Quang H. Dang

Warm wishes for the New Year, a time of new beginnings when our thoughts turn to how our collective efforts to advance health in communities across the country can be turned into reality. This year is likely to present challenges, especially considering the new presidential administration, but we have been here before. Just as we have done in the past when the political climate intensified around governmental authority, in particular public health authority, we are ready to act as a guide, partner, and resource to assistance in advancing the public’s health and health equity, despite barriers to this work.

It has become increasingly important for public health to navigate the disruptiveness of a capricious political climate in our continued efforts to protect the health of communities across the country.  State-level advocacy is not just beneficial, it is essential to maintaining and advancing community health. The newly released 50 State Scans of Public Health Advocacy Capacity report provides valuable information for advocates, public health practitioners, policymakers, and funders to identify partners who can work together and leverage their collective resources to achieve large-scale positive—and equitable—health outcomes for communities.

Join us for a webinar introducing the Network’s  Racial Equity Dataset. This searchable database includes bills proposed and enacted in the 2021 and 2022 legislative cycles in the wake of the renewed racial justice movement in 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic.   Features of the laws that were enacted, and that were still in effect on December 31, 2022, were compiled into a cohesive dataset, created using policy surveillance methods, to provide insight into the outcomes of those legislative sessions. Legislation identified, though not exhaustive, provides a bird’s eye view and a peek into relevant legal trends across the country.

The Network seeks to support local, state, and tribal governments, health departments, community-based groups or organizations, nonprofits, professional associations, health care systems and providers, and others in their efforts to eliminate deep, systemic, and racially driven inequities in public health. Join us for a webinar outlining our recently released Legal and Policy Assistance to Address Racial Health Equity call for applications (RHE CFA) to support work on racial health equity. We are seeking applicants developing or working on a specific issue that prioritizes racial equity that would benefit from legal and policy technical assistance. We can assist with work that is at any stage of development.

This report summarizes findings from research that looked at specific markers of advocacy capacity and interviews of key respondents in 50 states and the District of Columbia between March and June 2023.