Partners With A Role to Play

• Buncombe County CHIP Advisory Council members/agencies

Supporting Cross-sector Collaboration to Undo Racism was identified by community members, partners, and our CHIP Advisory as an ongoing CHIP strategy, that when combined with other actions in our community, has a reasonable chance of making a difference in health equity outcomes in our community. The priority population for this Cross-sector Collaboration to Undo Racism are community institutions, organizations, and providers whose work influences health outcomes.

Cross-sector Collaboration to Undo Racism aims to make a difference at multiple levels: individual/interpersonal behavior; organizational/policy; and environmental change level. This strategy is focusing on addressing root causes of health inquities, recognizing the role of our institutional policies, practices,
cultures, norms, and behaviors in impacting and perpetuating health inequities between racial and ethnic groups in our
community.

Process for Selecting Priority Program/ Strategies

The following actions have been identified by our CHIP Advisory and Leadership Team and community members as ideas for what can work for our community to make a difference on racial equity.

Actions and Approaches Identified by Our Partners 

These are actions and approaches that our partners think can make a difference on racial equity:

• Apply and require a robust (and recurring) racial equity training for all healthcare providers
• Increase awareness, funding, prevention, and intervention on Root Causes of health disparities
• Utilize a racial equity lens for evaluating everything, including policies, programs, trainings, environment, etc. 
• Expand community involvement in designing and implementing programs and services
• Fund local organizations to do policy evaluations, co-design of trainings, walk-throughs of spaces, conduct environmental assessments, etc.
• Support collective impact between grassroots community-led organizations and bigger community agencies

What is Currently Working in Our Community 

These are actions and approaches that are currently in place in our community to make a difference on racial equity:

• Safety and Justice Challenge 
• City MatCH Equity Institute
• Racial Equity and Inclusion - Groundwater trainings, City and County positions focused on equity
• Disaggregating all data to reflect the authentic realities for all people in a community, group, etc. vs. focusing on the whole or aggregate data

What Community Members Most Affected by Racism Say 

These are the actions and approaches recommended by members of our community who are most affected by racism and discrimination:

• Reuire robust and ongoing professional development curriculums focused on anti-racist practices for healthcare and social service providers
• Reparations
• Hiring and retaining more BIPOC providers in healthcare and social services via creating and sustaining an organizational culture that is anti-racist

National Equity Atlas (PolicyLink)

Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE)

Primary and secondary data consistently show that the Buncombe County 2021 Commuity Health Assessment (CHA) health focus areas: heart disease and diabetes, birth outcomes, and mental health and substance use disorder, adversely impact the community as a whole and disproportionately and significantly impact community members who are historically marginalized. Black/African American, Hispanic/Latin/Latinx, Indigenous/First Nation and those with low incomes are more likely to have poorer health outcomes, lower high school graduation rates, higher food and housing insecurity, increased hazardous environmental risks, and more limited access to economic and social development opportunities.

In 2020, Buncombe County (BC) Commissioners declared, “Racism a Public Health and Safety Crisis” to acknowledge and address the impacts that persistent structural racism in public policy, institutional practices and cultural norms have on the root causes of health and social-economic disparities for populations of color. The declaration links the social determinants of health (SDoH), to how historical and continued systemic racism shape the structure of communities, social and economic opportunities, and access to resources, wealth, and power. The SDoH, those conditions in the community where people live, learn, age, work, play, worship are structurally designed by public policy, drive 80% of health outcomes and highly correlate with race, age, gender, and income.

By focusing attention on the root causes of health and life course disparities, there is strong community and government alignment with Buncombe County Commissioner’s Declaration of Racism as a Public Health and Safety Crisis, the Buncombe County Strategic Plan 2020-2025, and the Buncombe County Racial Equity Action Plan.

Evidence-Based Strategies 

These are actions and approaches that have been shown to make a difference on racial equity and health equity outcomes.