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Anti-Racism at Berkeley Public Health

Becoming an antiracist institution is an important part of that duty to ourselves, to the University, the state of California, and the nation.

Racism is a fundamental cause of health inequities and has been declared a public health crisis by over 200 cities and counties, 18 states, and numerous health and healthcare organizations across the country. American Public Health Association Executive Director Georges Benjamin noted that, “These declarations are an important first step in the movement to advance racial equity and justice and must be followed by allocation of resources and strategic action.”

The UC Berkeley School of Public Health has a moral, ethical, and professional obligation to address racism as a root cause of health and overall well-being. Our actions should reflect what our research tells us. Becoming an antiracist institution is an important part of that duty to ourselves (students, staff, and faculty), to the University, the state of California, and the nation.

In 2020, Berkeley Public Health launched the Anti-Racist Community for Justice and Social Transformative Change (ARC 4 JSTC) initiative in order to systematically assess our institutional strengths and identify areas for growth as we transform our culture and practices toward becoming more anti-racist. This includes assessing the current state of our curriculum and pedagogy, mentoring, student experience, staff and workforce experience, our business processes, and engagement with our local and greater community. We dedicated ourselves to becoming an anti-racist institution by examining our institutional policies, culture, and norms and becoming champions of racial equity practice by creating and implementing short, moderate, and long term goals, and metrics focused on building internal capacity in an effort to create something that will be self-sustaining. We’ve phased the work to prioritize activities that: 1) build foundational capacity, 2) can be implemented quickly and with current resources, 3) will have high visibility, and 4) will have recognizable impact.

The initiative has three goals and five projects.

Three Goals

1. Strategic Planning

Center anti-racism and racial equity praxis in the overall mission of BPH by developing one-, three-, and five-year goals, objectives, strategies, metrics, and evaluation plans for anti-racist pedagogy, practice, and administration.

2. Implementation through the lens of change management (i.e., Leading Change)

Implementation of core (cross-cutting) and program-specific elements (e.g., student experience, community engagement) with a focus on fundamental institutional change

3. Collaborate and Align Efforts

Ensure alignment of the BPH ARC4JSTC with the campus-level anti-racism initiative determine/identify/create opportunities to partner with other units to elevate other anti-racist activities and initiatives and become a catalyst of anti-racism praxis on the UCB campus. We also aim to align our efforts with other efforts in public health including the ASPPH (Association for Schools and Programs of Public Health) initiative to dismantle structural racism in academic public health.

Four Projects

1. Community Engagement and Outreach

Co-Chairs: Bo Chung, Audrey Cristobal, Clyde Oden, Jr.

Our transformation into an anti-racist institution requires genuine partnerships with vision, decision-making, and resources shared with external community members who suffer from systemic racism and health inequities. Our school’s work will be more meaningful, impactful, and authentic by co-identifying community health assets and stressors that need to be addressed.

Community Engagement and Outreach project website

2. Faculty Curriculum and Pedagogy

Co-Chairs: Amani Allen, Deborah Barnett

Faculty require the skills for practicing anti-racist pedagogy inside and outside of the classroom and advancing an effectual anti-racist and racial justice curriculum. Centering antiracism and racial equity praxis in BPH’s educational mission will improve our ability to recruit, retain and graduate a highly qualified and diverse student body for addressing the most vexing public health challenge of our time.

Faculty Curriculum and Pedagogy project website

3. Workforce Development

Co-Chairs: Michelle Azurin and Emily Chow

Creating opportunities for BPH employees to align themselves with the school’s mission, vision, and values, through intentional and systematic anti-racist training and praxis, will help advance the school’s mission further. Institutionalizing anti-racist trainings and programs for BPH personnel to dismantle racist structures and engage in brave spaces is also necessary for staff well-being, personal and professional development, and overall success as employees of a school of public health.

Workforce Development project website

4. Student Experience

Co-Chairs: Quin Hussey, Yuridia Hernandez-Osorio, Che Abram

The Student Experience Working Group is committed to supporting and ensuring that our students have a positive, anti-racist experience during their tenure at BPH, and that all of our students learn ways to actively disrupt racism when they encounter it and move from bystanders to co-conspirators and allies during their time at BPH.

Student Experience project website

The BPH LGBTQIA+ OUTlist

The OUTlist promotes visibility and awareness for our BPH LGBTQIA+ community. This list helps us establish a sense of community, despite the barriers amongst us. We trust that this directory will foster allyship and education about the vibrant and resilient queer communities in BPH.

This is an OPT-IN form that collects information for an online directory and database of current and past BPH LGBTQIA+ community who are comfortable sharing this information publicly.

If you would like to join this online directory, please complete the BPH LGBTQIA+ OUTlist form.

View the BPH LGBTQIA+ OUTList

Ché L. Abram

Chief of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging


Schedule a 1:1 Meeting

che.l.abram@berkeley.edu

A Berkeley Public Health strategy is to cultivate arc-bending via social impact: advancing anti-racism, diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, and justice, strengthening community engagement, and building an ecosystem for social impact.

There are many facets to my role that aid in our arc-bending strategy: leadership support for the DREAM Office; development, implementation and assessment of data that improve teaching and learning, belonging, infrastructure, and social impact; addressing experiences of bias and harm; partnering to facilitate educational and community building opportunities; support enhancements to curriculum; and much, much more.

My work is centered in knowledge, empathy, practice, vision, and holistic wellness, thereby, engaging with our race and equity frameworks, programming, and practices, we are guided to strengthen relationships with the self, community, and our environment. Leading us to cultivate a restorative environment that promotes healing from adversity and foster communities centered in accountability.

Additional Links:

  • Michelle Azurin, Staff Advisory Council (SAC)/DICE
  • Deborah Barnett, Chief of Curriculum & Instruction
  • Christine Board, Black Advocates for Equity in Health (MPH Epi/Bio student)
  • Bo Chung/Elizabeth Ly, Public Health Alumni Association (PHAA)
  • Audrey Cristobal, Center for Public Health Practice and Leadership (CPHPL)
  • Julianna Deardorff, School-wide Faculty Equity Advisor
  • Lori Dorfman, faculty (mass communications) and Berkeley Media Studies Group
  • Will Dow, Division organizer/Division Equity Advisor
  • Quin Hussey, Assistant Dean for Students
  • Aminta Kouyate/Fatumah-Ayaan Rinderknecht, Co-Chairs Berkeley Chapter of WC4BL (JMP students)
  • Leanna Lewis, Interim Associate Director JMP
  • Ijeoma Uche, Graduate Student Assistant (MCAH Student)
  • Maddy Cuyler, Graduate Student Assistant (MPH Student)
  • Juan Carlos Bordes, Graduate Student Assistant (DrPH Student)
  • Erika Neal, Black Advocates for Equity in Health (OOMPH student)
  • Athena Nguyen, Registered Student Organization (RSO) Coordinator (MPH EHS student)
  • Reverend Dr. Clyde W. Oden, Jr., Community Member
  • Elise Proulx, Director of Communications and Marketing
  • Sarah Reynolds, Researcher, Anti-Racism During COVID Group
  • Che Abram, Chief of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion and Interim DREAM Office Director
  • Michael Sholinbeck, BPH Librarian and former DICE leader
  • Andrea Jacobo, Student Government Co-Chair (DrPH student)
  • Sai Ramya Maddali, Graduate Student Researcher (DrPH Student)
  • Ex Officio Members: Denise Cronin, Anne Ho, Emily Schwarz, Seana Van Buren