What Racism Looks Like In Health Care Delivery
and Why You Should Report It
Participants in this workshop collectively define what racism in healthcare looks like and share the roadblocks to reporting it. Through a collaborative and interactive approach, the facilitator encourages participants to share experienced or witnessed forms of racism in health care delivery and how they responded to it. The participants reflect on barriers and successes of reporting incidents and how their experience plays into a broader picture of disparities in care. With the guidance of the facilitator, participants plan on how to proactively take action on ending disparities in healthcare on an individual, community, institutional, and legislative level. The facilitator presents different scenarios involving instances of racism in the workplace for participants to discuss the disincentives to come forward and strategies to overcome them. Participants are encouraged to continue their dialogue with other colleagues and healthcare administrative staff to set up institutionalized reporting systems.

Empowering Community Based Organizations to
Work with Legislators for Change
Develops participants’ sense of their own power as a representative of a community organization. Participants will define and strategize ways to overcome roadblocks to collaboration with other community based organizations. Participants learn strategies to effectively lobby legislators on healthcare equity initiatives on a grassroots level. Participants come away with short-term and long-term action steps on addressing disparities in care through collaboration with other participants in the workshop.  Organizing for Policy Change: Working with Legislators Remember the song, “I’m just a bill on Capitol Hill”? This workshop outlines the legislative process and empowers participants to explore the points on the timeline where grassroots lobbying is its most effective. Participants will discuss health equity policy solutions and create powerful talking points to use when mobilizing their community, media outlets, and local legislators to push for change. Participants will come away from the workshop with tools and strategies to lobbying for policy change in an effective way, both individually and collaboratively.

Organizing for Policy Change: Working with Legislators
Remember the song, “I’m just a bill on Capitol Hill”? This workshop outlines the legislative process and empowers participants to explore the points on the timeline where grassroots lobbying is its most effective. Participants will discuss health equity policy solutions and create powerful talking points to use when mobilizing their community, media outlets, and local legislators to push for change. Participants will come away from the workshop with tools and strategies to lobbying for policy change in an effective way, both individually and collaboratively.

What the Church Can Do
Assists participants in rethinking the church as an integral participant in the health of its community. In this session participants will place the struggle for health equity in the historical context of the civil rights movement and the churches’ place in that movement. In creating this history and thinking about the churches they are a part of today, participants will come to understand the unique role of the church in this struggle. This session will then move from broad understandings to individual and community plans for integrating the health equity movement into the churches represented by the participants. Participants will also leave with support materials and project ideas that will assist them in bringing the issue of health justice to each of their congregations.

Doctor-Patient Communication
Focuses on the tremendously important relationship between a doctor and patient. This workshop is geared toward both medical professionals and patients, seeking to find common ground in a difficult and high stakes interaction. Dissecting Contempt Considers tough questions for anyone in the medical profession wanting to know more about his/her own interactions with patients. What do you have in common with your patients? What unknown biases do you bring to your interactions with your patient? How does contempt play itself out within racism?

Healing Within: The Social Activist Within You
Is based on the idea that ordinary people can do extraordinary things.  This workshop guides participants to be more aware of their inner teacher. To be an effective leader you must be a servant of the people first. How does looking at the man in the mirror lead to social activism? From Dialogue to Action: Taking it to the Streets In this workshop, participants will learn how to create a project/campaign on a regionally specific issue of healthcare disparities and collaborate as a group to execute it. Participants will define different forms of racism in healthcare and hone in on a specific and tangible project to work on. Concepts of community organizing and leadership development will be taught within this lens.

From Dialogue to Action: Taking it to the Streets
In this workshop, participants will learn how to create a project/campaign on a regionally specific issue of healthcare disparities and collaborate as a group to execute it. Participants will define different forms of racism in healthcare and hone in on a specific and tangible project to work on. Concepts of community organizing and leadership development will be taught within this lens.

Healthcare Reform - What does it mean for you?
What does the healthcare reform bill of 2010 mean for me and my community? This workshop will begin to answer in a succinct way and highlight that the fight for healthcare reform is far from over. Participants will discuss how this new federal legislation will affect state and city policy. Participants will also gather necessary information and resources to help disseminate this important information within their communities.

Dissecting Contempt
Considers tough questions for anyone in the medical profession wanting to know more about his/her own interactions with patients.  Examples include: How does power play itself out in the doctor/patient scenario?  What do you have in common with your patients?  How are you different from them?  What is the difference between being nice to your patients and being kind to them?  In an environment obsessed with political correctness, do we have a love for what we do, or are we just pretending while actually feeling contempt?