What Does Health Equity Look Like at the CHC?

At the CHC, we acknowledge that health equity doesn't happen by accident or by simply "being nice," but happens by design and intentionality.  This means...

Do we know the history of the topic we’re working on?

• Is there stigma or a controversial past around the topic?
• Has it disproportionately affected certain segments of the population?
• How have conditions changed or not changed?

Do we know the history and current realities of the intended audience?

• What barriers have they historically faced?
• What barriers do they currently face?
• What priorities do they have?
• What work are affected communities already doing to address the issue at hand? What resources are already in place?
• If we don't know the answers to these questions, how can we find them out?

*Developed by Communicate Health

Programming: 

• Can we build input from/include feedback from affected communities into our scopes of work, timelines, & budgets?
• Do we value the input of the of the lived experience of the target audience and what resonates with them?

Language:

• Are we using person-first, non-stigmatizing language?
• What picture are we painting with our language?
• Does it empower people to make change? Are the intended audience members agents of change or is change being acted upon them?

Design:

• Is the imagery inclusive where appropriate?
• Are we showing the range of the human experience: race/ethnicity, gender spectrum, sexuality, size, age, religion, etc?
• Is it how the intended audience would represent themselves?
• Is it reflective of imagery the target population uses?
• Is it realistic?

Evaluation/Research:

• Are evaluation efforts and reporting reinforcing asset and equity core beliefs of the team?
• Are we using inclusive appropriate terminology/being inclusive in our survey design?
• Are we anticipating evaluation audiences and their use of our reported results?
• Are we making reporting accessible to intended audiences and decision-makers?

Learn other ways to incorporate health equity into your work by taking the personal or project audits.

See resources and tips for implementing a health equity framework into the above buckets of CHC work on the lefthand navigation bar.