A multiethnic and multigenerational team of neighborhood leaders share their experience assessing and addressing issues in their neighborhood that promote a healthy community. This model of capacity building is one strategy one of the Be Active Together project, a five-year National Institute of Health funded initiative to address health disparities in two public housing communities with an emphasis in advocacy, community building and physical activities. The program goal is to increase physical activity and health in these communities by partnering with residents and community service providers.

Just Health Action (JHA) advocates for reducing health inequities that result from social, political, and economic factors (social determinants of health). Using a social justice lens, JHA teaches workshops and classes that reviews the evidence and then facilitates discussion and consensus on how individuals and communities can take action on these root causes. Racism is one of the most significant determinants of health in our society. This workshop describes the development and teaching of our new Racism & Health curriculum with a specific focus on how racism is embodied in biological well-being. With the use of several interactive exercises, our new curriculum examines the levels of racism, the racism/health evidence, the different models used to explain racial health inequalities, and a discussion of how students might take action on racism with this new knowledge. The curriculum was developed and piloted at the middle school, university, and community health clinic levels. In this interactive workshop, we will describe our curriculum, student actions taken, curriculum challenges and successes, as well as the results of our evaluation.

Viewing of PBS Series Unnatural Causes that looks at the impact of racism and social inequities on health. Segments followed by facilitated discussion to identify actions to address social inequities in King County.

Presented by: United to End Racism

Learn listening and emotional healing skills to take charge of our own health and the health of our communities including healing from the hurts of racism and genocide, reclaiming our power as healthcare workers and activists and bringing these skills home.

Presented by: CommuniChi Acupuncture Clinic

A brief history of community acupuncture as a community (local) based solution to high cost health care.

The presenter served on the federal interagency task force on eliminating minority health disparities in Washington, DC.  As part of those efforts, he developed a policy architecture on the subject.  This is an attempt to organize efforts, add structure and an approach, develop criteria and a way of looking at the overall approach to accomplishing the task, and provide those involved with a common framework and basis for discussion. A policy architecture sets out what we know about a subject, provides a structure to describe it, how to think about it, and provides a unifying form or structure by showing how the parts fit together to reach the identified objective.  It is action oriented and practical, as opposed to theoretical, and is helpful for strategic planning.

Healing Communities by Reducing Racism

With a focus on the historical precedents for "alternative healing" practices in the US, this workshop will bring a critical race lens to bear on current manifestations of Eastern medicine practice in the U.S. How is Eastern medicine being used? by whom? and for who's benefit? how is the Asian American community represented in the field of "alternative healing"? and how are today's representations of Asia linked with Asian American history? We will explore these questions together with group discussions and exercises.