes are affected by the complex relationships between people and their environment. The framewok is a tool that allows public health workers to understand and reflect on how addressing health inequities in their community can lead to positive changes in mutliple spheres of influence, from the entire community down to the individual.
Articles What Are Health Disparities and Health Equity? We Need to be Clear This brief article defines the concepts of health disparities and health equity in easy-to-understand terms. The article also explains why solid definitions are important when working with equity, and how language can help mitigate disparities.
Articles What is Health Equity? A Definition and Discussion Guide This report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, contains definitions of health equity terms, key stages to enact equity in your organization, and examples of advancing health equity. It also serves as a model for enacting group discussions around what equity means to an organization and what equity “action” looks like.
Type Title Description
Examples Power-building Partnerships for Health: Lessons from Santa Barbara About Building Power to Protect Farmworker Health and Advance Health Equity This article highlights the importance of relationship building within Power-Building Partnerships for Health (PPH) and discusses Santa Barbara County Public Health Department’s collaboration with two community organizing groups.
Templates Preparing for Successful Public Meetings: Checklist for Before, During, and After This tool provides a short, accessible checklist for preparing successful public meetings with communities and partners.
Templates Partnership Assessment Tool for Health (PATH) This fillable tool is intended for community-based organizations (CBOs) and healthcare organizations engaged in partnerships to provide services to populations in need. The tool includes a partnership questionnaire and discussion guide to facilitate future meetings.
Templates PATH Addendum This tool is an addendum to PATH that allows for CBOs and healthcare organizations to identify benchmark characteristics within partnerships that advance health equity.
Trainings Essentials of Collaboration This 1-hour interactive course examines how efficient teamwork can result in improved population health. Using a case study to explain essential principles, you will receive guidance on breaking down silos, aligning activities across sectors, and cooperating effectively. The course's definition of a successful collaboration lays the groundwork for teaming up with others to improve your community.
Guides Effective Public Engagement through Strategies and Communication This guide serves as a tip sheet and offers communication strategies that local governments can incorporate into public engagement efforts. The sheet shares steps organizations can take before, during, and after engagement.
Guides Engaging Your Community : A Toolkit for Partnership, Collaboration, and Action This toolkit is designed to help organizations build effective partnerships, carry out creative outreach initiatives, and develop persuasive communications that speak to various community groups and populations. The toolkit provides instructions for conducting self-evaluations of a partnership, as well as outreach techniques to involve community residents and other organizations. It also provides resources for enhancing these tactics to increase organizational capacity.
Guides Planning Public Engagement: Key Questions for Local Officials This guide provides 14 key questions for local agencies to consider when engaging with the public.
Guides Promoting Effective Public Participation at Governing Body Meetings: Opportunities to Deepen Public Participation and Trust This publication provides suggestions to improve the process of receiving public input during local agency meetings and opportunities to deepen public participation and trust.
Guides Resources for Collaboration and Power Sharing This guide is for health departments seeking to share authority with community power-building organizations (CPBOs) and provides action-oriented steps to improve collaboration.
Guides Resources for Collaborations and Power Sharing Between Government Agencies and Community Power- Building Organizations This guide outlines the benefits of partnerships between government entities and community power-building groups and offers a variety of models for collaboration.
Guides Integration to Improve Health: Partnership Models between CBOs and Healthcare Organizations This resource focuses on common approaches organizations can take by working together to approve health outcomes through service models, financial relationships, data, partnerships, and governance. Each category has a variety of real-life examples that serve as additional learning opportunities for readers.
Guides Strengthening and Sustaining Public Engagement: A Planning Guide for Communities This guide instructs local governments, elected officials, and/or school systems on how to strengthen and sustain public engagement in planning strategies. Considerations such as types of engagement, when to prioritize engagement, and how to build more robust engagement methods are included.
Guides NACCHO Communications Plan Workbook The Communications Plan Workbook by NACCHO provides a structured, five-step approach to help local health departments design effective communication strategies. The plan guides users through: (1) establishing clear and measurable goals, (2) defining key audiences, (3) identifying core messages, (4) creating a tactical outreach plan with appropriate communication channels, and (5) specifying a timeline for implementation. This resource emphasizes strategic planning to ensure communication efforts are targeted, efficient, and aligned with public health objectives in order to create networks for information sharing with partners.
Guides Evaluating Your Communication Plan This NACCHO guide supports local health departments in strengthening their communication efforts through structured evaluation. Organized into key sections—Why Evaluate, What to Evaluate, How to Evaluate, and Using Evaluation Results—the document walks users through the rationale for evaluation, selecting meaningful metrics, applying practical methods, and translating findings into improved strategies. It emphasizes continuous learning, stakeholder engagement, and aligning communication goals with measurable outcomes to enhance the quality and impact of public health messaging.
Guides Prowers County Public Health Risk Communication Plan Developed by Prowers County, Colorado, this plan outlines strategies for delivering timely, accurate, and accessible information to vulnerable or special populations during public health emergencies. It emphasizes identifying subpopulations with unique communication needs and tailoring outreach accordingly. The plan serves as a practical example for local health departments, highlighting the importance of inclusive planning, culturally appropriate messaging, and coordination with trusted community partners to ensure no group is left behind in crisis communication efforts.
Frameworks Communicating About Health Equity Concepts (CHEC) Communicating using a health equity frame means focusing on creating broader understanding of the social, structural, and systemic factors that may impact health outcomes. This resource offers public health professionals three evidence-based principles with tangible strategies to clearly and effectively communicate about health equity concepts with diverse audiences.
Frameworks Build Health Challenge: Keys to Collaboration The BUILD Health Challenge (BUILD) is a framework that identifies four dynamic stages of collaboration that are essential to developing successful partnerships aimed at promoting health equity. The stages include examples, and takeaways for organizations for Building Relationships, Establishing a Team, Defining Roles and Creating Structure, and Communicating to Build Trust.
Articles Advancing Healthcare and CBOs to Address Social Determinants of Health This executive summary focuses on the collaboration between three healthcare-CBO partnerships. It is intended to help refine relationship with current or existing partners and/or agencies exploring new collaborations.
Articles CBOs Perspective on Improving Health and Social Services Integration This article discusses the perspectives of CBOs on service delivery and suggestions for improving health system partnerships. To create lasting and sustainable partnerships, CBOs must feel supported and the relationship must be mutually beneficial.
Articles Collaboration Between Health Systems and CBOs This executive summary highlights different approaches to overcoming early challenges in forming new partnerships. It provides examples and discusses common themes and lessons learned. Each strategy ensures the voices of the CBOs and their communities are valued in the priority setting and decision-making process.
2023 CA LHJ Examples San Mateo County Health: Community Collaboration The Government Alliance for Race & Equity (GARE) at San Mateo County Health provides a network to share information and collaborate on equity efforts. Structures such as the Behavioral Health and Recovery Services’ Health Equity Initiatives, and a new Community Collaborative Model with Public Health, provide avenues for connection, communication, and trust-building between County Health and community. Structures vary by division.
Type Title Description
Examples Co-Design of Services for Health and Reentry (CO-SHARE) This RAND study explores how Experience-Based Co-Design (EBCD) can be used to improve health and reentry services for individuals returning to the community from jail in Los Angeles County. Through a collaborative process involving returning citizens and service providers, the project identified four high-priority areas for system improvement, including the prerelease process and post-release service coordination. Lessons learned emphasize the importance of building trust, adapting facilitation methods to empower participants, and addressing underrepresentation of certain groups. The study demonstrates how place-based, co-designed partnerships can inform more equitable and responsive service systems.
Templates Community Based Assessment: A Guide for HIV Prevention Workers This guide provides HIV prevention workers with practical tools and strategies for conducting community-based assessments that inform effective, culturally responsive interventions. It emphasizes the importance of engaging community members throughout the assessment process to ensure relevance and trust. Key lessons include building relationships with local stakeholders, using both qualitative and quantitative data, and tailoring outreach to reflect the lived experiences of priority populations. The guide can serve as an example for public health workers in identifying community needs, assets, and gaps to do a variety of health equity work through inclusive, data-informed planning.
Templates Community Mapping Introduction and Worksheet This resource introduces Community Mapping as a grassroots organizing tool that helps communities gather accurate information about their own assets, challenges, and dynamics. The process is designed to mobilize community members and put them in a stronger position to represent themselves, rather than relying on external actors to define their needs. By fostering deep listening, inclusive communication, and long-term engagement, community mapping builds local capacity, strengthens solidarity, and supports sustainable, community-led change.
Templates Community Engagement & Participation Checklist Developed by PolicyLink, this outline identifies important components of an authentic and participatory community engagement process. Characteristics of participatory community change include trust, shared vision, partnerships with public agencies, capacity, and policy action.
Templates Community Engagement Assessment Tool This Community Engagement Assessment Tool serves as a guide to help grow an organization’s understanding of community engagement and define its intentions. Organizations can use this tool with staff and external partners to assess strengths and gaps.
Templates Community Engagement Toolkit This toolkit shares a series of tools for the development of an equitable and strategic community engagement plan. It includes tools for exploring areas in the spectrum of community engagement, asset-based community development, and capacity building.
Trainings Community Engagement: The People's Approach to Improving Health and Social Outcomes This course focuses on community participation and the active role of local health departments in community engagement methods. It includes a summary of case studies, best practices, and methods for fostering community discourse and participation, as well as for incorporating community involvement into public health practice.
Guides Partnering with Community- Based Organizations for More Broad- Based Public Engagement This webinar discusses rural health equity efforts in the state of Colorado and contains real-life examples of equity work. While this resource is Colorado-centric, it is a helpful introduction to the concept of rural health equity and multi-partner collaboration necessary when addressing inequities in small, rural communities. Rural Resource
Guides Methods for Supporting Diverse Patient Engagement in a Diverse World This interactive guide from the Canadian Institute of Health Research allows you to explore guides for consideratio for engaging with d/Deaf, disabled, rural and remote, LGBTQ2S+, and immigrant, refugee, racialized, and ethnocultural communities.ns
Guides Community Engagement of African Americans in the Era of COVID-19: Considerations, Challenges, Implications, and Recommendations for Public Hea African Americans, compared with all other racial/ethnic groups, are more likely to contract coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), be hospitalized for it, and die of the disease. Psychosocial, sociocultural, and environmental vulnerabilities, compounded by preexisting health conditions, exacerbate this health disparity. Interconnected historical, policy, clinical, and community factors explain and underpin community-based participatory research approaches to advance the art and science of community engagement among African Americans in the COVID-19 era. In this commentary, we detail the pandemic response strategies of the Morehouse School of Medicine Prevention Research Center. We discuss the implications of these complex factors and propose recommendations for addressing them that, adopted together, will result in community and data-informed mitigation strategies. These approaches will proactively prepare for the next pandemic and advance community leadership toward health equity.
Frameworks Mapping and Goal Setting Worksheet The Making Space initiative offers a worksheet designed to support inclusive community engagement by helping practitioners identify and plan for equity-deserving groups and vulnerable communities. This tool guides users through a structured process of mapping local demographics, identifying barriers to engagement, and setting meaningful goals. It emphasizes intersectionality and encourages the use of both quantitative data and community insights. The worksheet includes planning prompts and a matrix to help users design strategies that reduce barriers and track progress. It is intended to be flexible and interactive—encouraging users to highlight, annotate, and adapt it to their specific context. Recommendations are included to help practitioners embed equity into their engagement practices and measure impact effectively.
Frameworks Community Engagement Framework This community engagement framework assesses the strengths of an organization instead of starting from a needs-based approach. Values in this framework include integrity, transparency, collaboration, equity, and self-reflection.
Articles Using Public Deliberation to Set Priorities: The Case of COVID-19 Vaccine Access in New York City The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a record number of deaths in the United States and tremendous economic and personal strain. During 2020, in anticipation of a vaccine to slow the spread of disease, local and state governments in the United States developed plans for vaccine prioritization, given a limited initial supply. Recognizing the challenges inherent in prioritization, the New York City (NYC) health department sought guidance from members of the public about the fairest approach to early-stage vaccine distribution.
2023 CA LHJ Examples Humboldt County Public Health Humboldt County Public Health strives to build trust with the community through transparent and inclusive communication, respectful co-learning, and leveraging community expertise to inform equitable practices. The organization has varied examples of targeted instances of active partnership and engagement in specific programs and populations. They conduct focus groups, forums, and surveys for the community to give input on programs, projects, and experiences. Some coalitions and partnerships have more formal structures and requirements for incorporating community feedback.
2023 CA LHJ Examples Kern County Health Equity Plan The Kern Health Equity Partnership was founded and formalized during the first year of CERI, bringing together trusted community leaders, champions, and partners across sectors, to share space in listening, collaborating and to ensure work is continuously meeting the needs of their communities. Their aim is to expand access to quality health and improved the overall health of all Kern County Residents.
Type Title Description
Examples Examples of Communities Tackling Health Inequity The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine presents Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity, a landmark report that examines the structural factors driving health inequities in the United States and outlines actionable strategies for achieving health equity through community-led efforts. The report features nine in-depth case studies from across the country, including spotlights in Fresno and Oakland California. Fresno’s example illustrates how local coalitions can address entrenched disparities by focusing on environmental justice, economic opportunity, and civic engagement. The report emphasizes the importance of cross-sector collaboration, community empowerment, and policy change. Recommendations are included to guide public health professionals, policymakers, and community leaders in creating conditions where all people can thrive.
Templates Collaborative Health-A Health in All Policies Presentation This customizable PowerPoint template helps to build support for Health in All Policies (HiAP). The package for this resource also includes a guide on how to support HiAP initiatives in government, which is a companion to the template. It is recommended that organizations review both before giving the presentation to internal or external partners.
Trainings Using Message Framing Tools to Build and Suistain Cross-Sector Partnerships This training provides public health professionals with messaging tools for effective communication with other sectors. It describes what framing is and why it is important when communicating to external stakeholders. It takes about 30 minutes to complete and provides participants with a certificate upon completion.
Webinars Strategies and Resources for Working Across Sectors In the final episode of Keeping Up With Public Health: Cross-Sector Collaborations (Season 3)., we review the value of working across sectors for developing public health infrastructure and advancing health equity, and discuss general approaches to cross-sectoral work and relationship building. Resources for engaging in cross-sectoral work are shared. Guests: Ruben Cantu, Melissa Jones, MPA.
Webinars Cross Sector Collaboration Making Partnerships Work for Your Community This webinar provides real life examples of cross-sector partnerships along with resources and tools to strengthen these partnerships.
Webinars Fostering Community Partnerships to Advance Health Equity This webinar describes how the Alameda County Public Health Department has worked with the housing sector to advance population health.
Webinars Health Equity in Cross Sector Partnerships This training provides examples of cross sector partnerships and explains why these partnerships are essential to advancing health equity.
Guides Initiating Cross- Sector Partnerships to Advance Population Health This guide provides examples of cross-sector partnerships collaborating to address the social determinants of health. The document goes step by step into finding the right partner, creating a lasting relationship, and creating lasting goals within the collaboration.
Guides Grassroots Organizations on Collaborating with Public Health Agencies This guide describes how grassroots organizations and public health agencies can work together to advance health equity and racial justice. The document describes processes for bringing intentionality to agreements, leveraging community expertise, and integrating equity into organizational goals. Community spotlights are also included for each section, including one from Monterey County, California.
Guides The Guide to Cross-Sector Collaboration This guide provides actionable steps on how to find, build and develop cross-sector partnerships.
Guides Stanford Social Innovation Review-Cross Sector Leadership This interactive guide covers several topics including the need for cross-sector leadership, essential skills for leaders, creating a culture of collaboration and establishing cross-sector networks. It also contains profiles of leaders across industries (e.g., business, non- profit, government etc.).
Frameworks Prevention Institute: Collaboration Multiplier Collaboration Multiplier is a framework and tool for analyzing collaborative efforts across sectors. It is designed to serve as a starting point for understanding the contributions of different fields and for building effective interdisciplinary efforts through partnership.
Articles Partners in Promoting Health Equity in Communities The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine presents a chapter titled Partners in Promoting Health Equity in Communities, which explores the diverse roles that cross-sector partners play in advancing health equity. The chapter emphasizes that public health agencies, community-based organizations, businesses, educational institutions, and financial institutions each bring unique assets to equity-focused work. Through real-world examples, it illustrates how partnerships grounded in shared values, trust, and community engagement can address the social determinants of health. The chapter also highlights the importance of inclusive leadership and sustained collaboration. Recommendations are included to guide communities in building effective, equity-centered partnerships that improve health outcomes and foster systemic change.
2023 CA LHJ Examples Kern County Health Equity Partnership's Subcommittee Day The Kern Health Equity Partnership was founded and formalized during the first year of CERI, bringing together trusted community leaders, champions, and partners across sectors, to share space in listening, collaborating and to ensure work is continuously meeting the needs of their communities. Their aim is to expand access to quality health and improved the overall health of all Kern County Residents.
Type Title Description
Examples Racial Equity Mission Statements This document, compiled by the Partnership for a Healthy Durham, contains racial equity mission and vision statements from various organizations located across the country.
Examples Vermont Department of Health: Our Vision, Mission & Values The Vermont Department of Health incorporates equity into their mission, vision, and values statements. This can serve as an example of organizational commitment to equity for other state and local health departments.
Examples Joint Organizational Commitment to Anti-Racism and Racial Equit The Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs (AMCHP), along with other public health organizations, commit to anti-racism and racial equity by publishing a joint organizational commitment statement. This document includes the purpose of addressing anti-racism, the agreed upon foundations of the approach to anti-racism and racial equity, and the commitments with specific activities on how to move forward.
Examples Health Equity Team 2021 Year in Review This document is an end of the year equity celebration from Winnebago County, Wisconsin. The publicly posted review summarizes the health department’s mission statement, equity team accomplishments, equity internal infrastructure, community equity projects that the health department took part in, and goals for the next year. This is a great example that showcases commitment to equity and transparency.
Templates Health Equity Statements and Goals Resource Assembled by the Association of Immunization Managers, this literature review compiles mission & vision statements from organizations that perform equity work, analyzing the common themes and recommending resources for organizations wanting to craft their own statements.
Trainings Public Health Essentials in Action This training covers the Three Public Health Core Functions and the Ten Essential Public Health Services as a framework for the responsibilities of local public health systems, and how this framework serves to improve health equity.
Trainings Public Health Ethics In this training, examine public health ethics and ethical based approaches to decision making. Learn to use ethical frameworks to make decisions confidently and justify decisions with transparency. Practice addressing ethical challenges respectfully in a way that builds trust with communities and stakeholders through simulated case scenarios. Practice identifying ethical dilemmas and the exploration of solutions.
Trainings Introduction to Health Equity and Racial Justice This training is about embedding a racial justice and power-informed equity framework into organizational decision-making and culture.
Webinars Principles and Guidance for Remedying Racial Inequality Stephen Menendian, assistant director of the Othering & Belonging Institute, presented at the California Racial Equity Commission's Framework Development Committee meeting on March 20, 2025. Stephen presented principles for how to develop sustainable racial equity policy and guidance. His presentations begins around 33:10.
Webinars Organizational Capacity for Health Equity Action Initiative Webinar Series This webinar series discusses integrating health equity in your public health department. While Webinar #1 is not relevant, others in the series include "Living health equity values within public health organizations" and "Governance and decision-making for health equity." Note: Please scroll down to the "Knowledge Sharing" section to see the list of webinars.
Guides Choosing Health Equity:Understanding Decision Points in Policy and Practice This is a useful discussion guide for public health advocates and decision-makers. A framework within the guide details four steps to implement equity and has discussion questions for each step. In addition to the questions, the guide explains the purpose of asking the questions and examples for further reading into the concepts behind questions. Organizations can benefit from expressing the purpose behind their equity work and verbalizing it to both internal and external partners.
Guides A Rising Tide: Increasing Rural LHDs Capacity to Address the Social Determinants of Health The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) presents a guide focused on the unique challenges and experiences of local health departments integrating equity into their organization. The guide shares results of an assessment completed with five rural health departments, which discusses foundational equity work in each department and digs deeply into motifs across the interviews. Recommendations are included to assist rural health departments address social determinants of health in their organizations. (Rural Resource)
Guides Building a Movement, Transforming Institutions Developed by PolicyLink, this guide defines health equity and gives actionable steps for how to further incorporate equity into your organization. The guide is broken down into sections covering topics such as “Building Leadership for Health Equity,” “Leveraging Institutional Capital for Health Equity Sustainability,” and “Framing and Communication for Health Equity.” The guide has recommended resources for further reading, which includes examples from California health departments and other public health institutions.
Guides Advancing Health Equity: Guide to Language, Narrative and Concepts From the American Medical Association (AMA): "In Part 1, we offer a guidance on language for promoting health equity, contrasting traditional/outdated terms with equity-focused alternatives. In Part 2, we explore how narratives (the power behind words) matter. Lastly, in Part 3, we provide a glossary of key terms, defining key concepts, and whenever possible acknowledging debates over definitions and usage. We hope that this guide will stimulate critical thinking about language, narrative and concepts—helping readers to identify harmful phrasing in their own work and providing alternatives that move us toward racial justice and health equity."
Frameworks Making Health Equity a Priority As part of the University of Victoria’s Equity Lens in Public Health project, this framework outlines six key strategies that organizations can take to commit to health equity. For each strategy, the guide explains the reasoning behind choosing this specific step in simplified and explicit language.
Articles Health Equity: Moving from the Margins to the Center This article is written by Dr. Anthony Iton from the California Endowment. The article serves both as an explanation of foundational equity concepts and as a reflection on Dr. Iton’s time serving communities in California. Principles of equity, and the reasoning behind them, complement the real-life examples of Dr. Iton’s time developing power- building activities for the community of Alameda County.
Articles CDC: Communicating About Health Equity Concepts (CHEC) CDC’s Office of Health Equity (OHE) conducted message testing in 2022 to learn what diverse audiences think, understand, and feel about the concept of health equity. Results from OHE’s 2022 message testing helped develop three principles and strategies to improve communication about health equity concepts with diverse audiences.
2023 CA LHJ Examples San Luis Obispo County Health Equity Plan The diversity statement was developed in collaboration with the County of San Luis Obispo Public Health-the Health Equity Program, the Public Information Office, and the Health Equity Committee comprised of representatives from all divisions. The diversity statement can be found on page 6 of the health equity plan.
2023 CA LHJ Examples Placer County Strategic Plan The Placer County Health and Human Services Department incorporated equity into the department wide strategic plan. With the newly released plan, the Placer County Public Health Division is reviewing tools and resources to identify gaps and opportunities that address equity in policies, workforce culture, and practices applicable to the division.
Type Title Description
Examples Health Equity Guide: Case Study Rhode Island Braids Funding to Create Health Equity Zone To address the social determinants of health, leaders of the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) utilized multiple sources of funding to establish “Health Equity Zones.” This case study highlights the ways in which RIDOH leaders increased access to funding and resources to its community partners to enhance population health outcomes.
Templates Santa Clara County Public health : Budget Equity Assessment Tool This resource, developed by Santa Clara County Public Health, is an example of a racial equity tool that is intended to put out a procedure and a series of inquiries for determining how budget proposals will help or hurt communities, particularly those of color.
Templates Washington State Office of Minority and Women’s Business Enterprises (OMWBE): Inclusion Plan Guide & Template (Pages 1-2): A guide for public agencies on how to use inclusion plans as part of bidding requirements to increase equitable contracting opportunities. (Pages 3-5): An inclusion plan template form with instructions for the bidder. Bidders submit the plan as part of their bid package when your agency requires inclusion plans on bids.
Webinars Expanding Funding Streams in Local Public Health This recorded webinar discusses an innovative approach to address financial management in local public health. Participants will learn about how a local health department established a 501(c)(3) to vary their funding streams. This training also includes a discussion on challenges they encountered, successes they have seen due to this unique approach, and lessons learned throughout the process.
Webinars Institute for Local Government : Equitable Funding Strategies for Local Government This webinar focuses on equitable funding strategies that local governments can implement to operationalize conversations around equity in order to improve community engagement for inclusive decision-making.
Guides Contracting for Equity: Best Local Government Practices that Advance Racial Equity in Government Contracting & Procurement This issue brief, developed by the Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE), shares common policy and practice strategies local governments can implement to improve contracting for equity within the public sector. This issue brief highlights achievements and barriers jurisdictions face in contracting and procurement practices for equity.
Guides ASTHO: Guidance for Integrating Health Equity Language Into Funding Announcements (February 2018) This document is intended as a resource to assist state public health agencies in drafting funding announcements involving health equity and related concepts. A number of state and federal agencies have found ways to incorporate health equity into their funding opportunities.
Guides Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO): Centering Equity through Flexible, Reliable Funding With this guide, GEO seeks to reassert the value of flexible, reliable funding with an updated analysis and set of examples to illustrate how a commitment to flexible, reliable funding can support the sector to be more equitable and community driven in its practice. The report begins with a discussion of why equity and community-driven practice are so vital to our work, followed by an exploration of how flexible, reliable funding contributes to grantmaker and nonprofit effectiveness by strengthening the capacity of nonprofits and catalyzing resilience and longer-term change while centering equitable and inclusive practices.
Frameworks Equity Pyramids The Equity Pyramid, developed by the Rhode Island Department of Health and modeled after the CDC’s Health Impact Pyramid, is a resource that local health departments can use to prioritize work efforts, equitably allocate funding and resources, and inclusively involve community partners to advance health equity.
Articles Integrating Equity in a Public Health Funding Strategy This article presents a practical approach for incorporating equity into common and competitive funding procedures for public health programs and demonstrates how integrating equitable strategies can better direct decision-makers in allocating funding and resources.
Articles Investing in Public Health and Community Partnerships Reduced COVID-19–Related Disparities As Dauphin and Liburd emphasize, the public health system depended on federal funding to focus strategies on populations that experienced the greatest burden of COVID-19; this is particularly important given the chronic resource constraints public health departments face. This collection of articles illustrates that the HDG initiative was a crucial resource across state, tribal, local, and territorial public health departments. It made possible effective community engagement strategies, creative funding, and data-informed prevention and mitigation strategies, and it established CHWs as essential members of the public health workforce.
2023 CA LHJ Examples Amador County Child Safety & Injury Prevention Amador County Public Health (ACPH) received a 2-year grant focused on unintentional childhood injury prevention through the Kids' Plates grant. The 3 areas of focus are child passenger safety, bicycle safety, and drowning prevention. The components of the grant include safety education and outreach, as well as providing safety equipment to those in a low socio-economic status or those populations that are non-English speaking. For example, ACPH is hosting local events to check car seats for proper installation, providing educational Bike Rodeos with helmet distributions at local community events, promoting swim skill growth in youth through swim lesson vouchers, and distributing life jackets at local boat launches for these populations.
Type Title Description
Examples Rural Policymaking in Action Highlighting State Actions to Advance Rural Prosperity & Equity Part of ChangeLab Solutions’ "Toward Better Rural Futures" project, this resource has identified key policy efforts in several states that can serve as guides for strategic action at the state level. Examples include Kansas' Office of Rural Prosperity and Wisconsin's Community Development Investment Grant Program. Toward Better Rural Futures aims to foster greater collaboration and alignment across local, regional, and state levels of government.
Examples Health Equity Guide - Additional Resources This is a suite of resources intended to help health departments change internal practices and processes. Resources include Contracting for Equity, Developing an Equity Impact Statement, Equitable Hiring Handbook, and more.
Examples Change Internal Practices & Processes As part of Human Impact Partners' Health Equity Guide, the Change Internal Practices and Processes strategy addresses how to change internal practices and align internal processes to advance equity. Difficult work must be done to reveal how current policies and practices support or impede equity, and barriers must be removed to advance equity work.
Trainings Promoting Equity in Public Health and the Role of Change Management This training is the fourth module in the Strategic Skills Training Series focused on Change Management for Public Health Professionals developed by Region 2 Public Health Training Center. This learning module will look at health equity from a “change management” perspective.
Webinars Health Equity Policies and Practices From the Pennsylvania Public Health Association, this webinar helps participants gain a deeper understanding of the core concepts of health equity, how to incorporate equity into everyday practices, and approaches to facilitating meaningful change in communities.and within the public health workforce. It also presents frameworks for using a culturally responsive and racial equity lens in public health practice.
Guides Equity Impact Review Process Overview The Equity Impact Review (EIR) process merges empirical (quantitative) data and community engagement findings (qualitative) to inform planning, decision-making and implementation of actions which affect equity in King County, Washington. This ensures that equity impacts are rigorously and holistically considered and advanced in the design and implementation of the proposed action (plan/policy/program development, operations modification, capital programs/projects, etc.)
Guides Health Equity Performance Measures Toolkit: A Guide for Local Health Departments The Center for Public Health Systems (CPHS) at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health and the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) developed this toolkit for all Local Health Departments (LHDs) who are interested in learning more about performance measures and how they can support LHD health equity initiatives. This toolkit is especially appropriate for public health professionals at LHDs who are curious about health equity performance measures (HEPM) but have not yet taken steps to design HEPM, or who are in the beginning steps of designing performance measures to assess progress and support improvement in health equity programs and initiatives at their LHD.
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Examples County Health Rankings & Roadmaps This website can serve as a resource or example of the type of data that can be collected for all counties. It doesn’t, however, address the barriers of collecting certain demographic data in smaller counties.
Webinars Achieving Equity with Results- Based Accountability Under the framework of Results-Based Accountability (RBA), this 1.5-hour webinar covers multiple topics geared toward equity in a community starting with data. Topics span from using disaggregated data to understand racial inequities to basic information on racism, racial equity, and racial bias. The webinar ends with examples, success stories, and resources from local health departments and beyond.
Guides COVID-19 Health Equity Playbook for Communities, Strategies and Practices for an Equitable Reopening and Recovery (Page 53) The Data Section of this report provides examples of dashboards from local health departments and lists state data tools to further explore.
Guides Gathering Data and Information from the City of Long Beach Office of Equity Toolkit (Page 14-15) This toolkit provides guiding questions and examples of how to apply an equity lens to multiple strategies, including gathering data and information (of interest for this competency). The guiding questions span different levels in the spectrum of early, established, and strong.
Guides Making Wise Decisions: Find the right-fit data system to meet your organization's needs Created by Public Profit and B3 Consults with generous support from the S.H. Cowell Foundation, Making Wise Decisions is a free step-by-step guide that aims to eliminate a very common and major struggle for mission-driven organizations: finding the right data system, or optimizing the one that’s in place.
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Webinars Promoting Health Equity by Uniting Sectors Around Shared Data ($3 fee to watch) This 1-hour webinar covers successful practices for data sharing as well as improving multi-sector collaboration and communication to address social determinants of health.
Guides Community and Stakeholder Engagement (Page 65-70) In this section of the COVID-19 Health Equity Playbook, CDPH provides actionable steps towards more empowering community engagement. The section gives the basic principles of engagement, real life examples of activities to solidify agreements and trust, and additional resources to explore the concept more.
Frameworks IAP2 Spectrum of Public Participation from the City of Long Beach Office of Equity Toolkit (Page 28-29) This toolkit provides guiding questions and examples of how to apply an equity lens to multiple strategies, including gathering data and information (of interest for this competency). The guiding questions span different levels in the spectrum of early, established, and strong. Additionally, the appendix of this toolkit includes the IAP2 Spectrum of Public Participation, which can be used to guide shared analysis with external stakeholders from “Inform” to “Empower.”
Frameworks Health Equity Guide: Develop a Shared Analysis The Health Equity Guide is a comprehensive resource for public health departments and practitioners to plan and implement health equity and racial justice work. It offers 15 strategic practices, organized using a cyclical gardening framework, to illustrate how each mutually supports health equity goals.
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Templates Three Dimensions of Power: Building a Multi-dimensional Approach to Power This worksheet helps LHJs assess their current approach to building power. It is based on the three dimensions of power: organizing people for direct political action, building organizational infrastructure and reshaping worldviews and ideologies.
Templates Nexus Community Partners: Community Engagement Assessment Tool This tool allows organizations to reflect on their community engagement techniques. It presents methods in a variety of ways, including assessment of potential partnerships, and identification of strengths and limitations.
Trainings Strategies to Advance Health Equity : State and Local Health Departments' Role in Building Pathways to Higher Education In this training, participants learn how education influences health outcomes and provides strategies for LHJs to help students be successful.
Webinars Power-Building for Health Departments, Part 1 This webinar features Salomeh Wagaw, Program Director of Health Equity for Riverside County, California Department of Public Health, who discusses strategies for building power with communities.
Webinars Creative Ways to Solicit Stakeholder Feedback Virtually Learn practical ways to stay in touch with your stakeholders… without surveys! With the “new” normal moving to virtual, learn how to seek feedback from your stakeholders virtually.
Webinars Messaging Health Equity to Decision-Makers This webinar provides public health professionals with effective communication tools that could sway decision-makers to advance health equity through policy change.
Webinars Advancing Health Equity Through Power Building and Narrative Change This webinar discusses the importance of building community power and provides strategies for LHJs to advance health equity change using public narrative.
Guides Involving People Most Affected by the Problem (University of Kansas Community Toolbox) This guide describes why inclusive decision- making is fundamental to advancing health equity. It also details how to pick partners, problem solve barriers to participation, and gives further resources to explore this topic.
Guides Power Moves: Your Essential Philanthropy Assessment Guide for Equity and Justice This guide provides an overview of the three dimensions of power: building power, sharing power and wielding power. It contains an organizational self- assessment, sample questionnaires, a discussion guide, best practices guidelines and other tools to help organizations determine their readiness to wield power specifically within their internal operations and grantmaking processes.
Guides Creative Ways to Solicit Feedback A guide version of the webinar "Creative Ways to Solicit Stakeholder Feedback" that provides various methods of activities and general tips.
Articles Why Community Power is Fundamental to Advancing Racial and Health Equity This article describes why community power building is more effective than community engagement to advance health and racial equity. The Alameda County Public Health Department is referenced as an example of a local health department partnering with a community-based organization in order to change housing policy.
Articles Shifting and Sharing Power: Public Health's Charge in Building Community Power This article provides examples of health departments, including Alameda County, CA, sharing power with community organizations to work towards a common agenda. It also lists the three dimensions of power to consider when partnering for decision making.
Articles 8 Ways to Connect with Your Public Health Department The article is intended for community organizers who are interested in collaborating with public health department leaders to advance racial justice and health equity. The San Francisco Public Health Department and Alameda County Public Health Department are highlighted for their collaborations with community-based organizations.
Articles Forming Partnerships With Public Health Departments, Part 1:Why it's a Good Idea This article describes the benefits of partnerships between public health staff and community organizers.
2023 CA LHJ Examples Glenn County Language Access Plan Throughout the development of the Glenn County Language Access Plan, it was reviewed collaboratively with the new Public Health Bilingual Subcommittee. The fentanyl prevention workgroup that Public Health co-leads with Behavioral Health is open and engages the community. One of the focuses of the tobacco program has been to engage the community and residents in key decisions about program, policy, and evaluation. The tobacco program has made connections throughout the county and received support for their policy issues through groups such as the Lions Club and the Parent Teacher Association groups; the tobacco program also collaborates on the Glenn County for Alliance and Prevention Community Coalition, which brings in many different agencies/organizations/community members to the table.